Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1894-08-16

lief against the hard times at this Juno.
tnre is hard TO see AS to fernale suffrage
It Is luxury which few sensil #i0lnel
care for or would use. III Is d theory long
JioatinG in the ali among an ancient band
81 reformers, but it is a condi tion which
few of mankind or womAnk ind pine for.
Surely little immed iate relief could be obs
tanned from this innovation at this time,
& IN connection with the claim for ira
coinage Of silver at The Efatio Of 16 to
COMES FROM these reformers the charge
and insinuation that the decentralization
of silver in 1873 is the chief cause Of the
financial and industrial depression now
prevailing in the country. In order that
you may see how untrue and untenable
this charge is, and in order that you may
realize and fully understand the full effect
6f the immediate and unconditional free
and unlimited coinage Of silver at 4 ratio
of 16 to i, j shall have to take up and dis
cuss, in as brief a way as possible, the.
principles which govern the e6inage and
circulation Of
Gold MID SILVER as Money.
BY the phrase a ratio Of ,s16 to 4, is;
meant that is ounces Or parts of silver
coined into money shall equal one ounce
or part of gold c5ined into money. This
is the coin or statutory ratio, as distin-
guished from the intrinsic or commercial
ratio Of the metals Carefully compiled
statistics from original sources shtw that
the commercial v.aiue Of silver between
the year 16S7 and the year 1899 fuctuated
from a ratio OF IA. IA to q ratio Of IL. SO, and
that in the last year named the commercial
<f
first coinage act Of the United States was
passed providing for the free coinage OF
both silver and gold at d ratio of IL to 4.
And hereI ask you TO note low near the
coin ratio appr0xima to the commercial
ratio. Had the trainers of that law steered5
as wide from the commercial ratio as the.
Populist reformers do today, the ratio
would have been net Is to 1, but s to /.
But the men of those days were imbued
with hard common sense and business in
tegrity, and had no silver mines or silver
bullion to bull or initiate.
To understand the effect of this and the
subsequent coinage laws of the United
States it is necessary to call your atten-3
ton to the universal and memorable rule
governing the circulation of money. known
as the Gresham rule; th,.t where two kinds
of money 81 equal con value, circulate
side by side, and are not by law incontro-
vertible with each other, that money
which is intrinsically and commercially
the cheapest will drive the dearest out of
circulation. The debtor will always pay.
with the cheaper dollar, and the buyer al
ways buy with the cheaper dollar, while
the dearer dollar will be withdrawn from
circulation and disposed of as bullion or
at its bullion value The element Of inter
controvertibility being wanting under the
act Of 1872, silver. gradually depreciating
in value until reaching ratio of nearly
is to by 1884, through the force of the
rule have described, had driven all our
gold money out of the country To remedy
this evil and bring back the gold into cir
culation, the coinage act of 1881, fixing tht
ratio at 1G to l, as it is today, was passed
This was slight generalization for gold,
and hence, under the rule of circulation
described to you, gold drove our silver out
Of circulation. To cure this evil and keep
some silver in circulation, the act
of 1858, providing for q greatly de-
based coinage of small subsidiary silver
coins, was passed. Save and except those
debased subsidiary coins, gold was the
only money of the national government in
circulation from 1910 down to 1862, at
which time our national government first
acquired paper currency, and this cur
rency remained the only circulating me-
dunn from that time until specie payment
was resumed in 1879
Continued next week
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