Mexico weekly ledger., 1894-05-17
Highest Of all in Leavening u S Govt Report
R9!!a!'!!! g! Bss'sg BsMdsgz
ABSOLUTELY PURE

SoN9kESsAAN Y. .. HALL, Writing
to the ST. Louis Republic, says in
Preference to the arguments for and
against the free coinage of silver
"Thearguments for andagainst tn,
free and unlimited coinage of silvel
at the ratio of 16 to | are not mum
erous, and, in my judgment, resolve
themselves in two.
Those believing with the Presi
dent reason about this way: The
United States being a great com.
mercial nation, having an immense
trade with all other civilized nations,
and having balances of trade to set
tie at given periods, must have a
money that is good the entire world
over, in order that they may settle
those balances with advantage, or at
least upon an equal footing with
other commercial nations. This ar
gument opposing the free coinage of
silver may be termed the commercial
argument, and from that standpoint
is unanswerable.
The reply upon the side of those
who voted as l did upon that ques-
ton is that there are in the United
States debts to the amount of thirty
one billions of dollars; that these
debts we're contracted when both
gold and silver were being coined
in other words, when we had bimet-
allism-and that a great many of
these debts were contracted while we
had the free and unlimited coinage
Of silver, being renewed from year to
year.
We have maintained that it is a
moral right of the debtor to pay bis
debt in the same volume of money
as when the debt was contracted ;or,
as a number of the ablest economists
say, no national crime is greater
than the one that permits the con-
traction of debts in two kinds of cur
rency and the destruction ofone kind,
thereby forcing the payment of debts
in one kind only. This argument,
it has ever seemed to me, is an un-
answerable argument from the
standpoint of justice and right.
The President and his class of
thinkers admit the soundness of this
argument, but say in reply that the
only way to bring around the free
and unlimited coinage of silver is by
the United States refusing to allow
its mints to be the dumping ground
for the silver of the world. They
think that we will thereby force the
other nations of the world to enter
an international agreement similar
to the Latin Union, but far more
extensive, comprising all the civil
lied nations, by which they will all
agree to coin silver at certain ratio.
And it is further claimed by the
President and his friends that the
continued coinage of silver in the
United States at the ratio of 16 to 1
will result in driving out all the
gold, thereby increasing the volume
of currency.
1t is not my purpose in this letter
to discuss the relative merits OF these
arguments, for my views are un-
changed upon this matter, but |
simply make this brief reference to
them that your readers may see that
man may conscientiously and
honestly believe that it is unwise for
us to have the free coinage of silver
at this time, and at the same time
not be open to the charge Of being
brought up by "Wall Street influen-
ces." / believe, therefore, as |
have said in every speech that have
made since my return to my district,
that President Cleveland was as
honert in his veto Of the seigniorage
bill as Mr.. Bland or myself or any
lother silver man in his vote for il. u