The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1894-08-09

side ~ side. and are not by law inoontEo.
vsrtible with each other, that money
which ID intrinsically and commercially
tho cheapest will drive the dearest out OF
circulation. The debtor will always pay
with the cheaper dollar, and the buyer a.
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the dearer dollar will be withdrawn from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-
controyertibility being wanting under the
act Of l792 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 1884, fixing the
ratio at is 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 4 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.
Only Technical Decentralization.
From these facts it is apparent that
when silver was demonetized in 1873, it
was not in circulation and had not been
since 1910, and that we then were, and
ever since 1862 had been, ON an exclusive
paper basis, so that the demonetization
was, as matter of fact, technical rather
than practical In 1878, one year before
specie payment was resumed, silver, under
the Bland law, was demonetized and q
true state Of bimetallism inaugurated
by adopting, for the first time, and as q
matter of fact, the principle of incontro-
vertibility, without which no real practi-
cal bimetallisna can exist, outside Of inter
national bimetallism. The Bland law
provided for the purchase and coinage of
from two to four million dollars worth Of
silver bullion per month, and for tho issu
ance of silver certificates upon such coin
age Under this law over 4OO,OOO'OOO OF
silver dollars have been coined.
Owing to the almost universal demone-
tization of silver in Europe since 1872, and
the greatly increased production thereof
throughout the world, in spite of the
Bland law and in spite of the Sherman
law of 1890, ur der which the government
was required to purchase silver bullion at
the rate of 81, 100000 ounces per year and
issue paper currency? thereon, silver has,
ever since 1872, gradually deprecated in
value until today its commercial ratio is
less than 80 to 1, and before the repeal of
the purchasing clause of the Sherman law
it had reachedaa ratio of less than to l.
In all these years, aside from India, the
United States has been the best friend
that silver has had. Until the repeal of
the purchasing clause of the Sherman law
and the suspension of coinage in India,
both occurring in 1893, these countries
consumed upwards of two-th irds of the
worlds entire supply of silver. And yet,
in spite of the efforts of these two coun-
tries to sustain silver, it kept on, from the
causes already described, to decline in
price so rapidly that It became evident
that India and the i United States COM
bined could not sustain the burden
alone Or the first day of June,
1894, the United States carried in circula-
ton S647, 500 900 of silver as against $685.
100000 of gold, of which $10O,000,000
is kept in the treasury as q redemption
fund for @348, 600 900 of greenbacks. France
has silver circulation Of 500, 900 600, as
against gold circulation of $500, GOO, 600;
while India, with its population of 255 ,o0o,-
600, has silver circulation of $500, 600;
as against no gold, and Us ,OO0, 900 of I'M
covered paper; and China, with its
40O. 900 600 of people, has $780, 0OO, 600 of sill
yer, passing on its bullion value, in circu-
lation. These statistics indicate, If 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 it is as much in favor here, for use
as money, as anywhere in the commercial
world and that our, country is today in a
sound state of LOCALS distinguished from
International bimetalism. Our own coin
age history, from 1892 to 1884, and from
the later date until the Bland act of 1878,
has demonstrated that the free coinage of
both metals, ON ratio almost approx
mating the commercial ratio, failed to
give us real bimetallism-the uninter-
rupted 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, during the second
period, drove gold out of circulation, and