Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1893-07-21
"BIMETALIC THEORY. .

monometalism in this country, con.
tributes au article to his New York
Evening Post, and we find it pre-.
served in The Nation, which is now
the weekly reservoir of the more Sc.
rious side of Tho Post, We attrib.
ute the aricle 20 Mr.. White because
he is Tho only person of intelligence
in this country who has ever, so far
we know, made public speech in be.
half of gold monometallism and be-
cause the article shows evidence OF
the mental blinduoss which cannot
be separated from the advocacy of
gold monometallism.
We print i'll another column the
greater portion. of Mr. Whites arti.
Gle, and wo have numbered the para
graphs so that our readers may bo
able to refer to the statements which
our comments are based on.
l. We cannot fairly discuss the
question whether Mr.. White under
stands tho bimctallic theory, but he
is either not familiar with it, or he
has purposoly stated SO rs to give
aptness to his romarl;s. We have not
space hero to go into the scientific
theory of bimetallsm. 1t is ouly ne.
cessary to state tho fact-which is
that it gives to tho business and the
Industries of tho people the benolit
of the enlarged money basis-a vol
ume of cash capital large enough to
float sufficient supply of sound cur
rency, and takes away the necessity
of piling up credits to tho panic
point Taking the illustration of
two reservoirs, which Mr.. White
puts forward as an objection, it must
be obvious that if one reservoir is
rendered useless by :nononotnllism.
it's place must be filled by inilntcd
credits, or what is just as bad, by an
Inflated currency.
The experience OF this country In
dor bimelallism does not show any
such fluctuations of values rs The
Nation suggests. Whom gold went
to n premiom silver took It's place,
and when silver went to Il premium
gold took its place, and the iluctua-
tions woro hardly visible 60 tho busi-
ness eye. Values and prices woro
maintained ut the eamo profitable
level. Tho only disturbances that
occurred wero such as occurred as
often under the siuglo gold standard
of Great Britain. Tho fluctuations
under the siugle gold standard in
this country, and, in fact. I'LL over
the world, have been all in one dead
ly direction down, down, down.
Values have gono down, prices have
gone down-and all for the benefit
of few bondholders aud bankers,
whose interests, rs compared with
those of the people, are not worth
considering.
2. In this Mr.. Whito outdoos him
self. He not only states tho bimc-
tallic theory to euit himself, but he
kindly prepares reply to his objcc.
tioRs and puts it in tho mouths OF
the bimetallists, And ho goes TO
greater lengths. lie takes flat pa.
per money argument and credits it
to sound money men. What bimci.
allist has ever held that The decree of
the sovereign power can overcome
the inequality Of values 1t hns been
left to the siugle gold standard elo
ment to maintain that this cnn bo
dono. They say tbnt our silver dol
lars arc now kept Mt par because they
are redeemaDle in gold, and they
mako this statement in the faco of
the fact that there is not enough gold
i'll tho country to redeem our paper
money. Tho really scientiic BIZ
metallists,' Mr.. White hastons to
say, ''do not press this argument to
an e;trome." No; it is really tho sci
entific goldoators who maintain il.
it happens that silver is n conmod-
itv whose moin function is its uso by
government rs n money metal 1t
also happens that government, wheth
er scientifically or unscientjiically,
has taken to itself some authority in
the matter of money. 1t not only
stamps certain metals as money, but
it has reserved to itself tho power To
discard some OF them. Silver has
been thus discarded in many of tho
nations Of Europe. 1t was discarded
in this country ,in 1878 by chicancry
and fraud, and it is practically dis
carded now. Thus deprived OF it's
main use and function, it has depre-
ciated in valuo. 1t is no longer a
money metal. It's thief market-the
mints-has been closed against it,
and its only value now is that which
it derives from It's use in the arts and
industries and from the small de-
mand for it to coin subsidiary money
small change. If governmen can
not impart value to silver it cannot
take it uway-but why did the metal
deprociate whom the Indian council
closed its mints to silver? Simply
because another step WAS taken do
priving silver of its use as a money
metal, Thus, while 10 bimotallist
claims that the decree Of the soyor.
eIgn power cail overcome the ipennal