The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-02-21
The SILVER QUESTION.
BY Howard M. Holden, a Banker, Read
in the Senate by Senator
Stewart, of Nevada.

44S va A4SA0S
in the Senate by Senator
Stewart, of Nevada.
From Congressional RecOrd.l
In 1868 Mr.. Sherman made a report
to the United States Senate IN favor "
"a single standard, to be exclusively oI
gold" In 1873, p~erceiving his mlstake,
Mr.. Sherman, then Secretary OF CIe
Treasury, in a letter 10 Mr.. Groeso0GH,
who was n of u delegates w FL
monetary conference OF thaG yea SLC?i
referring to his action WIN Inc i@IiS
conference OF 1907 III lawn u " SA"S'0
gold standard, said:
al that time the wisest among US
did not anticipate the sudden fall of
silver or the rise of gold that has oc-
Cured. This uncertainty of the rela-
ton between the two metals is One of the
chief arguments In favor of q monOmet-
allie system, but other arguments
showing the dangerous effects upon in
dustry by dropping n of the pr 5cious
metals from the standard of value,
outweigh in my mind all theoretical
objections to the bimetallic system"
And he urged that the cOnference
adopt a double standard. proceedings
of the Conference, page 1872 IN ms
speech in the Senate on une l OF this
year, he said, regarding the act OF
1873:
II have no doubt that if it had been
known that silver was going to fall as
much as it did after that, it might have
made a change"
It is strange that so astute a man
should have failed to recognize that the
withdrawal of the legal money value
from silver and the consequent reduc
ing of it to a mere commodity would
destroy it's status and reduce it's value
as a money metal. His regrets and
changing of mind came too late, and
after he had been largely instrumental
in setting IN motion a train OF evils that
can hardly be measured.
Was there any reason in 1878, and Is
there any reason now, growing out Of
the relative supply Of silver and gold,
why silver should be thus excluded
from the coinage Of Europe and Amer
lea? Let the following figures answer.
In the report Of the monetary confer
enc in 1876, page 70, the worlds pro
ductiJn of gold and silver, from the dis
covery Of America in 1892 to 1913, Is
given as follows:
Gold ............ 81, 626, 600, coo
Silver. ........ . 5,7O5, 900, 600
Total. 1881, 600. 900
It will be seen that the proportion of
silver was about 684 per cent, and that
of gold 81 per cent No complaint
was ever made in 1913 or in previous
years that this proportion was preju
dicial to the business interests Of the
world; to the contrary, as the.hlstorlan
Alison has well expressed it, Europe
and America were suffering from an
insufficient supply Of the precious met
ais. It will, Of course, be understood
that a large part Of the yearly prOduc
ton Of both gold and silver had always
been absorbed in the arts and manufac-
lures. and vast quantities had dieap
peared among the people Of Asia
The production for the years 1849 to
1872, inclusive, is given in the reports
Of the Director Of the Mint as
Gold ...$2 ,626, $50, 600
Silver. 1,045, 600, 600
Total 3,872, $50, 900
For this period the proportion of the
whole production was of gold 70 per
cent silver % per cent, and by adding
the respective productions of these
years to those Of the preceding period
given above, it will be seen that the
proportion Of the gold product Of the
whole time had risen to about A Z per
cent. OF the whole sum Of both metals;
and that Of silver had fallen to 55.3
per cent. It therefore certainly can
not be said that in 1878, when silver
was demonetized, q reason existed
therefor in the growing relative abun-
dance of silver OVer previous periods,
for, as the figures show, the relation
was the other way.
The report Of the Director of the Mint
gives the worlds production for the
years 1878 to 1890, inclusive, as fol
lows:
Gold 81, 907, 500, 500
Silver, coin value. ....... 1855, 142, 900
Total 1852, I'll, 500
For this period, counting the silver
not at its market value, but at the
greater figure of its old coinage value,
the production was about evenly di.
vided between the two metals, leaving
the relation of the quantity Of each
metal to the general stock Of the world
Practically unchanged.
IN support of these statements a QUO
tat.on from the report of the British
size commission IN 1876 may be
gwen:
Notwithstanding the late risein the
D-1duCtIOn OF silver as compared with
GOD, its proportion to gold is still con
sid 4rably below what it was in 1848, to
say nothing of the period when the
~p-opOrtiOn was 3 to 1; and the cOnclu-
sion seem justified that a review Of
tho relations Of the metals in times
past shows that the fall in price of
s,:- er is not due to any excessive pro
a. ton as compared with gold"
his was mora thar fbrn0 yvoorc nft1,.
1ar1onetizatiOn in this country and
g many.
he bitter years of depression, Of de-
a.. Tnr vo11IaC of OODo ~oo- .To1 oT1S H,,ci