The Indianapolis journal., 1892-02-27
DIR. ROSS'S LECTURE.
He Talks on Monetary ACCOMPLISHMENTS
ty Extension Course.

The second lecture of the course in the
university extension work by Dr.. Ross
was given last night on Monetary Re-
with the one phase of the subiect-bimeral-
lism. and showed himself to be good
friend of silver. DR.. Ross said:
"There are two kinds of bimetallists. ma
tional and International The national BIZ
metallists. or free-coinage men. insist that
q single great nation like the United
States could. by opening her mint to the
free coinage of silver. restore the historical
ratio of silver to gold. viz: 16.l. The in
nation can maintain the old par against
the rest of the world. BImetallism, to be
successful. must be started by group of
great nations. They deny the assertion OF
the free-coinage men that this country
alone can safely restore silver to the cur
rency of the world. They declare that
with free coinage Europe Will hasten to
unload the discredlted metal upon us;
that she will sell her own silver for our
gold, and long before she has disposed of
her eleven hundred millions of silver our
seven hundred millions of gold Will have
slipped away from us. Free coinage then
will make us silver country. say the in
ternational bimetalIists.. -
What is bimetallismf Bimetallism 10 p
currency system in which both gold and
silver are freely coined into full legal
tender money at O fixed mint ratio. In
such q system the standard of value Is q
double standard, including both metals.
"Bimetalliem, at present, does not exist
Since 1874 there has not been mint In the
world where silver and gold were freely
coined into the standard monetary unit OF
the country. The United States. however.
comes nearest to bimetallisn. From 1878 to
1892 the United States has coined. under
the Bland Allison act. not less than twenty
four nor more than forty y-e1ght millions of
silver dollars year. The total coinage OF
silver dollars now amounts to about &c.
0C0, 600, of which 320.0OO.000 remain in the
vaults of the treasury as basis for silver
certificates.
Until the middle of this century gold
and silver were universally used as money.
The gold food of 1S4S raised prices, and led
TO an agitation for the silver standard.
But the silver food from Nevada. during
the sixties eversed the balance. and led to
the crusade against silver. This succeeded,
when, in 1878, Germany. Norway, Sweden,
Denmark and the United States demone-
tiZed silver. and the Latin countries closed
their mints. This blow at silver resulted
in great fall In price. In 1878 the United
States remonetiZed silver. and now leads
the way In the attempt to restore silver to
its former position. Its proposals have,
however. been thwarted by England. the
great creditor nation. whose interest lies in
favor of the gold famine that is enhanc-
ing the value of every debt owed to an En-
glishman. The great question of the fut-
ure is. shall England coerce the rest of the
commercial nations, or shall they coerce heri
Those who ysarn to make this a gold coun-
try are playing into the hands of the British
capitalists. The justification of bimetal-
lism is the need of more currency. At
present the standard of value is changing.
If Parliament were to decree that the
ancient metal yard-stick kept in the Tower
of London were to be heightened two
thirds of en- inch every year and that the
cloth measured by this new yard-stick, the
injustice would be no greater than that due
to the steady appreciation of the standard
of value.
"Cloth is measured by length. value by
number. Increasing the number of yard
length, but increasing the number OF dol
lars will alter the standard of value. The
currency may experience an absolute or a
relative contraction. In the former case
the money supply is diminished: in the lat
ter, the money need outruDs the money
supply. In this country we have both
kinds of contraction. Our currency is naI =
rowing owing TO the retirement of national
bank notes, while the volume of business
Is increasing 8 per cent annually.
1.-THE only test of a currency is q general
level of prices. If prices steadily fall the
currency is insufficient. Scores of tables
showing the prices of forty. fifty or hun
dred staple articles for each year since 1878.
show that the general level of prices has
been steadily falling. This means an en-.
richment of one portion of the community
at the expense of the rest. 1t is not cred
itors alone who gain at the expense OF
debtors; falling prices favor the past pro-
ducer and injure the present producer
Money represents the reward of past labor
the price of past products. The goods that
are continually Offering themselves to be
exchanged for this money are the fruits oil
present industry. Contraction of the cur.
haD hn to-
metallists is neither q dear dollar nor
cheap dollar. but a just dollar. an unchang
ing, equitable standard of value that takes
not a hairs weight from either the produc'
ing or the moneyed classes of the world"