The sun., 1893-07-17

The recovery In business so anxiously de-
sired will be greatly accelerated H. at the COM
ing session OF Congress. tho Sherman act Is
repealed promptly and uncondtionally. and by
vote sufficiently decisive to put an end to all
further agitation for the free coinage OF silver.
For It Is not to be deniel that the fear OF ro-
payment In silver hinders the flow to this
country OF European capital. whl,h would
both supply the demand for money and fur
nish means for carrying on many useful en-
terprises now suspended In itself. indeed.
tho sherman act Is not SO mischiovous Gs
most people think 1t is It's primary tendency is
to initiate the currency and drive out gold. but
this. Just nov. is moro than counteracted by
the shrinkage OF credit going on and Is not.
therefore. harmful Tho purchases OF silver
which it requires also do no moro than fur
nish tho silver miners with market for their
product at high prices. Still. tho indications
are that the repeal OF tho act will be made the
test Of the strength in Congress Of the cause
OF free silver and the vote upon 1t will be to
that extent significant
The fall in the price OF silver. which was
produced by the announcement that the free
coinage OF the metal had been suspended In
India. and the further fall which our American
silver miners SO passionately declare will follow
the repeal OF the Sherman act. have Demon
strated that the struggle on behalf OF silver Is
nolongern struggle for its admission to coin
age In conjunction with gold. but one for the
exclusion OF gold from use as money altogether.
For with the increase OF the production Of silver
in the world from 63. 000. 600 ounces In 1873 to
152OOO.OOO ounces in 1892. and with a con-
sumption OF the metal in manufactures OF
only. at the utmost, 25.O00, 900 ounces o year.
It is impossible to coin il at the ratio OF 1G to
and retain gold In circulation. In spite OF
all tho assertions about tho high cost OF min
ing silver. the fact remains undisputed that in
the face OF steadily declining price the guam
tity produced has steadily increased since
1877. In that year tho worlds product was
G2.G4S.0 900 ounces and the average price was
S1.3O per ounce. The next year. although the
price declined to $1.15 per ounce the product
increased to 73.478.OOO ounces. The price
went on falling year by year TIL it was 1.05 per
ounce in 1890. ibut the product had continued
to increase until In that year 1t reached 1884,
$4,000 ounces. In 1901 the price was 90
cents per ounce and the product 143.904Oo0
ounces In 1892 the price was between so
and 20 cents per ounce and the product
was 152. 100000 ounces. Now that the price
is 72 cents per ounce there 10. for the first
time. talk Of reducing the production.
1t needs no prophetic foretell that when 15x
or 10 ounces OF coined silver shall have been
made by law equal to one ounce OF gold the
coinage OF gold will cease. It was suspended
In this country from 1790 to 1884 merely be-
cause We made one coined ounce Of 1t equal to
but Is coined ounces OF silver. whereas Europe
was giving 15I ounces OF coined silver for one
ounce OF gold. The coinage Of silver likewise
ceasod In this country In 1884. because We
then began to require 10 ounces OF 1t as the
equivalent OF an ounce OF gold. whereas Eu-
rope would give an ounce OF gold for 15H
gold miner can sell his gold In Europe as no
can now for prico equivalent to 30 ounces
Of silver or thereabouts. .oininR 1t at ratio OF
10 to Is out Of the question.
1t is idle In the face OF this simple truth for
the silver men to assert that conspiracy has
been formed against silver. 1t Is they. on the
contrary. who are conspiring against gold.
The real. though not avowed object OF their
conventions, their speeches their resolutions.
their addresses and their frantic appeals to
the avarics OF debtors. is to substitute sill
yer for gold as the single standard OF valuo.
Much OF what they say Is indeed SO extrava-
giant that they must know that 1t will not be
taken seriously. When Mr.. Warner asserts
that the present monetary stringency has been
m ade artifcially for the purpose OF creating a
public sentiment, under cover OF which the
single gold standard may be Established. and
that the closing Of the mints OF India is part Of
the same great conspiracy" We are in doubt
whether to regard him as a lunatlo or as a
wilful liar. To establish" the single gold
standard In this country neither panic nor q
conspiracy Is necessary. 1t is already
established and has been established since
1884. All through the war tho Government
received only gold for customs duties
and paid in gold tho interest on It's bonds. 1t
was In gold and not in silver. that wo UNDER
took In 1875 to resume specie payments. and
the coin which we procured for tho purpose
WAS gold coin and not silver coin. At this
very moment gold is the universal standard OF
value all over the cou0try. as the silver men
themselves complain. They advocate tho free
coinage OF silver because. being cheaper than
gold. prices measured In It. thoy say. Will be
higher than they are now II this is not so. the
argu IN ent they address to the cotton n nd wheat
growers. that with the free coinage OF silver
the prices OF their products will rise. is based
upon ialsehood.
Still moro absurd Is tho assertion In the I'D
dress adoIted last Wednesday by tho silvor
Convention at Denver that the repeal OF the
Sherman act is the contamination OF the con-
spiracy organized at the close OF the Franco
Prussian war to destroy ons-half OF the coined
moneyoith world" and even this is outdone by
the following paragraph In the samo address:
IT'S idls to hope that reducing the value of silver to
the lowest stage Will force Great Britain TO GEEK inter
national solution OF the dilemma The home or tho
kingle standard is In her islands Its msmtss have
fully anticipated tho low DEGREE to which silver Will
descend They have discounted its disturbance of her
Indian trade and sseled their hearts against their
Indian subjects The power that could plot for seventy
seven years. that could force ITS yoke upon Germany
tho Latin Union. Austria and the United states that
could gain to Its the daily press OF tho country:
that could control for twenty ysArs the national con-