The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1890-06-12
PLAIN DEALER,
COMMENCEMENT ESSAYS.

COMMENCEMENT, ESSAYS,
Delivered al the cresco High School Commence.
p,ent, June =, 1890.
BIMETALLISM.
ny WILLS A. TOMAS.
will not need to trouble you with a full and
exaggerated account OF the difficulty | had In
selecting subject for this occasion. for ii Is the
same old story that you have heard ever since
the invention Of essay writing. Neither can say
that have spent any slccpless nights thinking
about, or working over it, for don't believe in a
persons wearing himself out worrying over q pro-
ducfion that serves to show, not how much, but
how little the writer Of it really knows.
Bimetalism is subject that every one
ought TO be interested in, as IL Is live question
ri the present time and in the near future. il Il
likely to be- one Of the most, IL not the most i'm
portant question agitatng the mind OF the public.
Those YOU who have been reading the daily
papers know that there has been great deal oftalk
IN Congress lately on this question, and that sever
al bills relating this subject have been before
the Houses. II is no party question as IL the
Tariff, some Republicans and Democrats being OH
each side.
4 great many different substances have been
used - money. but the precious metals, gold and
silver are the best fitted Of any thing yet discover
ed to serve that purpose. In ancient history We
read Of cattle or pieces of stamped leather being
used as a medium Of exchange. The savage
tribes Of to-day use shells, and not great many
years ago rifle bullets tobacco, and beaver skins
were used right here in our own country, both rs
medium OF exchange aud as q standard Of value.
Gold and silver are specially fitted for this use,
because they combine certain qualities which
substance must possess in order to make good
money. First they are valuable; since money
has to be exchanged for valuable articles, il must
itself possess value. second, the value is 50 re-
lated to the bulk and weight, that the money is
not inconyenienfly heavy on the one hand, or
inconyenienty small on the other. Iron or lead
would not make good money, because II takes SO
much of either in bulk to contain much value.
II q person were going of on business, and wished
to take a few dollars of such money with him, he
would have to charter box car to carry 1t In. Ly
curgus, the old Spartan lawgiver, had all the
money made iron, and what was the result?
His subjects lost oil desire for money and all their
interest in commerce, because ii was 50 difficult
to carry on any sort OF trade with such 4 cheap,
heavy substance for money. Third. they are d.
-
twice as much gold as there is in q haiEeage.
and 1t is worth just twice as much; while a dia-
moi.d twice as large as another is worth at least
four times as much. Gold and silver are also
universally acceptable.
AL the civilized countries now use gold or sill
yer, or both as money. Gold being more valuable
than silver is preferable TO il for the payment OF
large debts because ii is more easily counted out
one thousand dollars. II he pay hirl in twenty
dollar gold pieces, he can count them out twenty
times as fast AS he could if he paid hims1n silver
dollars, and b. would have only onc-sixtcenth as
much weight to carry around with him. Gold
would not do for use in retail business where five,
ten, twenty-five and fifty cent pieces are needed,
because the coins would necessarily be 80 small
as to be inconyenicnt Silver is better adapted
10 this use. There is great convenience in us.
ing gold for the payment Of large debts aud silver
for small ones, and the only question Is How can
this best be done The usual method has been to fix
some proportion between the two metals.
The bimetallist. III supporting his claims. d.
vides countries into two classes-those in which
wages are high, and geld is the principal money
such as England, the United States and Holland
he calls gold Countries those in which wages
are low, and in which silver is the principal mon.
ey, he calls .'slvcr countries" China, India and
Mexico are good examples Of this class Now,
he proposes TO form league OF these countries,
which shall establish system of free coinage Of
both the precious metals, and he claims that even
II all the countries will not enter this league the
operations in these that do will tend to keep the
relative value of the metals close to the estab
lished mint ratio.
He urges that recommendation Is serious draw
back to trade between the gold and the silver
countries. For example, suppose merchant in
gold country sells cargo of goods to dealer
In 'silycr country and silver depreciates
during the time between the delivering of the
goods and the date of payment, ne would be
likely to lose all his profits, ii not great deal
more. On the other hand, if the price of silver
should rise, he would receive more than he
ought to. This tends 10 make .rade = game OF
chance.
The idea held by the biinetallist is that Govern
ments can. and ought TO regulate the demand and
supply Of the precious metals by coming them iii
to.money and making both ofthem legal tender to
an unlimited amount He says that IL the rattle
changes, the tendency will be to restore the old
ratio, or keep it Very close to 1t, for ii silver be-
comes cheaper ii will be sent TO other countries
and, in accordance with the law Of supply and
demand, as the amount decreases the value will
increase.
Here question arises rs to whether, even i
bimetall.sm is possible, 1t Is really practicable
The monometallist claims that il is not possible &c
have two metals serve us standards OF value and
that If it were possible it certainly would not bt
practicable. To begin with, the value OF none,
necessarily subject to greater and IN ore frequent
fluctuations when both silver and gold are lega
tender, than when only one of them is; because
when both are legal tender, the value OF none,
instead OF being affected by the variations In the
cost Of the production OF only one Of the metals
Ii affected by the variations In the cost OF III,
production Of both
By studying the history of both metals, il !,
found that the value Of gold iuctuates less ire
quently than that Of silver, and hence, the mon.
Ometallist rightly says that gold should be taken
Is the standard Of value. Ne docs not say tina,
only one metal shall be used as money but only
that the coinage of all but gold money be restrict
ed to certain amount, which shall be determin.
ed by the government. Taking into consideration
the facts that the value Of gold uctuatcs less than
that of silver, that gold is more acceptable than
silver, and that gold. having greater value thar
large debts it would seem that il is better fitted
to be made legal tender. Silver might be made
legal tender for the payment of small debts and
indeed, 1t often is. In England = creditor car
be compelled TO accept silver in the payment Of q
debt not exceeding forty shillings.
In comparison with gold. silver should be rated
little above its market value that is, in siiye,
dollar there should not be dellar's worth Of sil
yer, for ii there were slight increase in the mar
kct value Of silver would make ii profitable t
melt up the coins and sell them at the mint
When both the precious metals are legal tender
II the value Of enc of them changes, the deare
one win be driven out Of circulation. This Is Ii
accordance with certain law Of money know
as Gresham's law; which, briefly stated Is, 'Ba,
money drives out good money" 1t may be III
tered slightly SO as TO read, The cheaper none,
always drives out the dearer." To illustrate
suppose you were working by the day aud spel,