The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-08-03
rnx Law OF as.a.

msxes up In wind what IL lacks in Wis
desn. There 10 not Q aams o. it, list OF
srszke.s Of man Of eminencs for ability
or learning. Mayor Harrison, Who wet
eonsed the convention. 10 known 70 Be .
desasgogue. There are few Republicans
sms Democrats present from the silver
ssates; there srs fsw Popul;sta. The
usssst respectable men in the convention
Patterson. Of Colorado. and Alien W.
Thurman, Of Ohio-psrsist In bowling
asscut the crime Of 18Th Patterson char
aessrised the silver act of 1873 n crime.
ASH said he VS. willing to have the act OF
1sss) repealed II the other Sherman lsw Of
isT3 can b repealed by shs same bill lie.
ta:h Of the Sherman laws 20 together
aad place the country back upon the con-
ss8sution and the Law - it stood before
,s-s" Thurman said.
FIRST, let our adversaries agree 70 free
Coinage OF silver ~ the ratio OF l5l4 or 10
~ !. prefer the former. II they DO. we
VII agree 10 IN Unconditional repeal OF
tie sherman Law"
And this Is the best that this convention
eaa say for itself II seriously proposes
free coinage Of silver at ratio Of is 10 1. .
fasio established sixty years ago when
little silver comparatively was mined. and
issssts that the United States shall under
free coinage pay tho same price for silver
ssliion that IL sold for when this ratio
sas established. Silver sells today for 20
esats IN ounce, which makes our silver
s,sllsx worth . little more than s. cents.
Under free coinage the United States
sould take the silver OF the world and
fos every 81 cents worth Of silver bullion
souid issue ''dollar" that would be legal
tender for 100 cents. Andwe are seriously
sssked BY these Missionaries to enact legisla-
son which would force the United States
50 open her minis to the coinage Of the sil.
yer bullion Of the world 1t the ratio Of
III to l, when At the present time the true
sstio 10 nearly 20 70 1. We are asked to
enact that the United States pay Is cents
shove the market for the worlds silver
tlliion.
The truth II that In 1884, in order to
keep our gold with rs. which was then
exported In exchange for commodities at
Ire commercial value Of the pure gold in
vsir coins. the quantity Of gold in the dol
lar, BY the acts of 1884 and 1881, was re-
auced and the ratio In coinage Was fixed
at to 6.0Ss-practically to l6. This
change did not correspond to the CONNER
sial value Of the two mstals--silver being
nndervalued-and. - . consequence. sill
ssr was shipped abroad. % that from 1884
- 1878 gold constituted our only metallic
currency. In 1873 congress abolished the
sslvsr dollars practically obsolete coin
and gold was made the sole standard Of
value. Ex-Mint Director Lsech. . STAN
sisrd authority. cites these facts and says:
"At that period this country had ex-
lusively . paper circulation. the dspre-
citation OF which was measured by gold.
The Law Of February IL, 1873, vas the
logical sequence Of tho legislation of
ss3&-'37, confirmed and strengthened by
the legislation of 1853 (making fractional
silver coins Subsidiary which laws prac-
ficaily made gold tho standard Of this
country. In disseminating the coinage
u the silver dollars in 1873, congress,
4hereters. simply recognized an existing
fact by dropping a coin which had
formed no appreciable portion OF our
circulating medium for nearly half o
century. Tho entire coinage Of silver dol
lars from 1872 TO 1873 had aggregated only
s.0sl. rs pieces. none OF which were in
circulation. Had not the decentralization
Of the silver dollar taken place in 1873, 1t
must necessarily have taken place . lev
years later. when the European countries.
one after another. abolished silver coin
age. or else this country would have re-
sumed specie payments in 1879 on silver
instead of gold basis"
For this "crirnc Of 1873" Senator Stewart.
Of Nevada, voted. and 30 did William d.
Kelley. It was pointed ont by Kelley that
the silver dollar was obsolete; that it was
worth more to melt than to circulate; that
II had been practically demonetixed since
1884; its legal demonstration was no In
justice 10 any debtor class, for the silver
dollar was At premium and obsolete. In
the face OF these wcll-attested facts these
free silver advocates pretend to believe
that IL is their constitutional right to re-
gard the standard silver dollar 40 the one
and only dollar 10 DO uset a. . measure
OF value, and TO argue that because
the government has issued coins
at the rate Of $i.D per ounce of
silver therefore that Is and has been its
only true price. What wretehed reason
ing is thisl These producers Of silver
have surely not been mining silver at a
loss in all these years since silver bullion
has rapidly dropped in price. For three
years these producers Of silver have been
selling il to the government. and receiving
for i; not coined dollars At the rate of 81. ~
. k.xs
age q. the ratio Of Is - I, but they have
been selling 1t for the government paper
promise 10 pay a; The purchasing market
price of bullion. which has been less than
81 an ounce since the passage of the Sher-
man act OF July. i>so The New York
f,thHae makes fhls point clear against
these silver" statesmen. and save:
Within the fiscal year in which the
present act was passed silver bullion was
sold AZ about % ceats per ounce; last year
It 'e,l in August To ~ cents: and within
the last half year the silver producers have
actually accepted for bullion onsy ~ cents
per ounce in sosac cases and cniy ID cents
or less IN many transactions. That is
they have Offered 10 take and have taken
paper alch. whep redeemed according 10
u.s. terms. wou!d bring for I'm ounces of
silver bullion sess than so in standard
silver dollars. either in this or any other
market"
These silver statesmen a. Chicago pre-
tend ths. silver must lie recognized and
used =: the old coinage rate. they pretend
that IL Is really worth and costs As much
- ever, that only gsei!iio1s or arbitrary
valuation in gold has changed. And ys.
these silver miners have been producing
us,v~ assysr staee 80. ,xs~a ia - -.