The Russellville Democrat., 1890-02-27

Webster said:
 I am cerrainly of the opinion, then, that golt and silver, at rates fixed by Congress, consti tute the legal standard of value in this coun try, and that neither Congress DOT any Stat, has authority to establish any other standard or to displace this.
 The legal tender, therefore, the constitution al standard of value, is established ard can no be overthrown. To overthrow it would shak, the whole system.
 If Congress may demonetize silver it may gold, and if either, it may both, but the State, can make nothing legal tender but gold an( silver coin. Can Congress demonetize thai which States may make moneyf
 THE ACT OF 1873
 The act of 1s73 demonetizing silver ant changing the fundamental law respectipt money, was passed without public discussion and without the knowledge of the people mucf less was it called for by them. in fact, as fnll, appears from concurrent testimony, the act wa. passed without comprehensive knowledge O its scope or effect by those highest in authority in the Government nor has it ever been made manifest that any one directly responsible fol the act fully comprehended its effect, and cer tainly it is but charitable to assume that nc one foresaw its far-reaching and insidious con sequences.
 THE EFFECT OF THE ACT OF 1873.
 For indefinite ages gold and silver have beer money metals Their use as money is as old as commerce. From them money has been fabri cated without limit throughout the civilized world By them have all other things beer measured, and in them all obligations dis charged.
 Prior to the demonetization of silver by Ger many in is7l2, followed by the act of 1873 in the United States and the closing of the hints o the Latin Union, silver and gold, at the coinage ratio of Europe d5Ia to D, flowed evenly through all the channels Of trade, upholding prices and supplying the worlds increasing need for money. Variations In the production Of tho two metals were corrected by the in creased mintage of the more abundant. The worlds debts immense at the period of the characterization of silver and still increasing were based upon the two metals and the annual supply of both. Production and trade were ad justed 10 the same scale.
 Then came the change The Western World without warning, struck from it's money volume one Of the metals and restricted future supply to gold alone.
 Thus was the money standard changed and the new and increased standard made unjustly to apply to all existing contracts and obliga- tions, public and private, for the same act that struck down silver increased the purchasing power Of gold. Tn other words, the gold stand ard itself was changed; 1t became an enlarged standard Indeed, the enormity of the act of demonetization is only fully brought out when it is seen that its necessary effect has been the enhancement of the value of gold.
 THE ENHANCEMENT OF COLD.
 The extent of the enhancement of gold is best shown by Q comparison of prices before and since the demonetization of silver. For tais purpose three periods which mark as many dis ffnr1 i've n ha tiGa of uoid 0h all taken.
 First. 1851, the year when the gold discoy. erers of California began to act on prices and stimulate trade.
 Second. The year ls73 when the act demone. tizing silver in the United States was passed, and before the fall of silver or rise Of gold be gan.
 Third. The year 1878 when the Bland-Allison act was passed, requiring the coinage Of at least S2, ,000000 worth of silver month. And finally, the course of prices and the tendency of gold since 1878, under shrinking volume of money.
 But in order to set forth in the dearest light the effect on gold and on prices of recent legis- latiou against silver 1t Is necessary to show its effect on money supply during the three periods For the real measure of values at any given time is the effective volume of money at such time existing. No country has purely BOlu uStSuTt. 1ut real UtatQfc lu the united States at this time Is gold colored so to speak, by si00 0o0,00o of silver, and further diluted by the effective volume Of greenbacks and National bank notes. For nobody would contend that the value of gold would be the same, or that gold would constitute the same standard if the silver and paper that circulate with it were de- stroyed.
 MONEY VOLUME IN 1851.
 What the volume Of money in the United Q A.. but whatever it was 1t consisted largely of issues of State and private banks The supply ot gold and silver had been on the wane for nearly half century, but Tn 1850 Cali fornia, and latsr, Australia, began to send out tbeir newly-diseovered treasures.
 Let us now place side by side the period from 1851 10 iS72 and the period from 1873 to 1878 and thence to 1889.
 1851 TO 1s7a
 The worlds production of gold and silver from 1851 to 1873 as given by the tables of pr. Soetbeer was:
 solu ''' '-' sz' Silver ...,....,..,.......... i,ioS025oo 900
 Total...,..,.,...,...,.. ,.........s3,7 7ss. 10000 Average annual production Of gold
 for the twenty-three years. 1le,566 900 Average annual production Of silver 100000 In 1853 the production of gold reached sl55,.
 
 had fallen to se6,O00,ooo The production of sil yer in 1873 was Ssi.0O00o0.
 The excess Of the production Of gold over silver for the entire period Of twenty-three years was Si.572, 5000.
 The average annual production oi both met als during this period was, in round numbers, sl62, ,ooo0oo. Thus S3.5Ss 10000 were added to ihe worlds supply of the precious metals in the shor, period of twenty.three years. Not only ,1..4 tR. tg~o a circulation of s994 3o0.o0o France had s6oO, ,0o0,- 10. Other nations had also resorted Co isspes of State paper money, stil further swelling the volume of paper money to &, 800 GOO OOO.
 FROM 1873 TO 1878
 Take next the period from lS73 to 1878 after ,ilver had been demonetzed In Germany and he United States, and the hints of the Latin Union had been first partially and then entire y closed, SO that only the gold production con Tiouted 10 money supply for Europe and the United States
 The production of gold for this period-ls73 Q ls7s-was s525 ,o0o,0o0 or an annual average of 'io5,0oo,ooo as against 900 for the former period The production Of silver for the same period was Al5,6l00o0, or an annual average of or an average, for both metals, Of lss,uO,0O0 Thus while the annual production lf the two metals for this period increased somewhat over the period rem 1851 10 1873, the 'Nf0N@AtbH VI to4A AfAA olf so tudl tIt NDflQ cit the double effect Of the rejection Of silver md decline in the production Of gold. More 'yer, the paper money of the United States turing this period was reduced by Ss24 0000o France also contracted her paper money by 'early s2000100o, on the other hand the United States Germany and Isaly bought scarcely less han q ti0oo,00o000 Of gold for resumption pur- 'oses, or to take the place of silver and paper n amount almost double the entire gold pro uction Of this period
 FROM is7s TO 1888
 The production Of gold from the passage of he Bland Allison act ef 1878 to the end of 1888 ias H,Ofi0O0,0OO, or an annual average of si04,- lo,0oo being about s6OOO0OOo per annurn less han the production Of the two metals during be period from 1851 to 1873. The total prodnc- lon of gold in the United States since the rganization Of the mint, in l7o2 has been si,. oo odi 900 of silver, ss52 e45 900 or nearly sI,- 0Ooo0Oo more gold than silver The committee has gone thus fully into the | 1pplyo metallic money for the several periods | amed in order Co show the unmistakaDle efect | D money roiame and on prices Of the increased | 2 diminishea supply of the metals
 THE FALL OF PRICES Let us next look at prices fer the ssms l sfiod,
 gAs following sat!s aiYas tho aasaal average s.a gyls97 ~ slapls articles is tAe NeT xalB 1