St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-09
MISLEADING AND DANGEROUS
PROPOSITIONS PRESENTED
BY SILVERTTES.
A Change Means Ruin to Ameri-
ca's Bankers and Disaster to
Working People.

audience of people composed of the
members of both political parties.
He was listened to by bankers, bust
ness men, farmers and laborers, ana
was given the closest attention
throughout. There was liberal ap-
plause as the speaker made his argu-
| ment against the free coinage of sill
yer and pointed out what he claimed
to be the fallacies of the advocates
of free coinage. Mr.. Bynum was in
troduced by Hon. Willis Hickam,
and spoke for two hours. He said in
part:
sumo, and all their arguments are
based upon this erroneous assumption,
tina with free coinage of both metals
at a ratio of Is to l we would have BIZ
metallism. This assumption is the
great desideratum in the discussion of
this question, and until they demon
strate that both metals would remain
in circulation, all their defamation
about double standard, bimetallism,
and an increased circulation is pure
fustian. Is there the least probability
that with free coinage the price of sill
yer would rise until it reached a. parity
of IS to- l? Could we by our individual
action double the value of all the sill
yer III the WOTlu anu MAINTAIN at
an increased value, together with the
annual production of $500, 0G0, 600? The
capacity of our minis is only $4,000, 000
annually. 1t would take four years
to coin the bullion the government
has on hand, and by that time the ac-
emulation would be sufficient to keep
them running twenty years longer.
The opening Of our minis would not,
in my judgment, appreciabIy affect the
price OF silver; if so. it would be
feat more remarkable than that Of the
tail Wagging the dog. The only effect
would be to drive out our gold and
force us to a silver basis It is claimed
that silver never would have fallen in
value had it not been for the discrimi-
nation against it by our own and other
soVernments in 1873 and since. 1t is
said that even members of congress
did not know what the provisions of
the act of 1873 were. There is nothing
startling about that. My experience of
ten years as member of the house
has led me to believe that not ten
members of that body ever do know
what is being done. From a reading of
the provisions of the act it is difficult
to understand how any one who ex-
amined it could have been misied
am inclined to the opinion that the sill.
yer question was deemed of such little
consequence at that time that no one
felt much interest in the subject, there
lore paid no attention to the details
Z.
The consumption of silver nv rs
since 1888 has been more than $3.50 O00.-
CUo OF coinage value and vet it is
boldly asserted that the cause of the
1all IN Its value was the discrimination
against it as a money metal During
all the time the great CONSUMPTION was
ttklnS pl7ct the price of silver WIS
constantly going down. 1t is alleged.
however that other nations demone-
tlzed silver and that their action had
n do Wit
value. If such be true. how necessary
must their aid be to it's restoration
several causes, in my judgment. have
operated to cheaper silver. Gold is the
more valuable metal; more valuable
because OF the greater demand for tic
use in the arts; more valuable because
II can be transported from nation to
nation at less cost; more valuable ba-
cause of its properties
VALUE OF THE GOLD STANDARD
CAS- nations advance their commerce
grows, thelf transactions increase. and
more valuable standard becoroeS No.
essary. 1t is because of this necessitv
That so many nations within the LAST
quarter OF a century have adopted the
g0ld STANDARD. The displacement of
silver has not been because of anv mn
ir1endliness, but because conditions
had SO changed, wealth had so in
creased as to require the use of q more
valuable standard. Gen. Mansfield. in
nus work on moneys, declares that iron
- .ne monetary metal of people ex-
treHely poor, copper of a people who
are poor, silver of q. people who are
We'll to do, and gold of a people who are
rich Not only do nations as thew in
crease in wealth change from the
cheaper to the more valuable kind Of
money, but they reach a point where
money ceases to be actively used. be-
coming simply the base of a s11per
structure of drafts, checks and ex-
changes. This increased demand for
Sold by many European nations was
met by an Increase in production. and
thus silver was relegated to a subordi
nate position. In 1873 the coinage value
OF the worlds production of gold was
$S6, 2O0, Geo, while in 1894 it was
over $3.50 GO0. Co., The value of the gold
product of the world in 1894 was greater
than the annual average product of
both gold and silver from 1861 to 1865. |
Not only has the production of gold in |
creased nearly 100 per cent, but the |
production of silver has increased in a !
greater ratio. The worlds production |
of silver in 1873 was $3.50, 500, coo. while in |
1873 it was $20S, 81 eco. Not only has !
there been large increase in metal |
money, but by the device of checks and |
drafts and a system of exchanges the !
!capaclty OF money has been largely |
increased. 1t is impossible to calculate |
the CELEBRITY of circulation today as |
compared with forty years ago but |
certain it is that time and distance |
have been practically eliminated You |
can place a hundred thousand dollars |
in a bank in New York at noon and |
transfer it to the vaults of a bank in |
San Francisco before that hour. All
these changes, improvements, and con-
venienceS have had much to do with |
the displacement of silver and they /
will never and can never be abandoned |
or its full restoration. Another fact !
which establishes beyond controversy
that silver has not fallen in value be-
cause of any determinations against it
by way of legislation is that. notWith-
standing the low price for which it
has been selling. fabulous fortunes
nave been accumulated from it's
production. From 155 mines producing
silver it was ascertained by the direct
or of the mint in 1887 that the cost of |
producing an ounce of silver was only |
52.4 cents. The price is now about 66 |
cents, and the owners of mines wish US
to appreciate the value until they can
realize S1.29.
DISASTER IN A CHANGE.
''In view of all the evidence we have
before us, does any one believe that to
open our minis would have any other |
effect save to debase the value of our
silver coin and force us to a silver
basis? What would be the result of
such a policy? Our silver dollar, which
is now worth 100 cents all over the
world, would instantly drop to its
bullion value, now about so cents, and
our $500, 600, 900 of gold would instantly
disappear from circulation. No argu-
ment is necessary to prove that gold
and silver would not circulate side by
side when one was worth outside of
orr limits twice as much as the other.
With the disappearance of our supply
of gold there would be a contraction of
more than one-third in our circulation.
1t would take fifteen years of steady
work by our minis to replace this, vol
ume of circulation by coming silver
The very opposite of what the advo-
Gates of free coinage are contending
for would take place. The contraction
in our circulation would be so sudden.