Evening journal., 1891-05-25
THE vAGARles OF slLvERIres.


There are several species Of silverites
there are several classes Of men who put
themselves under the general generic
name Of friends Of silver"
These friends Of silver" are some
times spectators, who wish to create q
market or boom" silver; mine owners.
whose profits depend on the market price
Of the commodity which they have to
sell ignorant men who believe In more
money" statesmen who maintain that q
larger volume of circulating medium
would in some magic manner make the
people richer
There is no particular objection to
some Of the vsgaries which these various
sorts Of friends Of silver" PROFOUND.
Some of them are as harmless as the
greenback vagarles, some of them are as
foolish as the visions OF wealth and hap
piness which are conjured up by the
Western farmers In their proposition to
borrow money from the government on
land at per cent. Some OF the other
propositions are not vagaries; they are
distinct and definite schemes for unload
ing silver on the government at the OK
pense Of the people and TO increase the
profits Of the mine owners and specula-
tors by enhancing the price Of silver,
These latter schemes are as startling
In their nsgrant selfshness as the fool
ishness Of the "more money" vagaries is
astounding.
Every time any country has yielded to
the demand for more money the value Of
the circulating medium has decreased Il
Is not necessary to explain the reasons
for this to thoughtful man, for they
are obvious to him. To an impartial man
it is only necessary to say that such has
always been the case.
Money deprecated in this country
during and after the revolution, in 1882
and again during the civil war In France
1t deprecated during the French revolu
tion.
I'm all OF these cases" says Professor
Simon Newcomb, "the authorities and
the public got very angry aud made all
sorts Of complaints against the specula
tors, the forestallers and the brokers,
and throateAed to do all sorts of things
with them believe that Napoleon
actually hanged some of them, and
Washington was very sorry that he could
not hang them. But all of these
are perfectly silly. You may
just as we'll LET food against dam and
then complain because the dam breaks
aud the flood destroys the country below
The wage learners are the people below
and the inflated currency is the flood
which they let Into the dam above them
because they think it is very nice to have
plenty OF water"
The value Of currency depends on the
credit Of the government and upon Its
ability TO redeem its circulation in
standard which Is recognized the world
over-gold,
Silver, or paper. or any other circulat.
ing medium, is similar to a mortgage on
a piece Of real estate. A mortgage OF
S5, 600 on $40, 600 worth Of property is
current and valuable; ten first mort
cages OF the same amount on the same
would all be equally worthless.
Just as soon as 1t was announced that |
the government would pay gold dollar
for every outstanding greenback dol
lar. though there were over
$500, 0OO 600 paper to 500, 1000, 900 in
gold, the value of the paper became par
with gold.
The vagaries Of the "friends OF the |
silver WILL fruit into effect, not en-
hanes the value Of silver without increas-
ing the burden Of taxation on the people.