The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-18
Things They Don't Explain.

There are two factions OF silverltes.
one faction believes. or pretends to be-
meve, that II our minis were opened TO
the free and unlimited coinage Of silver
at the ratio Of 15 10 ]. the
price OF silver would advance
and be worth E.2s an ounce in gold.
so that the market ratio would be equal
to the coinage ratio. The other and far
greater portion believes that free and IN
limited silver coinage would put the
country on a silver basis. that silver
would become the standard and that 50
cents worth OF silver would make legal
tender dollar.
There are two things that the orators
and newspapers Of the faction that in
sist that II we had free silver coinage
the price Of silver would rise so that
a silver dollar would circulate on parity
with a gold dollar do not explain. one
is this: Why did the prices of silver
continue to fan when we were coming
100000 in silver a month under the
Bland-Allison act. and were purchasing
$4,000, 900 ounces of silver a year under
the Sherman silver purchasing law? The
other is, who in this country. except the
owners Of silver mines, would be benz
fitted il the price of silver should rise
until the market ratio Of silver equalled
the coinage ratio? These are questions
which the silverite orators do not touch
upon. The argument they make is this:
Let the coinage of silver be free and
unlimited at the ratio of 16 to /. and the
prices of products would rise
But how would the prices Of products
rise il still expressed in gold, as they
would be if the price of silver rose until
its market ratio to gold was the same
as its coinage ratio?
The silverites say that the stoppage
of the coinage Of the silver dollar by our
mints caused the price of silver to fall.
What authority have they for that as
sertion? Is 1t not a fact that in 1873 the
silver dollar was worth cents more
than the gold dollar, and had been worth
more than the gold dollar for many years;
and is it not also a fact that no silver dol
lars had been coined up TO that time for al
most a generation? 1t was not. then. the
tOiiabt VI SAlNeE uo4idAo bliOl ~ 1910
that kept up the price of silver. or the
bullion value Of the silver dollar, be-
cause no silver dollars were coined.
But since 1873 the price of silver has
fallen until the value of the silver in
q silver dollar is worth 40 cents less than
the gold in a gold dollar. And why has
the price of silver fallen? Not because
our minis ceased to coin silver, for they
silver has been demonetized, since it is
stin legal tender Since 1873 about 5OO.OOO,-
900 silver dollars have been coined. and,
besides the silver coined, the treasury
has bought a vast quantity of silver
bullion, which has not been coined. Now
will the silverites explain why 1t is that
when no silver dollars were being coined,
and consequently there was practically no
consumption of silver for silver dollars,
the silver dollar was worth cents more
than the gold dollar. and that since there
has been an enormous coinage of silver
dollars and purchase of silver bullion
by the treasury. the bullion value Of the
silver dollar has fallen until 1t is worth
40 cents less than the gold dollar? Under
the circumstances, is there any other ex-
PLANTATION of the fan in the price of sill
yer than that there has BEEN and is. an
enormous overproduction in that metal?
If there is any other explanation, the sill
verites fail to show 1t.