Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1893-07-11

ing tHeli inuuliNl 70 10 present. a
was road from Walter @. Hadley,
me from ex.Governor Prince aud Que
rom A. G. Fisk, OF Denver, asking that
convention make some expression IN
to a meeting OF tho PAN Amor
can Ri Metallic Association.
Governor Thornton being present he
was invited to "a seat on the platform
and Gov. Ross and Prof. Ramsey, Of
the University Of New Mexico, we're ap-
a committee to escort him to
the platform. The chairman announced
that the Governor needed no introduce
ton to the people of New Mexico. The
spoke as follows:
Mr.. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:
affords me great pleasure TO be with
you on this oconslon and take part in the
discussion Of a question IN which we are
interested, a question which not only
affects the producers Of silver but the
producers Of corn, cotton and iron. It
Affects every man who has to 1--we by the
sweat Of his brow. What is a circulate
ing medium It is simply that device
which the ingenuity of mar has devised
as a means Of measuring one mans labor
by that OF another. In other words.
money is but a measure and it should be
as SUMMARIZING as a weight. A bushel Of
wheat that weighs GO pounds today and
so pounds tomorrow would be an unjust
one. From time immemorial there has
been adopted by civilized people two
separate and distinct metals at separate
and distinct ratios and those metals are
gold and oliver. We are met today with
a condition that is very strange. Within
20 years the relative value Of gold and
silver has so varied that there is a want
Of confidence. Banks are suspendiug
aud factories are closing. Laboring men
can find no means OF earning a living.
The prosperity Of the people in one To-
cality is dependent largely on the condi-
tion Of the people throughout the world
There has been a fixed ratio Of gold to sill
yer Of 151 10 16 to / in nearly all coun-
tries but it is now contended by the gold
bugs that the depreciation in the price
of silver is the result Of over. production
of that metal. Right here Is the import
and question to examine. Is it over-pro-
ductiou? II it is the gold bugs are
right; on the other hand il all these met
ais are required for the transaction Of
business, then it is the duty Of the peo-
pie to see that the legislation against
silver be undone and that the metals be
put on the same footing as heretofore.
Let us look and see what has been the
effect of legislation on the value Of gold
and silver. Let us look at a time when
the legislation Of the world treated these
metals alike. 1 have with me some sta
tistics furnished by the royal commission
of England in 1875. Between the years
1901 and 1910 the average annual pro-
duction Of silver was eS,200,0O0 and Of
gold e2,4S0,000, then the production OF
gold was about one-third the production
Of silver. From 1911 to 1920 the average
annual production of silver was e4,SG6,-
600 and for the same time the annual
production of gold was e1,596,000. With
out following the figures from year to
year we find that between 1856 and 1866
the annual production of silver was e.
235,O00, while that Of gold had in
creased to G2s,OOO,OOO or in other
words the production of silver
had practically STOOD still while
gold had increased from e2,4S0,00O to
e28,000,OO0 per year or an average in.
crease of over one thousand per cent
During all this this time the conditions
so far as the free coinage of gold and
silver was concerned were the same
What effect did this enormous increase
in the annual production of gold
have on the price OF gold and silver in
the markets of the world? There never
was a time during all that period when
the value of the two metals Auctuated
three per cent. If the theory of over
production is the cause of the deprecia.
ton in the price of silver it is strange
that the production Of one metal and
the want of production of the other al
that time, that the gold production Of
California, Australia and New Zealand
failed to lower it in price. That it dld
not IS perfectly reasonable. What mar
would pay three per cent. more for golC
than for silver il he mas the privilege o.
going down in his pocket and paying
either? from 1868 to 1873 we find a new
condition of affairs. The decentralization
Of silver had been commenced. From
1873 the proportion Of the production Of
the production of gold and silver has
been about 800 in silver to 800 in gold
There has been no great variation in the
production OF these metals. At no time
has the production Of silver exceeded
that Of gold twenty per cent. Has the
ruling price Of gold stood still since
1873? If the price Of these metals IS no,
due TO production it is due to legislation
We find today that instead Of silver be
ing worth S1.29 an ounce Il ls worth Z.
cents an ounce. Does any man believe
that if the world goes to using silver
dollars to pay debts today silver woulc
not be worth s1.29 an ounce in less thar
a month"; We are told that the western
people are dishonest and that they are
trying TO make 60 cents a dollar. Is Il
not true that the creditor class, the PEG
pie who own the world, are trying to en-
nance the value Of a dollar, that while
they loan a dollar worth one hundred