Los Angeles herald., 1892-02-15

wheat and cotton ahd other exports
which, in her currency, have not lost
their value at home or abroad. This
system looks as an indirect bonus upon
all such exports from silver standard
countries. Not 80 with the American
farmer. Free silver is coined only on
gold account. We are thus tied to the
single gold standard; consequently
when gold goes up, as compared to sill
yer, wheat, cotton and other exports
fall in price. In other words, as silver
falls below gold, so also our articles OF
export trade, especially farm products,
fall in price. These facts were clearly
brought out in the investigation OF the
British royal commission.
"An explanation further is that the
farmer in all silver countries, who sells
his products for gold in gold using
countries, gets gold. If, therefore, wheat
is worth dollar a bushel in London,
for a bushel of wheat sold there, the
farmer will get gold dollar. This gold
dollar will buy silver enough in the
London market to coin into dollar and
quarter, at our ratio, and more at the
ratio of India. Therefore the farmer in
silver standard countries really gets a
dollar and quarter for his wheat. The
but can not with that gold dollar buy
silver for coinage at home, for the rea-
son that free coinage is denied him, sill
yer coinage here being limited to
the government account. Free silver
coinage would put silver and gold on
practical parity, thus putting the
American farmer on an equality with
the Hindoos and other silver-using peO-
pie. 1t is beyond doubt that free coin
age of silver would thus add at least II
to Is per cent to the value of all farm
products"
The report quotes from an article
printed in the past week in Wall
street paper calling attention to the fact
that silver and cotton are selling at the
lowest prices in history. A telegram
from New York, dated February 1st, is
also quoted. The telegram related
that cotton tumbled the day before, and
after noting that the decline was partly
due to the large unused supply, said:
"The low price of silver was also factor
in the decline, as England settled with
India in silver, and the lower silver
goes, the cheaper England can buy in
India"
Continuing, the report says bread
stuffs are doing somewhat better now
than cotton, owing to the failure of
such crops nearly everywhere except
in the United States. This brings the
report up to the discussion of bullion
purchases.
Bullion purchases" it says, twill
not restore the parity of the two metals.
Bimetallism does not tolerate the idea
that one metal, gold, for instance, shall
be set up as standard by which the
other metal, or silver, shall be purchased
or measured. This is gold monometal-
lism and fixes gold as measuring the
metal, or the sole valuation. Bimetal-
lism means each metal shall be stand
ard with itself. Free coinage of
silver means that all silver bullion
of 412% grains standard, and 38I54
pure silver, shall be worth one dollar,in
| lawful payments. 1t Is bullion that in
fact is legally monetized. The being
so, bullion to the amount OF 4l211a grains
of standard silver is always worth one
dollar, because the law so declares.
Silver cannot fall below the value the
government gives it at the mint. because
the mint is an open market for all OF it
at fixed price. The same may be said
of gold. Yet other countries may make
such demand for gold as to make that
metal more valuable than silver. They
may in time make such demand for
silver as to put it above gold, but at our
mints they remain the same in debt
paying power" The report then
quotes from a well-knovn authority to
| the effect that as the( people want al
ways to pay in cheaper money, the de-
mand under double standard for the
metal which falls off in price, results in
raising the value of that metal again
and bringing the two together.
In conclusion. the majority submit
the report made at the last session by
Mr.. Bartine of Nevada, who, as the
leader OF the free-coinage Republicans,
made comprehensive, exhaustive and
| judicial review of the silver question in
all it's details.