The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-11-30
OLD ASSUMPTIONS OF sILvERITEs.

The Transmississippi Congress in ses-
sion in st. Louis. made up of delegates
from all the States directly or indirectly
interested in the silver-producing indus
try, very naturally adopted resolutions
in favor of the free coinage OF that
metal. That was one of the objects of
the meeting. Under such conditions it
is a surprise that more than one-fourth
of the delegates voted against the propo-
sition. 1t is, also, a significant fact that
Mr.. Bryan, who reported and advocated
the free coinage resolution, has just
been emphatically defeated in a canvass
in Nebraska for the United states Sem
ate upon that issue.
The resolution demands a return to
"bimetallism as it existed prior to 1873"
In 1873, while there was some coinage
Of gold. the only money in use in this
country was greenbacks. for which there
was no date of redemption, and national
bank notes redeemable in g~reenbacks.
The aggregate of all kinds of paper
money outside the treasury in 1873 was
s726.s s1 .S09, with SIS. 600. 900 Of specie in
circulation in California. That year
977, $50 silver dollars. 81, SOS, 625 Of frac-
tional silver and s35. 249. 337 of gold was
coined, none of which was used as
money in this country except fractional
silver coins. So the bimetallism of 1878,
so far as it affected the money of the
country, is a fiction. The silver dollar
was intrinsically worth more than the
gold, n both were merchandise rather
- sx --LsI $50
made exchanges. At that time the value
of the silver dollar was s1.03 measured
by the gold, and the fac that it was
so measured the was because gold as
metal money was practically the stand
ard of the measure of silver coins. Even
the paper money f~iuctuated up and down
below figures printed on the bills COM
pared with gold at 100. At h time
the country was doing its vast business
with s726. SOC. 900 of paper money, worth
about IS cents on the gold dollar. and
IS cents compared with the value of the
silver dollar. This was the practical BIZ
metallism of 1873.
One of the p~reambles of the resolutions
of the congress at ST. Louis declares
that silver has been outlawed as money.
This is not true. More silver is per-
forming the functions of money in the
world at the present time than gold.
At the close of 1893 the estimated stock
of silver money. by the best authorities.
was $4,055, 200. 900 to 1865. 900. 900 Of gold.
In the United States. by the latest re-
ports at hand. 421. lie, 40s Of standard
silver dollars. s151. SOS. 267 OF treasury
notes based upon silver bullion in the
treasury. and s77. 25s. PIP Of subsidiary sill
yer coin. a total of $640. 041. Ss7 o~ -',ver
are performing the functions of money.
That is. the amount of silver money and
notes based on silver bullion in the
country is only SIS. 900. 900 less than the
entire stock OF paper money. which did
all the work of money in 1873. Further
more, the unprecedented coinage of sill.
yer during the past few years stamps
the assumption Of the "outlawry'' OF sill.
yer as a falsehood. The coinage of sill
YER in the world was valued at S13S,
294.S67 in 1891. 1853 2 .765 in 1892. sl35.
945. APO in 1893. During the same years
the coinage OF gold was s11s.534.lz
sl72.473.l2l. 1921. $50. 765. The further fac