New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-12-10

| The issuing Of grcenbacks and the making OF
! them a legal tender for private debts no DOUBT
1 cost the creditor class In the United states an
| enormous amount Of money So the appreciation
| Of the greenbacks. until they were made at par
| with gold cost the debtor class large amount
| Of money
ONE DOLLAR AS GOOD AS ANOTHER
2 Mr. Hardy also desires TO know what the
| Republican party means by saying, Make every
dollar as good every ether dollar Ihey
mean exactly what they say. There Is nothihs
| obscure in the sentence. The statement means
that the finances of the nation should be so man
aged that everything issued by the Government
which passes from hand to hand as a dollar
/ shall be kept good as every other dollar. we
| are at the present time doing business with inc
| gold dollar a measure of value In the mar
| kets of the world, that is outside of our own
| country our god dollars are worth mrch more
than our silver dollars. Even here. our silver
certificates would be worth mueh less than our
| gold certificates. did not so manage the
| finances of the country as to make one Of them
readily exchangeable for the other. and in mat
way keep them Of equal currency value II the
! Government of the United States should coin some
silver dollars In the minis Of the country whch
should contain silver enough 20 make them OF
enual value. commercially. with gold dollars,
| then they would be of equal value without any
regard to legislation. The Republican party.
however has never yet proposed 10 coin such
! dollars But they have insisted that the coinage
of silver and the issue Of paper money snail be
so regulated that the dollars issued by the
| Government whether in paper or in silver snail
be kept at par with gold at least as far as trans
acAuns in this country are concerned
1t is true. as Mr.. Hardy says. that the amount
| in No. dollar
cisely the same as the amount of pure silver in
the first silver dollars issued by the Government
In 1884 a law was passed by which about one
grain and half of pure gold was taken from
the gold dollar In 1887 the amount was slightly
| increased and our first gold dollar pieces were
coined under law passed in 1Si9. Those dol
lars as now. contained 80 grains Of pure gold
or 25S grains Of standard gold. Such shsnt
| changes can be made in the coinage of nations
without greatly deranging the business OF coun-
| try 1t has been one Of the incidents Of double
standard through the past ages But 1t must be
! remembered that during al! that time all the
great financial nations of the world were siruS-
| Cling to maintain the double standard. during
| all that time the production ot the precious metals
never varied in quantity SO much as to chanSe
th. ratio of price between the two metals. per-
| haps to exceed per cent
ENORMOUS INCREASE IN SILVER
Within the last twenty -fve years the output
of silver in the world has increased much more
rapidly that the output Of gold. For instance.
in 1874 the gold produced amounted TO oo5S,N'!
ounces The output OF silver during tina. year
was 62572 e04 ounces. In 1891 the output Of gold
was 6.O55.ls9 ounces. and Of silver lAoS'''o-
ounces Thus 1t will be seen that the Increase
! in gold was only about per cent. while the IN
crease in silver WAS trile over 20 per cent.
Take the entire output of gold in the world
during the nineteen years from 1913 to 1881 IN
elusive and 1t amounted to lOOS23.5Os ounces.
The output Of silver during those nineteen years
amounted to l67llO2S72 ounces. The average
output Of gold for each year during those o
teen wears was 5.2SOO00 ounces. So that the out
put in 1873 was a little more than the average
output of each OF those nineteen years. But the
average output OF silver during those nineteen
wears was IS 100000 ounces an average increase
each year OF % 900 600 ounces over the output OF
! 1873 During the last ten years the output OF Sill
yer mas averaged GO.OCO.OO ounces each year In
1 excess Of the silver produced I'm the world In
| 1873 or nearly twice much The figures are
taken from "The Financial Chronicle. which Is
! generally admitted TO b. most excellent authority
Can any one for a moment imagine that such
! an enormous increase in the output OF silver IN
| the entire world dn other words. Of the supply
! could do anything else than result IN decrease
IN its price? Such a decrrase'in price followed as
naturally as water runs down hill.
Now comes another proposition OF MI Hardys.
He states that there is a growing feeling in the
West that Congress. at the present time, legis-
/ lates only in the interest OF the East That IL
another form Of the common statement that me
laws of the country are always being made 10
il "a ri
A grain Of truth IN such a statement The great
bulk Of legislation in The United States mas always
been TO protect the weak and poor agains' the
strong and the rich
LEGISLATION FOR FARMERS.
But says Mr.. Hardy. why not legislaie for the
benefit Of the "burdened farmer instead Of the
millionaire? When did the Republican party ever
fail to pass law which would aid the farmers Of
the country? Its whole history IS splendid
record Of legislation in behalf Of the farmers Of
/ the United States Law after law. Of the most
important character. has been placed upon the
statute books hoping that it might beneht the
! farmer | need not recite them. They are famil-
| lar 10 all Mr. Hardy think Of great man"
| himself if he viii Try. II MI Hardy means an
thing by his question. he means that congress
should adopt the free coinage OF silver upon 'he
old ratio 80 as tc enable the farmers to pay ther
| debts with cheap dollars. instead o. permitting
| the men who loaned them the money TO collect
| the same in dollars worth their face In god.
! No doubt such an arrangement would seem NICE
to the farmers whc owe money. ana wouid also
be very obnoxious to the people VINO loaned theii
! the money at time when the money loaned was
WORTH it's face in gold. 1t must not be Forgotten
! that the great bulk Of the debts OF the Farmers
OF the United States have been standing Dut Il
few years The longtime debts are usually o"ei
by rich railroad companies. by large corporauohS'
! and not by the farmers at all
Did Mr. Hardy ever stop ana reflect mat IN MS
calculation ne has left out Of account by Iar 'he
iar,or md ,,ors needy norton OF the people ol