Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1894-10-05

and Eecarse political. Mems passions ana
property interests were appealed to. Given
q debtor and q demagogue and you are
sure to have appeals to everything but
mems sober judgments. All sorts OF
stories were invented and told, and were
Outlines repeated by men who had not in-
tention Of stating other than the exact
truth.
And now, having brushed aside some OF
the stories that have been told for the pur-
pose of appealing to our passions and our
prejudices instead of our Judgment-hav-
ing shown that the ratio of 10 to was
never the legal ratio of this country; nor,
SO far as can learn, of any country; hav-
ing shown that there was neither secrecy
or bribery about the act of 1873; having
demonstrated that it was friendly and not
unfriendly to silver, that it WAS not essen
TALLY new law but codifcation of ex-
conditions-I ask your candid attention
to another class of appeals by which our
Judgment is sought to be warped, namely,
appeals to our personal interest
s:Free Coinage" Would Not Restore the
Price of Silver. ~..
We ara told that if we will open our
minis to the unlimited coinage of silver at
the ratio of Is to /, this action will restore
silver to the place which it occupied be-
fore 1879 and hold it there, that it will en-
large our currency, and that it will en-
nance the value of our farm products and
of the wages paid to labor. I shall now en-
deavor to show that not one of these re-
suits would follow.
Suppose, by way of illustration, that IL
- c%w frfh
ating for 20 years, succeeded in pushing a
certain object down hill to a certain point;
suppose that at the end of the 20 years one
of those men, say A, should undertake to
push the object back to the point of begin
ming; how long would it take him to do 1t,
| even if the other II stepped aide and did
nothing but watch him work? AS it took
his strength with that of the other II to
move the object the distance it had gone,
and it took them all 20 years, it would evil
IDENTIFY take him, if he could move it at all at
least AO years to move it back again. But
if we assume that the other II continue to
push in the original direction, any one can
| see that time would be lost in eternity be-
fore A would succeed in returning the OBJ
ject to the point of beginning.
Now let us make application of this il
lustration. 1t is claimed by certain So
called friends of silver" that the fall in
the price of that metal is the result of a.
''world-wide conspiracy" that all the
great nations of the earth, including the
United States have conspired together to
''debase silver" that for 20 years and more
they have by adverse legislation been push
ing silver down. Even ii this were true,
which it is not, how long would it take
the United States alone to push the value
of ci1uor ho al7 tn itc 1,1oco nj uoorc oOO
if the other nations still continue to push
| in the orr s.nal direction? Manifestly it
could never accomplish the feat.
| "Free Coinage Would Not Enlarge Our
Volume of Money.
The second appeal to our interest is that
| the unlimited coinage of silver and gold
at the ratio of IL to would operate to en-
| large the currency. This seems so natural
a result, that l am not at all surprised
! that d man occupied with his ordinary
duties and having little time to consider
such questions should really believe that
| this claim is we'll founded It seems so
natural to say that if both may be coined
| both will be coined, and that both being
coined both would circulate as money A
little careful consideration, however, will
reveal the fallacy of such conclusion.
There is a lawmaker higher than congress,
one whose DEGREES are Interchangeable. One
of his laws, written in fbers of the human
soul, a law which no act of congress can
set aside, is that which prompts every
human being to do, in a business way, that
which he deems to his best interest. If
farmer who is equally convenient to two
markets finds that he can get for his bar
ley or his wheat, his eggs or his wool, q
better price in the one market than in the
other, he will, other things being equal,
take his product to the market Offering the
better rice, even though the difference 6e
slight. This holds good with the producer
of gold or silver. 1t he can dispose of his
bullion either at the mint or in the mar
ket, he will sell it or dispose of it at that
one of ,he two places which offers him the
| best return.
Ii properly interpreted, experience is the
best of teachers Theory considers all
known elements of the problem, but prac-
tice includes all elements, whether known
or unknown, and gives to each it's due
| weight. The man who is more bent on
establishing system than upon reaching
q practical conclusion will ponder upon
his theory and will ignore the teachings of
experience. But the first question of the
| judicious man of affairs is, HAS the ex-
pertinent ever been tried? If so, how has
! it workeds" He takes the lamp of expe-
rience as guide to his feet.
The plan of having the unlimited coin
age of both metals at a fixed ratio with
the unlimited legal tender of each, has
been tried in all civilized countries now in
existence. Let us see what the results
| have been. AS time will not permit us to
| consider the experience in all lines, and as
| that is unnecessary because the results
have been the same in all instances, let US
consider briefly the experience of the two
| countries about which the most has been
said, France and the United States of
| America.
he Experience of france.
In the year 1903 France established her
legal ratio at Is IL to 1, and that ratio has
remained unchanged to this day. For the
sake of the younger members Of my au-
dience I will explain that that ratio Of.
Is LIZ to means that at the mint Is 10
ounces of pure silver were regarded as
exactly equal in value to ounce of pure
~ - =