The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1891-12-16
FOSTERS ASSERTION 5.
Effects of the Republican Policy Upon
the Treasury.

fOS En- . ASSCn WV
Effects of the Republican Policy Upon
the Treasury.
Secretary Foster is the present repre-
sentative of republican finance. Like
others who have preceded him MIR.
Foster is careless as we'll of his asser-
tions as of his arguments. He asserts
chat the act of July, 1890, commands
me to preserve the parity between gold
and silver" Possibly the secretary has
other evidence of this than has been
made public. He will find no such
command in the statute, nor will he
find words that may fairly be SO con-
strued He will find an empty declara-
ton that it is the policy of the govern
ment to maintain the parity between
the two metals, but MOI word COM
manding him to do other than to re-
deem ''in coin" whatever of the bills
issued in purchase of the silver bullion
there may be presented for such re-
demptiOn. He asserts that he has
obeyed a law that does not exist, and
declares. II am firmly Of the opinion
that the parity of the two metals can
be maintained under the present pol
cy." 1t is fair to hold Mr.. Foster to
these words. Let him examine the
facts and sec whether he can in them
find warrant for either his opinion or
his sta cments.
AS to the effect of the present policy
Mr. Foster may in time learn what has
been known to careful thinkers for
ages, that no logical reasoning can be
offered for the maintenance of an ar
bitrary legal standard to determine the
value of silver or any other product of
mans industry. Like any other metal,
silver fuctuates under the influence of
the law of supply and demand. If Mr.
Foster will review the facts he will
discover, also, that since the passage OF
the act on which he relies for the main
tenance of the parity between the two
metals the relation between gold and
silver has widened and that the ruling
market price of the silver bullion in
the possession of the government for
the redemption of the treasury notes
Has tlctEtbScN luoIC tlldh i'S
dollars And if the secretary has not
forgotten the rule of three he may
amusc himself by figuring out the
problem: IF the purchase of seventy
million ounces of silver and holding it
as bullion has resulted in the deprecia-
ton of its value twenty points what
would be the depreciation resulting
from the purchase and storage of one
hundrd and forty million ounces Of sill
ver?"
But if the secretary of the treasury
desires to make further examination
of this subject let him apply to the
problem in hand the simple rules
which he understands to govern the
relatively of all commodities. His
present contention that the party of
the two metals would be better sus-
tanned if all nations would unite in
the use of silver as money on the basis
Sof free coinage is but the statement
that the larger use of the white metal
would cause a steadier demand, and,
consequently, steadier price or rela-
tiv;ty to gold and all commodities.
Let him apply this to existing ccm-
modities He knows that with eve. "
twenty-four hours the treasury is
adding seven tons to it's vast hoar|. of
silver bullion. The secretary recog-
nizes it as commodity. Will he Sc
riously argue that the steady Increase
of the visible supply of a commodity
can have the effect of increasi ng its
selling price? Does he not know that
the increase in this visible supply is
constant menace to the stability of the
price of silver? He does know that
every calculation as. TO the price of
wheat and all agricultural products is
based on the reported "visibIe supply"
And yet he is/undisturbed because the
natural result of the policy sustained
by his party has resulted as he might
have anticipated if he had applied to
silver common, everyday principles
understood and relied upon by every
business man in the country. Under
the policy of his party the reservoir is
constantly being filed with silver bull
lion. Already the amount is beyond
all possible demand for the metal "as
bullion" But the republican states
man affects to believe that Il contin-
uance of this policy must maintain a
parity which does not exist and cannot
exist under the conditions produced by
republican folly. Chicago Times.