Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1893-07-27
A Colorado Letter on the Sill
yer Question.
OURAY. Colo, July 20. 1898.

universally entertained by the people OF
Colorado upon the financial issues OF
the day, now uppermost IN the public
mind, and believing further, that the
interest of the people of Wisconsin IS
identical with that of the people OF Colo
RADIO, if you will permit. Mr.. Editor, |
will obtrude myself upon your readers
for the purpose of stating our views.
The standard money of the world
from the time OF Abraham down to the
year 1873, has been gold and silver, and
coined, according to Prof. Max Fuller,
OF Oxford University. England. at
ratio, never less than y parts of silver
% one of gold, and meyer greater than
16 parts of silver to one of gold.
ia the year 1871, Germany in order
to make the war indemnity sgainst
France the more onerous, demonetizec
silver, and in 1873, the United States
elandestinely demonetized it. Not
living member of either the then House
of Representatives or the Senate, ex-
cept John Sherman, acknowledges that
he knew it was done. General Grant
who signed the bill demonetizing silver,
did not know that it was done for two
years afterwards. Reasonable proof
exists that 100000 of British gold was
the moving cause. Divers attempts
have been made in Congress to right
this wrong, but the money power has
always been too strong to accomplish
that object. The metropolitan press
have been controlled by that influence,
and the masses of the people have
never had its importance to them inn
pressed upon them. The Senate of the
United States. the most conservative
body in the world. have passed free
coinage bill three times in the last two
years, and the single vote of your late
representative might have changed the
history of this issue.
At the time of the demonstration OF
silver by the United States, silver was
worth 81. SO per ounce, some four cents
higher than our coinage ratio. This
was because France still coined at the
ratio Of Isl instead of Is to one of
gold. After the decentralization Of sill
yer all known ratios between the two
metals Immediately disappeared, and
gold and silver parted company. And
from this imposed gold standard the
price of silver has been going down ever
since. so that now there is no profit in
its production, our mines are lying idle,
millions of dollars of invested capital
remains monument of wasted energy
and bankruptcy stares us in the face.
You can readily see, therefore, how this
money question has affected the people
of Colorado, but we are not the only
sufferers The people of Wisconsin and
Of Grant county are co-sufferer with US.
DO ou ask how?
John Stuart Mill states this principle
in his work, entitled Principles of Po-
litical Economy: "That an increase in
the quantity of money raises prices,
and a diminution lowers them, is the
most elementary proposition in the
theory of currency, and without 1t we
would have no key to any of the others"
Vol. IL, page 80.
Again, he says; IF the whole money
in circulation were doubled, prices
would be doubled II it were only in
creased one. fourth, prices would rise
one-fourth. There would be one-fourth
more money, all of which would be used
to purchase goods of somo description.
When there had been time for the in
creased supply of money to reach all
markets, or 10 permeate all the chan
nels of circulation, all prices would
have risen one, fourth" Vol. II, p. &c.
In 1873, according to Mint reports.
there was about 81 0,000,0 900 of gold
and silver used as money throughout
the world 1t was about equally divid-
ed between the two metals.
Now. supposing for minute, that
one of these money metals was destroy
ed or It's monetary function taken away,
what would be the etfectupon the price of
all property, except money? II the
principles above quoted arc correct,
property woald depreciate in value just
one-half. Supposing the monetary
functions of one of these metals We're
abridged. demonetized, made com
modify The sans as corn. cotton or
wheat. its value fixed by ana in terms
of the other money metal, then it is
clear that to the extent of its demone-
tization or abridgement, prices are
bound to fall.
This last supposition is true state
ment of the condition of silver as a
4 IL