St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-10-22
GIVES IT'S CASE AWAY,


The cause of the free coinage of silver
has had no more strenuous or able ad-
vOcate among the papers than the At
lanta Constitution. In season and out
of season it has dlnged into the ears Of
its readers the dOleful story of the dis
aStrOuS result to industry of the demon
CITATION of silver in 1878. 1t declared
with an earneStnesS whose sincerity we
cannot doubt that the fall in price of
the various commodities IS solely due to
that act, and that il restoration of free
Coinage would be followed by an imme-
date advance in the prices to their
former condition.
The Constitution has correspondent
who has evidently been reading its ed
iLorials and bordering on them, but who
has failed to receive from them that en-
lightenment which leaves the editor of
the Constitution in no manner Of doabt
as to the result of his theory if put into
| practice. The correspondent accord
| lngly writes to the paper and asks:
How would silver be kept at par with
| gold if the demonetizr tIon act OF 1878
| were repealed? Would not gold go to a
premium and thus cease to circulate as
| money!"
! The answer of the editor to this very
plain question is as frank as it is inter-
esting. ''fhe repeal of the act of 1873"
lie says, ''would bring about an instant
aud an absolute change in the relations
between the TWO m stalls. The silver
dollar would be restored to its old place
| as Il unit of value. The value of gold
itself would be expressed in terms of
silver. Thus an ounce of gold would
be worth so many dollars OF silver
lver being the unit and standard of
value"
Ithas been the claim of the opponents
of free coinage that the reconciliation
of silver. that is the permission CT free
access of silver bullion to the mint to
be coined for the benefit of the owner
in standard dollars at ratio Of l6 to l,
would inevitably ana Immediately re-
suit i'll reducing the dearer mBtal, gold,
to commodity, Withdrawing the coin
from circulation and contracting the
currency of the country to that extent.
Prices of all the commodities would be
measured in the remaining money
standard, which is silver. and there
would be nominal increase in their
price, equal to the difference between
silver and gold.
Thus all article which today is worth,
with the gold standard, one dollar.
! would be worth then TWO dollars in sill
yer. There would be. Ill other words,
an adjustment, immediate i'll those
things which paople had to sell, and
who were in position to fix the price
of what they had to sell. and slower
and'more prolonged adjustment in the
price of other things, such as wages.
Extraordinarily the values or prices of all
commodities would be adjusted to this
standard.
While gold would cease to be a me-
dunn of exchange it would still remain
a measure Of value, simply because
here and everywhere. in every civilized
nation, men are willing to take it III ex-
change for the things they produce OF
haye. 1t is now, us it always has been,
| relatively, esteemed the more valuable
of the two metals, and the Inherent i'm
pulse of men in exchanging the things
they have made is to get the thing Of
greatest value either absolute or rela-
tive.
The result then would be that we
would have two standards Of value ant
two mediums of exchange. There wuult
. be one price for all the commodities if the
: payment were 10 be made in gold, anC
another and higher price if it were tt
be paid in what was then the currency
of the country, silver. or i'll its repre-
sentatives. Opinions as to its effect have
not been unanimous among the advC-
Gates of free coinage. the general ont
being that while there would be an i'll
crease in prices, there would be NJ
!, difference in the standard. as the pffec
would be to raise silver at once to
| | parity with gold.
: The admission of the Constitution
| that the contention of the opponents o
| free coinage is correct, is therefore sig
, nticant. The measurement OF gold il
, terms of silver, silver being the stand
, ard III value, would not be restricted I,
e gold alone. but would extend to ever,
commodity. Wheat. pork. wages, cloth
t ing, fuel, lumber. everything then woult
r be measured by the new standard of val
= ue, as we'll as the gold. The effect woul,
t be the same as if, by some arbitrary de
t cree, eighteen inches were to constitute
yard instead of thlrty-siX inches.
: would take as much cloth to make
= dress or suit as before. but the numbe
# of yards would be doubled. 1t wou
be Just so if fifty cents constituted tn
dollar instead of one hundred cents; tn
b. actual value of the thing bought wi
&C remain the same, but it will take twic
q the nunlUer of dollars to buy the thin
a that it would before. The value q
n things would be expressed in terms q
, fiftyicent silver dollars, instead of one
4 hundred-cent dollars as now. Th
!. Constitution gives away its whole cast
n unless its purpose is that which fire
n ,coin6rs. mostly deny, the reduction {
= monometallic basis.
)! !. THE Chicago Tribune quotes and in
% dorses the statement of the correspond
ent of some other paper that Mr.. Wi
= SON is another of those tariff reformel
:. : who is in favor of reform in every di
~ trict except his own, and who says thu
20 q his bill increased the ra:e on cut mai
- from 1876 per cent to 25 Der cent. AZ
! Stunning the accuracy Of this. the Tribur
proceeds to dilate upon this in its usu
~ style. The comparison of rates put
=. lished by the treasury gives the equivs
u lent ad valOrem rate of the act of 1S9
- which was cent pound, as 23.5S p,
&c cent. The Wilson bill made it IS pr
u cent, and in the senate bill it is 22j5 pit
Ill cent. The Wilson bill aimed TO max
i its ad yalorem duties run from % pc
a. cent OH articles of common use to :
80 per cent on articles of luxury. The il
l. oroar O mazda in his hill of ID per cei