The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1894-08-02

surplus wheat exported from hungary,
Russia and the Balkan states These
figures serve to show how the American
wheat farmers, with their surplus OF
I 120,000,000 bushels, have to contend in the
! markets Of Europe with surplus Of
250,0o0,c00 bushels from other countries.
Maniiestly, relief from this condition
must come mainly from two sources-in-
| creased home demand and less production.
i Less production must come from more
diversified farming, and increased home
demand through the maintenance OF q
| judicioas protective tariff, whereby the
army of consumers may be enlarged and
equipped with ample means through
| profitable employment. Capital must
furnish labor work, and both combined
must furnish the farmer his home market.
But these are plain and homely sugges'
tons. am aware that the new style of
rcfornler, who affects to find nothing good
in the record or principles of either of the
| two great parties of the country, has other
and perhaps more scientific remedies to
propose as a relief or cure for the indus
! trial stagnation and depression which is
! affecting not only the farmers, but all
| other classes and interests in the commun-
| fty.s These remedies are principally the
! referendum, the government ownership
and operation of railroads, female suff-
rage, the assumption of the liquor traffic
and saloon business by the state and the
free and unlimited coinage of silver at
the ratio of Is TO 1. Government cannot
we'll build or buy railroads without money
acquired either by loan or taxation, and in
| these hard times, when we all have our
hands full, it would embarrass us much
to embark into venture so extensive and
expensive. Besides, it is far from certain,
especially in the light of the recent strike,
whether government railroad would
give us cheaper or better service, or
whether it would afford better field of
labor for the workingman. As to the
referendum, it may be said that bad laws
are, in the midst of great excitement, as
apt to be ratified by a popular vote, on a
narrow majority, as good ones. There are
many constitutional provisions through
out the land which have been ratified by q
popular vote that experience has proved
unwise and impracticable. Good laws
live; bad laws are easily and promptly re-
pealed. To turn the state into saloon
keeper would not diminish drunkenness,
would not relieve the taxpayer and would
be placing another weapon in the hands
Of the hummer element and the ward
heelers. How it could afford us any re-
lief against the hard times at this juno.
ture is hard to see. AS to female suffrage
it is a luxury which few sensible women
care for or would use. 1t is theory long
floating in the air among an ancient band
of refOrmers, but it is q condition which
few of mankind Or womankind pine for.
Surely little immediate relief could be OBJ
tanned from this innovation at this time.
In connection with the claim for free
coinage Of silver at the ratio Of 16 to 1
comes from these reformers the charge
and insinuation that the characterization
OF silver in 1878 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, aud in order that you may
realize and fully understand the full effect
of the immediate and unconditional free
and unlimited coinage of silver at ratio
of 16 to /, 1 shall have to take up and dis
cuss, in as brief a way as possible, the
principles which govern the coinage and
circulation of
Gold aud Silver as Money.
By the phrase "a ratio of 16 to ~ is
meant that Is ounces or parts of silver
coined into money shall equal enc ounce
or part of gold coined 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 show that
the commercial value of silver between
the year 1857 and the year 1892 fiuctuated
from a raoio OF il. IA to q ratio of Is. SO, and
that in the last year named the commercial
ratio of silver was 1917. At this time the
first coinage act of the United States was
passed, providing for the free coinage of
both silver and gold at a ratio of Is 10 l.
And here | ask you 20 note how near the
coin ratio Appropriated to the commercial
ratio. Had the trainers of that law steered
as wide from the commercial ratio as the
POpulist reformers do today, the ratio
would have been not Is to 1, but 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-
ton to the universal and memorable rule
governing the circulation of money known
as the Gresham rule; that where two kinds
of money of equal coin value, circulate
eide by side, and ere 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 it's bullion value. The element of inter
controvertibility being wanting under the
act of 1892, silver, gradually depreciating
in value until reaching a ratio of nearly
Is to 1 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 16 to 1, 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 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
cinsulation from 1910 down to 1862. at
which tine 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 Demonstration.
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 1852 had been, on an exclusive
paper basis, so that the decentralization
was, as matter of fact, technical rather
than practical. In 1873, 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 a
matter Of fact, the principle of incontro-
vertibility, without which no real practi.
cal bimetallism 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 the issu
ance of silver certificates upon such coin
I age. Under this law over 400, 100000 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 Shermal
law of 1890, ur der which the government
was required to purchase silver bullion at
tho rata cf II (in0 600 o,Incec nor YEAR and