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

tion. We offer the following in prooi
of our second proposition:
Mr.. Henry Hucks Gibbs, one Of the
delsgsees from Great Britain, in the
conference of 1878, said:
The silver coin, withdrawn from circuls-
tion by Germany, has become merchandise
and as, by virtue of an economic law which
nobody contests, the price Of any product
Of any merchandise, of whatever kind il
may be, is governed by the abundance Of
that merchandise, rising or falling accord
ing as the commodity exists in smaller OF
larger quantity, the price of silver must
have fallen by the mere fact of German sill
YER being suddenly transferred from cur
rent coin into merchandise in the ware
house. [See Report, page ~
In the conference Of 1881, MIR. Ma
guin, French minister of finance, said;
To prohibit in great countries the mintage
of metal which had been hitherto freely
coined, and expect that this metal would
maintain its former value would be con-
tradiction. To foresee the fall Of silver was
easy, and it was inevitable.
In August, 1876, congress appointed a
monetary commission composed Of sena-
tors and representatives with instructions
not only to inquire into the causes to which
should be attributed the change in the rela,
tive value Of gold aud silver, but also to ex-
anime whether the adoption of the
system would not be advisable.
In the month of March, 1877, this commits
sion brought in its report.
The conclusions arrived at were that the
fall of silver in relation to gold had not
been brought about by natural events, but
solely by legislative action. [see Report,
pages Z and g..
Mr.. Dana Horton, one of the dele
gates of the United States, in a series
of questions concerning the nature
and history of money" asks:
Has not the monetary law, which has
created almost the entire use made of the
precious metals, likewise created nearly the
whole of their Value2
And again:
Have not coincident changes in monetary
law, reducing the supply Of money in the
western world by withdrawal oflegsl tender
power from existing silver coins, by exclud-
ing silver from coinage, and by checking
the circulation of existing money, been the
controlling factor in this reduction? Pages
50, SO and a.
Mr.. Pierson, delegate of the Neither
lands, said:
l do not say that the increase in the pro-
duction and the diminution in the demand
for India have had nothing to do with the
fall of silver; these two causes have GER
tainly aggravated it. But l think l may
maintain that neither of these phenomens
would have had a sensible influence on the
relation of value between silver and gold, il
the Latin union, Germany and Holland had
maintained their monetary systems as they
stood before 1871. Page so.
Count Rusconi, delegate of Italy,
said:
Would not what has happened to silver
have happened just the same to gold it,
adopting the idea of an illustrious eoono.
mist whom we have unfortunately lost, il
had been demonetized9 Page 1884,
Mr.. Dana Horton, delegate Of the
United States, says, on page 1872:
But for statutes, TO be read in the books
which have cited, gold would have been
where silver is to-day.
Mr.. Cerunschi presented memo
rsndum of Mr.. r. B. Chapman, of the
Gno0n,ol IaDorAv,,ank 80 Rba r,0yarD