The advocate and Topeka tribune., 1892-10-12

effects Of their proposals upon the existing
standards of value, and thus upon contracts
throughout the world, earnestly and per-
sistently advocated the disuse Of gold az
money; if their advocacy had prevailed, the
value of gold would have been destroyed.
Now again, within the last few years silver
has been actually demonetized in Europe,
the stability Of its value being thereby seri-
ously impaired. Plainly, either metal might
be at any moment demOnetized, and its
value indefinitely reduced by human legis-
lation.
And again:
If the conclusion be accepted, and it ap-
pears undeniable that human legislation, by
causing their disuse as money, and 80 in
Capacitating them for the duty Of STORM
value, can deprive either or both Of the
precious metals Of the greater part of their
value, it follows, conversely, that the value
of either metal can, by the same instrumen-
tality, be increased at the expense of the
other. and, accordingly, that their relative
value can, within wide limits, be fixed and
defined. Pages 1876 and 1856.
Count Rusconi said:
Do not the precious metals. lose nine
tenths or their value, if they are deprived of
the faculty of being converted into money!
What has happened to silver, and what
would happen if the mintage of it was
everywhere suspended, prohibited? Would
not that metal Immediately lose nearly all
it's value? Page 299.]
Alexander Del Mar, in his history
of the precious metals, says:
Legal regulations, first, concerning the
ratio itself, and second, concerning money
at all, are next to quantity, the most potent
influences that determine the ratio of value
between the precious metals. Page 227.]
Again, page 2G:
The monetization or demonetization Of
either metal, or a change of standard, as it
is called, will diminish the supply compared
with the demand of the monetized metal.
Such an act will enhance the demand with
out increasing the supply, and thus render
the monetized metal dearer, and contrari-
wise the demonetized metal cheaper.
Prof. Francis A. Walker, in his
work on money, says:
The extensive fall in the value of silver
since 1873, which is often referred to as
proving the unftness of silver to be joined
with gold in the Office of money, appears to
me to show most strikingly the power Of
legislation in keeping the two metals to-
gether. Page 266.
Again, in a foot note on the same
page, he says:
That the changes in the comparative pur-
chasing power of the two metals between
1873 and 1876 were wholly or mainly due to
changes in supply, or to changes in demand
disconnected from the acts of government
dealing with the legal relations of gold and
silver, / really cannot conceive any inteli-
gent and candid man as now maintaining.
Third-It follows from the preced-
ing considerations and authorities
quoted, that were gold, instead of sill
YER, the metal demonetized, it would
be the one whose value would be de-
preciated as a commodity, while sill
yer, possessing all its privileges as q
money metal, would maintain its coin
value as bullion, and the price of gold
would be measured by it. Where,
then, is the consistency of the pre-
tense that the proposed free coinage
of silver is in the interest solely Of
the mine owners. who would therebv