The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1894-06-15

practice Of the bank. Has the Scimf-
tar ever heard or read that the practice
has destroyed the parity between
the gold and silver money Of France?
No, nor has anybody. The practice
has never produced this result, and as
payment in silver and refusal to pay
in gold has not affected the parity of
the coined metals in France, it is q
wholly warranted conclusion that if
adopted by the treasury department it
would not do so in the United States.
OF course nobody would demand re-
demption of SILVER certificates in gold,
nor would certificates, which are ex-
pressly payable in silver, be so re-
deemed if anybody should. 1t is only
the old greenbacks, and the treasury
notes issued under the act of 1890,
that, contrary to the spirit and letter
of the law, are treated by the secreta-
ry as lien upon the gold reserve. But
suppose it were true, as the Scimitar
says, that refusal to redeem the certifi-
cafes in gold would drive gold out OF
circulation. It connot be true, as that
journal also says, that "the silver dol
lar would fall in purchasing power to
about one-half of that which it now
possesses 1t would be as impossible
for these two conditions to occur SIM
ultaneously and coexist as it is for wa
ter to defy the law of gravitatlon by
running up hill. Let it be assumed
that there are but ,000, 600, 900 bushels
of wheat in the world, half winteran
half spring. There is an active de-
mand the entire quantity, and by
accident or design one-half the supply,
or 500,00,000 bushels, is obliterated.
| Would the remaining 500, 900, 900 BUSH
els increase or fall in price? The en-
tire demand which formerly existed
for the 1,O00,000,OOO bushels being
thrown upon the 500,000,000, the price
of the latter, if not doubled, would be
greatly increased, would it not? Ger
tainIy. Very well. There are in
round numbers 81 600, 100000 outside
the treasury, and of this amount $500,
900, 900 is gold. Now if the 100000, 900
in gold were entirely withdrawn
from circulation, what would follow?
| Would not the demand which now ex>
lists for the whole 81 ,600,000000 be
thrown upon the remaining 81 ,l00,-
| 600, 900 of silver and paper, and in this
clse, as in the supposed case of wheat,
would not the value of money rise ?
The supply having been diminished
relative to demand, money being
scarcer and absolutely needed to pay
debts and exchange commodities,
would not people give more in ex-
change for money? They would be
obliged to. And what then? Why,
prices would tie much lower than they
are to-day, and the silver dollar would
therefore have a far greater purchasing
power than the gold or silver dollar
has now. Instead of falling one-half,
| the value of silver money would rise
more than third, and that by an or
dinance as immutable as the statutes
of the Modes and Persians or as the
DEGREES of Venice. In these circum-
stances what would be created and ex-
ist? The very conditions which would
bring gold here from all the world.
Prices would be so much lower i'm the
United States than on the otherside of
the Atlantic, that Europe would freely
import our products, and in payment
for the products, and also for land and
other property whose extraordinary
cheapness would temp cupidity and
the investment of foreign capital, gold
would flow to us IN a shining stream
and continue to flow till the parity
between our prices and foreign prices
had been restored. And naturally, in
these conditions, American gold mon
| ey would n remain out of circula-
ton. Gold always gees where it is
worth the most, and as it would then
| be worth more here than anywhere
else it would stay and relieve the stu
alton by performing the functions of
money.
The Scimitar has not reasoned out
the problem. When it has done so it
will readily detect the incongruities,
fallacies and weakness Of It's conten-
/ ton.