The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1894-06-18

JUST as we adopted the Iii elve-inch foot
ana the thirty-six-incho to for measure
ment. The standard G Unit has been
changed by incre;S -ioeS trains in the
silver sh Idol, dollar from fre9 be ths.ixteen, but
stiIl r reman was any ed the We mnts +;on
Had the framerTheean and suciid ''the
silver dollar aent. e., in uog,a areafter
coined must Fto at garden parties or seaple'
$500 +,e1 yents. Such thing afoou
,'aoa - sa, We muslin gown on ~
-" " Ity, or even in the coun< d"
Gu an Gtheard of. and women buck' ue
n,st ito tight-fitting cloth and 'ne
,e ;, -. enc resignation.
,,. w. ~: ,uld ever be prettier or f
nc ~ lowered muslins and orr met
ai9 con"f as they are, in such DEP pau
enough to tic patterns? For thoselteou
less out NE color, plain bluest De OIL
eoual 'itrluh'b be had in astonisled II is
enough 10 nF al-over effect of 6ardo say
~aihef Macle' to patterns or > Mills ana
an others or Utilize who takes weep, but 1t
is ereugh ito nm, me groundlngs
laugh. That crvy;tcd ,Gss, as an inter-
national congress- oshs first give "intrp-
slo' value to two ,netals-a thing that
God has not done-and then make these
two metals Of equal intrinsic value (Which
amples, OF course. that their intrinsic
values must always continue equaD, is
proposition that could only be made by
men who are pitably ignorant or wick
edly designing. If the south and west
walt for free coinage Of silver until those
conditions come in conjunction they will
wait until there is "a new heaven and
new earth"
AS already said, nothing has intrinsic
value. Nearly everything has zone or more
qualities that make it desirable. Gold and
silver have more qualities than fit them to
serve as money than any other known met
ais. Those qualities create a demand more
or less great In different nations and in sue
cessve ages That demand imparts COM
mercial value. and the value varies with
the demand. Gold bullion is more valua-
BILE in England, Germany Austria and the
United States than silver only because it is
in greater demand. If gold or silver had
intrinsic value that value would be the
same in every quarter of the globe and in
all times.
Much confusion Of thought arises from
misappication of the word value" Value
as applied to gold and silver or any COM
modify is strictly relative. A dollar has
more or less value as it's purchasing power
varies. Hence intrinsic value is imposs-
BILE. Demonetze gold and silver and their
values would instantly drop and also vary
in every country.
The eastern financiers further say that
the dollar unit of coinage Of both metals
must be of equal intrinsic value or be ad-
justed through international agreement or
insure the maintenance of the parity of
the two metals and the equal power of
every dollar at all times in the market and
In payment of debts.
All that is delightful reading. 1t has q
flash of determination in the eve and a
swell of the bosom heaving with virtue
absolutely fiery, If not molten, at the sus-
p1clon that any poor American citizen
should ever have palmed off on him or her
by any rascal any dollar that is not the
equal of any other mans dollar. 1t has a
martial air and sound, a CLEAN and glimmer
of drawn swords and bayonets fixed to pro-
tect the innocent and honest against fraud
and imposition '"The dollar unit of coin
age of both metals must be of equal intrn-
sic value" parity shall be insured" THE
two dallars shall be of equal powers at all
times Paper currency shall be kept at
par with coin"
Brave words. Bcmbastes Furioso never
equaled that passage We instinctively
take shelter under it, little chickens
under the hen when the hawk appears
The silver man is the hawk, of course He
is seeking to devour the millonaires to rob
them and all laboring classes. He is try
ing to put on them a new-fangled thing a
bloodsuCker, a vampire, something never
heard of before. and yet a thing that Wall
street iSnorahtly affirms has "intrinsic"
value. but how much an international con-
gresS alone can decide. What a pitiable
imbecjle people we are that we must ask
England how many grains a dollar should
contain A few words more on the Ian
guauge of the platform and i will close
this introduction to the common sense of
finance, to be discussed in my next.
If the dollar unit of coinage or of both
metals means anything that is Ineligible
1t means that the number of grains in a sill
yer dollar and also in a gold dollar must
be of equal GntrnsicO value to be adjusted
Tor not to be adjusteD, either through In
ternatlonal agreements or by such safe
guards of legislation ''as shall insure the
maintenance of the parity of the two met
ais. and the equal power of every dollar at
all times etc. The words 1.-The dollar unit
of coinage in financial technology are
meaningless. and what the writer author
of them intended can only be inferred by
what follows. Interpreted as above, those
words and all down to and including at
all times" insist in one absurdity and one
tmposslbllity-cOnditionS precedent to free
coinage of silver
The absurdity is that the two metals
must be of intrinsic value-a quality that
neither has ever can pOSSesS-and the
impOSSbility is 1.-The insurance of the main
tenance of the parity of the two metals"
The equal power of the two dollars can be
maintained. 1t is maintained now, Every
silver dollar is the equal of gold dollar in
the markets, but to maintain parity which
is equality in value, between silver and gold
as metals is something beyond the control
of international, national Legislative or any
other power. AS com, money, the
unit to measure all values, legal tender
their parity is easily maintained, but their
values as metals, as bullion, as varia-
bic as the winds, as human desires, as the
demand for them today or the supply to-
morrow. AS bullion commerce controls
their values. The author of that treacher-
Gus verbiage might we'll have fixed the
time for free coinage when corn and wheat,
rye and oats, cotton and corn can ba
maintained at parity.
The entire paragraph of 112 words is a
burlesque on the technical terms used in
the science of finance. 1t is a vulgar eX-
hibition of contempt for grammar. In ig-
norance it is a national disgrace while in
cruelty of deception it is national crime.
1t is confession of-;mbecility and an ap-
peal to enemies fors ha,. 1t is q resort to
redundancy to con, ABOUT faSehood. 1t is
the rich man'S--tf celeprat.laire' S-persua-
Sive promise and teayS thalan's apple of
Sodom. 1t is 'aIer that he ampt to re-
verse the etern"na daJter Hey and de-
mand and to eoWoo "a or a -<!ta law not
established by rs. " L., aernOr Saoday the
apple OF dlscF f- @1eC party.
1t imperils tn ,..-D.---.--~oySen to Irength-
ened our eneI y 1i.altoge thWe are
sinking still S ~, tfase turns
upon US and%wWN\A Wnot paperls be-
cause we ia N VA &@F t1er Ner state