The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-09-12
THE PROGRESSIVE FARMER: SEPTEMBER II, 1898.

agree, IL We Cdu uLlu IL, ana IL seems 10
me the fairest way of Interpreting this
platform Is to construe it as the people
understood it-as we taught them to
understand 1T, through the press and
upon the hustiDgs and in every way by
which we urged the campaign, and as
| believe its authors honestly intended
it to be understood, and that was to
repeal the purchasing act and do all
other things necessary toward the
preservation and uphOlding of silver
money before or cO~ncurrently with the
abolition Of its only hold on life. l
think the carrying out of the first
pledge and stopping would make the
redemption of the others impossible
and the whole scheme look like afraud.
What shall those other things be? If
l could have my preference, one should
be the free and unlimited coinage of
silver money at a ratio of 16 to 1. Is
mistake of the Sherman law was that
it was only a partial coinage of silver,
and therefore still left a large quantity
Of metal on the market for which there
was no demand, and which only served
to constantly drag down the bullion
price. I believet the power and resources
and wealth of this land to be sufficient
to coin and keep a1oat on a parity with
gold all the silver Of the world which
would probably come to it to be coined.
The price Of any article, of course,
depends upon the demand for it and
the supply. The chief demand for sill
yer, as of gold, is and has been it's
character as a metal of which money
is made. 1t is not the use that is made
Of it in the arts that gives it it's chief
value, but the fact that it is used as
money in all nations of the world to a
greater or less amount. When you
destroy it as a money metal you take
away the chief demand for it, and, of
course, lower its price.
Now, suppOsing, what is hardly sup
possible, that when we establish free
coinage at the ratio of Is to 1, that all
the silver Of the world, coined and I'M
coined, were pouring into the United
States, in a very short time all the ma
tons which 8 subsidiary coin would
be out of silver; all the nations which
use silver as a full legal tender, and all
the peoples Of the world who use silver
in the arts and for industrial purposes,
wOuldfind themselves in the same con
dition, and would have to come to the
United States for their supply of silver.
They could buy it from no man here
for less than its coming value; there
fore, throughout the world, it would at
once become equal to gold, and it would
follow that we would soon have to sup
ply the demand for it in every country.
So soon as it's bullion price began to
approach that Of gold, the latter would
come halfway down tt meet silver go
ing up, then it would rapidly flow out
to supply the coin demand of the world,
which would once more become
bimetallic, as it was twenty years ago.
No man possessed Of any silver in other
countries would sell it for less than the
coming price in America, and 50 Eng
land would have to pay for the silver
with which she supplies India the coin
ing price in the United States, and
India would be compelled to be sup
piled with silver, for there is not $780,
600, 900 of spare gold in the world to
replace India's silver money
It is said that the production would
be SO great if there was free coinage
and silver was at it's normal price per
ounce that the world would soon be
flooded with it. l do not believe that.
There is nothing in the statistics to
show that that would be the case.
During the period of one hundred years,
from 1892 to 1892, the production Of
gold in the world was S., 633, 90S, O00-
the production Of silver was S., 1O4,-
961, 900, difference only about $780,
600, 600 and that in favor of gold; and
we might go further backif the INSULT
Gent statistics of the Dark Ages could
be depended upon, and show generally
that the production of the two metals
would average about the same.
For what reason is it held, then, that
this ratio of production of the two
metals will not continue to the end? Is
not nature consistent with herself? If
the digging into the earth for 1000
years have shown that there exists in
her bosom on the average about fifteen
times as much silver by weight as of
gold, why should we doubt future de
Velopment from an accidental depart
ure nov and then of either metal from
the average proportion of forty CEN
turtles?
Surely the gold standard men should
give a better reason for dlstrustlng
nature than some bankers want of
confidence"
A great impetus was given to silver
in the era Immediately following the
discovery Of America and the opening
of the famous mines of Mexico and
South America, Discoveries of gold ct
the same time kept that metal pretty
we'll up with silver.
A great impetus was also given to
gold BY the discoveries IN California
and Australia, which made gold forge
largely ahead of silver in the amount
of production; and this continued,
making silver at a premium above
gold, until within the last twenty years,
when the development of the mines in
Colorado and Nevada have put silver
ahead in the amount reproduction.
The production of silver in the United
States in the past fiscal year, measured
by it's coming value, was $74, 989, 900