The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-07-06

has been of any advantage to any class
save the creditor class.
The decentralization of silver has increas-
ed the purchasing power Of gold so that
the same amount OF gold win now com
mand much more labor and more commodi-
ties of all kinds than it would in ISL or
prior thereto. The price of labor is less
and all the products of labor bring lower
price. Land is not worth so much Ma
chlnery and buildings used for
the production of commodities
are less valuable. 1t requires
more labor, more effort, more sacrifice for
the debtor to procure the means to pay his
debts than it did before the decentralization
Of silver. 1t is pretty generally conceded
that the fall in prices is not far from IS
per cent On many articles 1T is much
greater than that. This, then, is equiva-
lent to an addition of 80 per cent. to all the
debts. In other words, the creditor will
get So per cent. more of commodities if he
Is PAID IN commodities; and it paid in
money, the money he receives will pur-
chase 50 per cent. more while the debtor
must make an effort 33 per cent. gre alter
than he otherwise would to pay his debts.
rms, then, is equivalent to the addition of
% per cent to all The debts in the world, for
this decline IN prices is not confined to this
country.
If, as all admit, silver is to be used as
money in the future, why not go resolutely
to work to put it back IN its old ,ndition,
as the equal of gold at it's proper ratio,
Why not at once open our mints to the
free coinage of silver and declare to the
world that the country producing more
than one-thlrd the silver of the world IN
tends TO use silver as money-legal tender
money: Such course would give courage
10 al the bi-Inetallists in the world. and
would III a shor ume open ali the minis of
Europe to the unlimited coinage Of silver,
with the possible exceptions or Germany
and England, and both OF those countries
would IN few years be compelled to follow
the example of other nations or trade with
the world at great disadvantage.
IL IS SAID by The opponents of free coin
age that all the silver of the world viii
come here to be coined and we will be on
tae single standard of silver. But is this
trAe: what country can spare silver from
us currency where II is now being used.
The secretary of the treasury declares
there is no surplus OF silver in the world.
The royal commission of Great Britain de-
clared there was no surplus of silver The
mlnts OF India have been open ali the time
Tor the coinage of silver at a ratio per
cent below our ratio and 3 per cent below
the French ratio, and yet India
has not received as much sill
yer during the last fourteen Years as
she did from 1854 to 1870, like period
of fourteen years, when silver was higher
than the ratio of one to fifteen and one
half, measured by gold. The minis OF Mex
leo and japan have been open for the coin
age OF silver below the market rate, vet
silver mas not gone to those minis in I'M
usual quantities, simply because there is no
surplus of silver. China has now opened
her minis for the coinage of silver much
below the market rate, its ratio being
trifie above ours
There is no danger of an influx of silver
from India and China, for those countries
do not have a sufficient amount for their
own use. India with $50, 000, 900 of people,
according to the report of the United
States treasury department, has little more
silver than France, with about one-eighth
of the population. Not a dollar Of silver
can be shipped from Europe to the United
States and coined at our ratio, but that
there will be loss of from to per cent.
The experience of the last seventeen wears
has demonstrated that it is dangerous to
attempt to discard silver, and it is quite
certain that no country now using silver as
money will use any less than it is now
using.
If the minis of the world were open to
the unlimited coinage of silver, the demand
for silver would be greater than ever be-
fore. If we open our minis to the free
COludS0 VI SILVER, Ill Inc world Will be
ready and willing to join US in fixing
ratio between gold and silver by which it
shall be received at the minis of the world.
What will that ratio be?
The great mass of silver now in use as
money is coined at the ratio of fifteen and
one-half to one, and if we agree to that
ratio and recon our silver now in the coun-
try it will be appreciated not less than 3
per cent, and our production, now about
fifty million ounces, will not only be APP
preciated the per cent difference in our
ratio and the European ratio, but win gain
the difference between the mint value ard
The present market value, and the gain will
amount to not less than twelve million five
hundred thousand dollars per annum. This
amount viii be added to the wealth of the
country. twill not go into the pockets of
the silver miners as claimed, but will be-
cause of the increased price of all prod
ucts, increase the cost of mining silver and
so be distributed through all the agencies
production throughout the country
II. NJ TELLER