The Brookhaven leader., 1891-04-16
SILVER COINAGE.
0nls . Palliative, Temporary at the Bes,
Give I-s PAPER Money.

IN our last issue the demand of the
alliance on the loaning of money was
discussed. The next and last on the
finance question is in these words; I'VE
demand the free unlimited coinage Of
silver" From time immemorablc gold
has been the money idol of worship.
The use of gold as money has been
handed down from barbarous time.
Its greatest use and only advantage as
money is its scarcity. i. being of small
bulk can be easily hid away in perilous
times. In such times it being of small
bulk, non-perishable, which neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt and value
as metal whether coined or not, it is
highly priced for its smallness of bulk,
the ease of hiding and its non-perisha-
BILE nature. In times of peace it is used
as an engine of oppression to Cypress
the poor and rob the industrious by
making it a basis of paper currency
and the measure of all values. The
political economist tells us IL the
amount of the worlds metal money
were doubled it would be worth but
half price, or the relative value would
be but half as much; in other words,
other products would double in price.
If this were a fact the industrial classes
would get double pay for their produce.
The statement is only approximately
! correct II it were correct to reduce the
/ worlds money to, say, 500, the 500
would purchase all of the products
| which were for sale. In other words,
| the 500 being a representation of all
other values, which is what is claimed
for money, would represent the value
of all other valuable productions which
were for sale. From very ancient times
gold worshipers have always contended
that gold was the standard of value,
and by it all other values were meas
ured. The statement, to say the least,
is doubtful, for gold before coming is
only worth its commodity value and
its additional value or what it is worth
to coin. When gold is coined it is
worth, in the country which coined it,
the commodity value and what is added
to it by fiat. When it passes beyond
the limits of the country it goes for
what it will weigh, and sells as a com
modify for what it is worth to recon.
Gold is ever changing. 1t changes
from one country to another; at the
same time it is continually changing in
value, and still it is called stable and a
measure of all values. 1t changes it's
value again when paper is used as
money. In fact it has little value when
there is plenty of paper money, for the
| people use the paper money and let the
| gold remain hid away in vaults Silver
money is in the same category. No one
wants it except for small change, and
the nation would use but little of that
metal if they could get paper in
sufficient quantities to transact bust
ness. There is a dearth of money.
The people are suffering for the want
of it. They are not particular about
the kind, hence the demand for free
coinage of silver. If they can get free
coinage of silver it will add to the cir
culating medium to a limited extent,
not as much as many anticipate. The
bankers and politicians have made such
an ado about silver, that it would in.
fate prices, that part of the people are
terrified and borrowing trouble about
that which will never arise. All of the
silver which the world produces
if all is coined to linn
tied extent it will reduce the price of
gold and add to the price of silver. The
coinage of silver will furnish a market
for all that is mined and raise its price
The result will be that gold will dcpre-
ciate and silver appreciate. The two
will be on parity and the products of
other industries will bring a better
price, but the difference will never be
as great as many anticipate. Making
free coinage of silver will never double
the money of the world unless more is
mined than at present, or less used in
the arts or manufactures. In solving
this question it will be interesting to
know what the metal money of some of
| the leading nations is. In the Bank erS'
Magazine we find an estimate, and they
certainly would not place it too high.
| Their estimate is:
Franco, $500, 90 00l
France, 700 600 COO
United Kingdom, gold.............. so 0O0 COO
Unitel Kingdom, silver. 215, COO 900
Germany, gold. '...'...'............. tCO OOD'W
Germany, silver. 2l5,0 900
United States, gold Observation-Disclosures. 81 GOT 1i2
United States, silver. ZIG, 298, OF
IL we take the other European ma
tons who use both gold and silver, and
the Asiatic nations who use mostly sill
yer, we shall find that the gold money
and silver money of the world is about
equal, and the great fuss which the
gold worshipers have made about silver
driving gold out, and the great imitation
which is to come as a consequence, is
all fatal delusion, an invention of the
gold worshipers to rob the producers
The alliance has made in their de-
mand for free coinage, move
in the right direction, a step to
increase the circulating medium
in the interest of the producers
The producers, to be prosperous, must
have greater circulating medium. For
instance, if there were but 500 in exist
ence and everybody bidding for it, the
poor, those of moderate means, and the
well to do would never get one dollar
of it. The rich would get it all; and it
is proportionally the same whenever
there is too little in circulation. The
rich ones have the bulk, while the bal
ance are robbed and never get more
than an existence. The demand is right,
and will be right as long as the people
are so idiotic as to think they must have
metal money, money which no one
will use or think of using as long as