Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1894-10-18

result is inevitable certain as the law Of
gravitation. The purchasing power of the sill.
yer dollar. with coinage free. will be the mar.
ket value of the silver bullion. No gold viii
be taken to the mint or be paid into the treas
ury.
All we have will be Withdrawn. and the
United States will stand with China Japan
India, Mexico and South AMERICA as silver
States,-and be detached from the great civilized
nations of Europe, who still maintain the gold
standard.
The democratic platform. which / read tt
YOU denounces the republican party for de-
monetiZing silver. a brief history of silver
legislation will show how false Is this state
ment
AT the beginning of our government gold and
| silver were recognized the standards OF
money at their relative market value. A care
fui computation was made by Alexander Ham
llton- secretary of the treasury. and
Thomas Jefferson. secretary of state. and
the ratio of value was fixed as being
hfteen of silver to one of gold. Coins
were issued of both gold and silver, but it was
soon shown that silver was undervalued; that
fifteen ounces of silver were worth more than
one ounce of gold. and. therefore. the silver
was exported and in 1905. after less than ST.
oooOo were issued. Mr. jefferson, then presi-
dent suspended the coinage of the silver dol
lar and none were issued after that until 1888.
and then but few were issued until 1873. So
that, in fact. the silver dollar was practically
demonetiZed long before the republican party
existed
In 1853. during the administration of Presi-
dent Pierce and democratic congress-, the
minor coins of silver were reduced in value and
made legal tender only for five dollars.
Though the dollar was not stricken from the
coinage, yet it was practically demonetized
and superseded.
In 1878, when the coinage acts were revised,
after full consideration during four sessions of
congress, the silver dollar was omitted from
the coins provided for. It was then worth more
than dollar of gold. The Dill was debated
and considered as fully any measure could
be, and it was passed in both houses without
division. In 1873, after the decline of silver
had commenced, congress authorized the pur-
chase of not to exceed 81. 900 and not less
than 100000 worth of silver month, and I'M
der this act more silver dollars were issued
every year thereafter than the entire aggre-
gate of silver dollars during the whole period
from the beginning of the government to that
time. II it was demonetized in 1873 it was GER
tainly remonetized in 1873. As silver was de-
clinlng in value and was worth less in gold
than the ratio fixed by law, the amount of sill
yer to be purchased was properly limited.
1t is sometimes said that the characterization
of silver caused the decline of silver bullion.
This is not true Silver bullion declined be-
cause the production of silver enormously in
creased. not only in this but in other countries.
1 have table before me which shows that prior
to 1S45 there was no silver produced in the
United States. From 1915 to 1860 the amount
was about $4,000 year. In 1861 the amount
produced was s., 900, 900. This increased wear
by year. until the amount of silver produced in
the United States reached, in 1892, the of
So. 101 COO.
1t is this enormous production that has caused
the fall in the market value of silver precisely
the same causes that have reduced the value of
iron. copper and nickel 1t is this large increase
in the quantity of silver produced. and this fall
In the value OF silver that has led to the
pension of silver coinage among all the nations
of Eorope. Any attempt by the United States
alone to maintain its value in view of this
vast production, would be the height of folly
and madness.
am a thorough believer in bi-metaiism. /
believe that both gold and silver are necessary
metals for coinage into money to measure the
value of all other productions of human in
duStry But there must be some fixed ratio of
value between the two metals They must be
standards of value not only for other produc-
tons. but for each other. Every nation that
uses gold as its standard also uses silver for
minor coins. and regulates the value and num-
Der of these coins.
Great Britain was the first nation to adopt
the gold standard, but it also fixed the con-
tents, form and value of its silver coins and
ceived and redeemed them the same as gold.
but for a limited amount in one payment The
Latin nations, headed by France, agreed upon
a system OF coinage of both gold and silver for
circulation. but when the market value of sill
fell below the Latin ratio of fifteen and half
to one all these nations suspended the coinage
of silver and the purchase of silver bullion.
They had enough, but they maintain their
silver coin at par with gold, precisely as the
United States and Great Britain do.
Germany. Russia, Austria Hungary and,
1 may say, all the nations of Europe, have
adopted the same policy. They use both
gold and silver as we do. None of them pro-
pose, or would consent to the free coinage of
silver None of them would consent to the ex-
cluSion of gold, the sure and inevitable result
of the free coinage Of silver
What then. you may ask would do about
it? answer that 1 would continue to do what
we have done in the past. 1 would maintain
the purchasing power of all our silver coins at
par with gold. 1 would keep all the silver bnl-
lion in the treasury, purchased with treasury
notes. fund for their redemption, and sup
plement that fund. if need be, with the gold
reserve: every dollar of our money, whether
gold or silver. whether greenbacks, silver GER
or treasury notes, at par with each
other If the new tariff and tax law will, as
our democratic friends claim. furnish revenue
to support the government, there will be no
difficulty in preserving the parity of our money.
We are better able to do this than any country
Of the world. To recede from this position.
and to adopt the standard of less populous and
less civilized nations. would be retrograde
movement disgraceful to the party in power.
1t is sometimes said we want more money in
the United States We have now in circula
ton. and in the treasury. more money than
ever before. and larger amount per capita. 1
have table from the treasury department,
giving the amounts of gold and silver and pa
per money in the United States on the LIST of
1894: