Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1894-08-10

lUO wall SCss n. L.
| 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 local-as distinguished from
international-bime Our own coin.
age history, from 1892 to 1884, and from
the later date until the Bland act of 1873,
has demonstrated that the free coinage of
both metals, on a 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
gold, as the cheaper metal during the
second period, drove silver out of circula-
tion, except as to the debased subsidiary
coin, to which have already referred. 1t
is a truth demonstrated and confirmed by
our own history, that in spite of free coin
age, we never had any real bimetallisn-
two metals, side by side and on parity
until since 1875 Prior to that time, SO
far as metallic currency was concerned,
gold or silver, but only one at the
time, held the field of circulation
Which ever, for the time being, was the
cheaper metal, was in exclusive possession
and control. And this proves to all who
are capable or willing to receive the truth
that free coinage alone will not give us
practical or real bimetallisn. And take
it that we are all bimetallists in the sense
! Of wanting both gold and sil lper to be in
actual circulation as money. None of us
| want to drive either gold or silver out of
| circulation. The commercial or intrinsic
value Of the silver dollar is today hardly
so cents of the gold dollar, and it is only
| current and received as equivalent to the
| gold dollar because you can, at all times,
exchange or convert it. into the latter
| And this is what we understand by the
| term incontrovertible. If a SO cent silver
| dollar can at all times be converted into
| hundred cents gold dollar we are as anx-
! ious to receive silver as gold.
But to keep up this state of interconver-
| tt lily there must not only be law for it
| b. the actual ability to maintain it must
also exist. And today the United States
is possessed of both of these qualities. We
| have the law and we have gold dollar for
every silver dollar in existence In other
words, we float our silver currency with
gold redemption fund. France does the
same thing. She is today floating $780,
1000 silver currency with $500 ,O00, 900 in
gold. Last year the equilibrium of the
two metals was threatened, The owners
of silver bullion sold the same to the fed
eral government and received in exchange
therefor treasury notes under the act of
1890, and then, as though doubling the
ability of the government ian incident OF
the change of administrator, they a.
once procured the redemption Of these
notes in gold, and this gold was in its turn
hurried out of the country to Europe. for
various purposes, especially to aid Austro-
Hungary to place itself, like the rest of
Europe, on gold basis. This
Great Outflow of Gold
was threatening the interconvertibility of
the two metals and was fast drifting US into
state Of silver monometallism, or exclu-
sive silver circulation The gold was rush
ing out of the country faster than the sill
yer was rushing into the treasury. This
threw the financial and business world
ioto panic Money disappeared from
circulation and went into hiding. 1t was
as hard to borrow money for the rich as it
was for the poor Under these conditions
and to relieve the tention, distrust and
alarm, congress repealed the purchasing
clause of the Sherman law-that feature
requiring the government to purchase
every month 4,50O,000 ounces of silver.
This was not the demonetiz alton of silver.
/ It was, in effect, merely the suspension of
silver coinage, or the enlargement of our
silver currency. It was for the purpose of
keeping up the equilibrium of the two
metals and to keep them from running
from each other. In other words, it was
for the purpose of keeping up the inter-
convertibllity of our silver with our
gold, for, as 1 have pointed out, we need
gold dollars to maintain and float our 81
cent silver dollars.
The moment silver dollar is not con-
vertible into gold dollar, silver, now as
in the early days of our nation, will en-
tirely usurp the place of gold and drive the
latter out of circulation and into hiding.
! This would reduce us to a state of mono
metalism, a state of exclusive silver
circulation. Our 1866, 100000 of gold
would at once disappear from cir
culation. Instead Of having combined
gold and silver currency, as we have to
day, amounting to 81, ,313, 600, we would
be reduced to an exclusive silver currency
of s647, ,OO0, 600. Even with the free coinage
of silver it would take years to supply the
:, vacuum, and in the meantime the country
would be suffering under an immense and
extraordinary contraction of the currency.
The country would be in a far sadder state
than it is even today. We would all suffer
and be oppressed, except the owners OF