Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1894-08-23

alone. On the hfSt day OF Junt3
1904, the United Suites carried in circula-
ton s647, 500. 600 of silver as against $780,
100000 of gold, of which 500, 000,0 600
| is kept in the treasury as redemption
fund for 1916, 0O0, 900 of greenbacks. France
has silver circulation Of $7O0, GOO 600, a.
against d gold circulation Of ss6e, 900 600;
! while india, with It's population of 255, 600, :
OOO, has silver circulation of $500, OOO, 600;
as against no gold, and SOS, 600 of un-
covered paper; and China, with its
4OO, 600 900 of people, has 500, 900 600 of sill
yer, passing on it's bullion value, in eirehs
lation. These statistics indicate; II we
take into account our population, our
whole field of currency, and our mode of
doing business, that
Silver Has Not Been Stricken Down,
| as some reformers allege, but that on the
whole 1t Is as much in favor here; for paf
as money as anywhere in tie commercial
world and that OUR country is today in d
SOUND state of local as distinguished from
international imetalism. Our own coin
age history, from 1899 to 1884, and from
the later date until the Bland act Of 1873,
has dem 6nstrated that the free coinage of
both metals, on a ratio almost approxi;s
| mating the comniefcial ratio; fAiled tb
give us. real biinetallism-the uninter-
fdpted circulation of both metals side by
side. There being no complete system of
international bimetallism, and there being
no actual or legal incontrovertibility be-
tween the two metals, under the inexor-
able operation Of the Gresham law, silver
as the cheaper metal dprtng the secbnh
period, drove gold oiit OF circulation, and
gold, as the cheaper metal, during the
second period, drove silver out of circula-
ton, except as to the debased subsidiary
coin, to which have already referred It
is truth demonstrated and confirmed by
our own history, that in spite of free coin=
age, we never had any real bimetallism=
any real, uninterrupted circulation of ths
two metals, side By side and on a parity
until since 1873 Prior to that time. so
far as metallic currency, was, concerned,
time, held tAa field Of circulation.
Which ever, for the time being, was the
cheaper metal, was in exclusive possession
and control. And this proves to all who
are capable or willing to receive the truth
that free coinage alone will not give us
practical or real binletallism And take
1t that we are all bimetallists in the SENSE
of wanting both gold and silver to be in
actual circulation Is money. None of us
want to drive either gold or silver out of
circulation. The commercial or intrinsic
value of the silver dollar is today hardly
so cents of the gold dollar, and it is only
current and received as equivalent to the
gold dollar because you cam at all times,
exchange or convert it into the latter.
And this is what we understand by the
term incontrovertible If a SO cent silver
dollar can at all times be converted into a
hundred cents gold dollar,we are as aiix-
ious to receive silver as gold.
But to keep tip this state of interconver-
t.bility there must not only be a law for it
but the actual ability to maintain it must
also exist. And today the United States
is possessed of both of these qualities. We
have the law and we have gold dollar for
every silver dollar in existence In other
words, we float our silver. currency with j
gold redemption find France does the
same thing. She is today floating $780,
100000 silver currency with s30O,O 900 in
gold. Last year the equilibrium of the
two metals was threatened, The owners
of silver bullion sold the same to the fed
eral governm emit and received in exchange
therefor treasury notes under the act of
1890, and then, as though doubling the
ability of the government ian incident OF
the change of administrator, they at
once procured the redemption of these
notes in gold, and this gold was in its turn
hurried out of the country to Europe. for
various purposes, especially to aid Austro-
Hungary to place itself, like the rest of
Europe, on gold basis, This
Great Outflow of Gold
was threatening the interconvertibility of
the two metals and was fast drifting us into
state of silver recommendation, or exclu-
sive silver circulation. The gold was rush
Ing out OF the country faster than the sill:
yer was rushing into the treasury. This
threw the financial and business world
ioto panic. Money disappeared from
circulation and went into hiding. It was
as hard to borrow money for the rich as it
was for the poor. Under these conditions
and to relieve the tention, distrust and
alarm, congress repealed the purchasing
clause of the Sherman law-that feature
requiring the government to purchase
every month $500 900 ounces of silver.
This was not the decentralization of silver.
1t was, in effect, merely the suspension of
silver coinage, Or the enlargement of our
silver currency. It was for the purpose of
keeping up the equilibrium of the two
metals and to keep them from running
from each other. In other words, it was
for the purpose of keeping up the inter-
convertibllity of our silver with our
gold, for, as have pointed out, we need
gold dollars to maintain and float our so
cent silver dollars
The moment a silver dollar is not CON
vertible into a gold dollar, silver, now as
in the carly days Of our nation, will en-
tirely usurp the place of gold and drive the
latter out of circulation and into hiding.
This would reduce us to state of mono
metalism, a state of exclusive silver
circulation. Our s666,OOOOOO of gold
would at once disappear from cir
culation. Instead of having combined
gold and silver currency, as we have to-
day, amounting to s1,313, 900, we would
be reduced to an exclusive silver currency
of s647, 100000. Even with the free coinage
OF silver it would take years to supply the
vacuum, and in the meantime the country
would be suffering under an immense and
extraordinary contraction of the currency.
The country would be in a far sadder state
than it is even today. We would all suffer
and be oppressed, except the owners of
silver mines and silver bullion. They
would reap big harvest, but it would be