Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1891-04-30
The Commercial Explains.


The Commercial Explains.
Abiding to the flow of gold from
the United States to England, the APP
parent surplus of the yellow metal
unemployed here and the compare
tive standard Of the metals in this
country, England and India, we
asked the Memphis Commercial to
explain, from these relative values,
how it Was that the free coinage sill
yer doll # Of 37l-2j grains is worth
only SO cents, as it has argued. The
Commercial was kind enough to
point out one or two very plain mis-
takes, which, in connection with ty-
geographical errors, made rather a
tumble Of the paragraph, but the
point, after all, remains unexplained.
The mistake in stating our gold
standard at 22l instead of 23-22
grains, as it is, does not alter the
case. 1t is the dollar after all. The
relation of Europe's silver to gold is
l54 Of silver as equivalent to l Of
gold our mint equivalents are 10
988 to THAT is, 37l-25 grains Of sill
yer is equal to 23-22 grains Of gold
standard dollars. Europe'5 standard
of silver is 1891 Compared in
price, Europes coin valuation Of sill.
yer is 1873 cents per fine ounce, while
our coin valuation is 1919 cents. In
other words, the American silver
dollar would recon into 1903 0j cents,
EurOpe's standard, making an actual
loss to Europe Of 3.O5 cents on every
dollar. Now it does not appear clear
from these facts how free coinage
would cause a precipitation Of the
whole legal tender stock OF Europe
81, 101, 400, 00O-on this country in eX-
change for our gold, as the CONNER.
cial argues. That would be a thing
impossible and too absurd to talk
about.
Our point, however, was ON the
India rupee of 3lS grains of silver,
equal to the English or standard gold
dollar, leaving difference of 23i
grains of silver in our favor, to which
the Commercial makes answer that
"there is no such trading going on"
We think the Commercial is mis-
taken; such trading is carried ON
through the produce or grain trade.
England uses silver to buy India
wheat. For instance, if a BUSH
cl of wheat here is worth $lOO--37Ii
grains silVer-and a bu,hel Of wheat
in India is worth "A rupee (samc as Il
dollar), England can make II rupee Of
our silver dollar and have net profit
of 235 grains Of silver left, after pay
ing for the buShel of India wheat,
and this is why we have lost our
grain trade with Europe toa great
extent since 1873 and reduced the
price of cotton. 1t is through the
demOnetiWtiOn Of silver that we
have lost our market and the balance
CT trade is against us, calling for gold
TO settle the balance.
The Commercial, however, falls |
back on the same explanation made /
by MIR. Window in his dying fort /.
to uphold the single gold standard,
that supply and demand control the
price of silver which is worth just
now % cents less than the gold stan
dard. OF course if silver is to be y .
commodity and not money, it will +
becoutroIled by supply and demand,
and SO would gold ii that was n com
modify and something else the
money standard.
The Commercial quotes from the I
New York Evening Post the opera .
tons of the present law to show that .
silver is driving out gold. Our
answer to that is, that the present .
law was not a Democratic measure. .
1t came from the Republican or gold .
standard side Of Congress rs a sub,ti-
tute for free coinage. The Democrats
didn' want il, but could get nothing
else or better, and had to take it. The
law is having just the effect that was
intended by its friends, making sill
Yer commodity to be paid for in
gold and stored away. Had it been
free coinage instead, silver would
have become money with coin value.
No gold would have been required
to purchase it, but on the other hand
it would have turned English gold
here not ouly 10 buy silver to supply
European demand at a higher price,
but to buy our wheat also, just as
France maintains more than her ;
share of the gold by her silver or
double standard circulation.
For RFNT-The cottage on College