The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1893-10-11


of the war, when both gold and silver
were driven out of circulation ly the
cheaper "greenbacks." So we see how
our own history clearly establishes the
fact-confrms the Gresham law-that
the cheaper currency invariably drives
out the dearer, and that, too, even
where the difference is very slight. Can
any man of sound mind and under
standing doubt that it would do so still
more when the silver dollar is worth
but little over half that of the gold dol
lar as at present?
THE DISHONEST LEADERS.
I, of course, give the able and astute
leaders of our free silver fanatics cradit
for entirely too much intelligence to
suppose for moment that they are
ignorant of the above mentioned fnan-
cial laws and Of their inevitable results,
as shown by our own history, as we'll
as that of other countries. The Stew
arts and Tellers and Blands and Vests,
and some of our lesser luminaries even
down South understand perfectly we'll
that the inevitable effect Of the free
coinage Of silver at the present ratio, or
at any other ratio short Of absolute in
trinsic parity With gold, would be to
drive out of circulation the $500, ,0O0,-
600 to 500, ,0O0,0 ,0Oc gold currency in the
country, to diminish our circulation to
that extent, and TO leave US with the
silver alone, on level financially with
Mexico, China and other semi-civilized
countries. But while these leaders
fully understand what would be the
effect of free coinage, they have not the
honesty to confess it, or the patriotism
to seek to avoid such a dire calamity
as this policy would bring on the coun-
try. They are not wanting in intelli-
gence, but they are wanting in honesty
and patriotism.
THE IGNORANT RANK AND FILE.
AS to the rank and file of our free
silverites, especially down here in the
South, I charitably admit that they
are not familiar with financial laws,
and consequently may not know what
would be the effect of the policy they
are supporting. They do not know
that it would contract our currency to
an alarming extent, iDstead of expand
ing it as they are misled into believing.
They are not aware that it would re-
duce the country to silver standard,
and degrade US financially to the level
of semi-civilized countries. All this is
carefully kept away from them by their
astute leaders. They are not wanting
in honesty and patriotism perhaps, at
least I am loath to think so, but they
are wofully wanting in intelligence.
Neither they, however, nor their lead
ers have any right whatever to lay
claim to being bimetallists, for the
policy they advocate, if carried into
effect, would lead direct and on short
notice to silver monometallism.
OTHER MoNoPoLL1sTs.
So much then as to my first class Of
monometallists, on the other two classes
I need not dwell at such length. We
have as yet but few gold monometal-
lists in this country, and no agitation
in that direction. The big stories of
international conspiracies, and Of the
expenditure of large sums of English
gold in the interest of gold monome-
tallism with which we are regaled from
time to time by our silver fanatics are
simply myths, the inventions of the
fertile and versatile imaginations Of
our Rocky Mountain friends. In Eu-
rope, where they have had more ex-
perience with the single gold standard
and with silver used only as subsidiary
coinage, and have found it to work
well, gold monometallists are more
numerous in the majority I have no
doubt. Especially is this the case in
England, where they have had the
single gold standard since 1916. There
no element of the people of any i'm
portance politically is found to advo-
cate even bimetallism, and much less
of course silver monometailism.
TWO STANDARDS NOT NECESSARY TO
BIMETALL1sM.
But, even in England, where gold is
the only standard of value, and has
been for over seventy.five years, one
sees silver in general circulation quite
as much as we do here in the United
States. Indeed, the Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, with population
of about 3S,O00,0O0, holds and uses as
money Sl00,000,000 in silver, while we,
with population of over 100000,
are able to keep in actual circulation,
according to the monthly report
(August y of the treasury department,
only a little over S120, 900, 900, includ-
ing both standard silver dollars and
subsidiary or fractional silver. 1t is
clearly manifest from this that it is not
at all necessary to maintain both the
gold and silver standards in order to
keep both metals in use as money.
But while we have in this country
few or no real gold monometallists, we
have very many, and these of our
highest and soundest financial autho-
rites, who do not regard silver in its
present deprecated and ever varying
value as at all suited for stan dard by
which to measure other values. A
standard or measure Of value, as money
is intended to be, should be as nearly
fixed and Interchangeable as possible
1t would be quite as sensible to Lave
an ever varying yard-stick or a bushel