The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-02-24
THE SILVER CONTROVERSY.
Views For and Against Unlimited Coin
age.

one of the Warmest admirers of the
ability. candOr and impartiality with
which it is conducted, as well as of the
brave stand it has uniformly taken for
the right in the discussion OF b great
economic and social questions OF the
day" submits some interesting views
on the silver question. He says:
Do not understand me as complain
ing that YOU oppose the free coinage of
silver. In view of the fact that such
numbers of the great doctors of finance
are ranged upon opposite sides of this
question it would il-becOme a mere
private in the ranks like myself to dog
Matte on the subject, o particu-
larly as l am free to confess that in
MANY respects the question is too deep
for me, and has ramificatiOns which
extend far beyond what little financial
knOwledgeI possess, so that, acknOwE
edgingm my ignorance, and enrOlling my
selfasa scholar in the educational cam
paign which The Sun advocates, l
would nevertheless like to call attention
to a few points that seem to me to lie,
practically, If not theoretically, at the
very root of the matter, and to ask a
few questions which I hope The San
will kindly nswer
Referring to your editorial of the oath
of January, it seems to me to be ad-
dressed altogether to the question of an
unlimited initiation of the currency, as
if that was the bone of contention. IN
questionably such initiation, controlled
by no law and limited by no reference
to the necessities of the country, could
In the end have but one result, andthat
disastrous, the medium of that in
fatiOn silver, or paper, Or even gold it
self. | do not understood that the
80 oI--01o401Of fTpO0 OTn ~ -0
such initiation, or admit that 1T Will or
can result from the adoption of that
policy.
But, aside from this aspect of the
question, does not the indiSputable fact
remain that the volume of currency in
circulation is greatly below the needs
of the country? and is it not true that
since the demonstration act of 1873,
gold having been the single standard of
value, and being insufficient in guam
tity to meet the enormous increase in
the demands of trade? It has become
enhanced in value to just the extent
of the depreciation in the price of the
great staples of trade and commerce.
And if this is so, how al the claim be
sustained that gold is and must remain
the one supreme and Interchangeable
standard to which all other values must
be made to conform. AS a recent
writer in the Boston Arena expresses
it, when, through a series of years, a
given sum of money, (gOld(, says 81, 900,
viii buy a larger and larger aggregate
quantity of the great staples-cOrn,
wheat, -four, pork, wool, cotton, &c
then the proof is clear and conclusive
that the value Ofthe dollar has become
by just so much appreciated, and then
there is a loud call for the repeal of a
statute that makes such behavior of the
standard possible"
Now, if it is concluded, as I think it
will be, that a large increase in the
circulation is a necessity, as If our eX-
p~erience since 1878 shows that to base
any increase of the currency entirely
upon gold as the standard of value can
only result in a continued enhancement
of the value of gold, and consequent de-
probation In the price of all cOmmOdi-
ties, does it not follow that there is an
absolute necessity that gold shall be
displaced from a position of such peril
Ous prominence? And such being the
case, how can the conditions of the
problem be better met than by restOr-
ing the status quo and replacing the
white metal, silver, in the position it
had for so many years, or centuries
rather, and when it would have still &C
cepted without question hadi it not been,
in the first place, for the course of Eng
land, as the largest creditor nation of
the world, in establishing the supremacy
of gold in order to enhance the value of
the medium in which all debts due her
should be paid, supplemented in this
country by the act of 1878, the only eX-
PLANTATION of which is to be sought in
motives similar to these by which the
English Government was aCtuated. No
me can deny that that act of the United
States has largely contributed to bring
about the present anomalous and de
plOrable condition of financial matters
the richpiling up mOuntains of wealth
and the poor each year finding 1T harder
to emancipate themselves from their
poverty, until we are brought face to
face with statement which Mr.. ingalls,,
IN a recent speech in the United States
Senate, described, in not too extrava-
CANT terms, as 1.-The most appalling that
ever fell upon mortal ears" namely,
that In a population of sixty-two and
One-half millions thirtY-one thousand
persons possess over $50, 900, 000, 600, or
more than One-half of the entire accu-
INFLATED wealth Of the country. That
a financial system under which such a
result as this is possible needs readjust-
ment goes without saying. Whether
that reimbursement ought to include the
reconciliation and free coinage of sill
yer may admit of controversy; that it
is demanded by an overwhelming ma
jority of the American people is, I
think, Unquestionable. Mr.. Ingalls,,
whom I do not admire as a man or a
politician, but who may be admitted to
be well informed upon this question,
stated in the speech to which I have
alluded that There is not a State in
the Union west of the Alleghenies or