The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-21

coinage and to circulation with full legal
tender qualities. not by opening the mints
to its free and unlimited coinage on indi-
vidual account, as is now proposed, but
by providing for the purchase and coin
age Of not more than four million dollars
worth, nor less than two millions dollars
worth of silver bullion each month by the
government itself. Under this act. and
the so-called Sherman act. and the act
providing for the recoinage of the trade
dollars. there have been coined at the
mints of the United States and put into
circulation during seventeen years, $685.
t52SI3 in full legal tender standard silver
as against s., 030,O0O coined during the whole
previous existence of the governmental
period of eighty-nine years. In other
words, there have been coined and put into
circulation among the people, in coin it.
self or in certificates issued upon il, near
~ nifty times as many fun legal tender
silver dollars as were produced at the
mints of the United States from 1892 to
1913, and yet some gentlemen are writing
books and making speeches to convince
their fellow citizens that silver is demone-
tized in this country. There was never
IN our whole history one-third as much
legal tender silver ip use in the United
States at one time as there is now, and
1t Is used without depriving us of all our
god, which was never done before. Silver
Is not demonetized in this country, but its
coinage has been so limited and regulated
by law and the financial affairs of the gov
eminent have been SO conducted that UP
to the present time its purchasing power
mas been preserved and its circulation to
large amount has been main
tanned concurrently with other forms
OF money Notwithstanding has
Deen coined at ratio which
does not conform to the real value of
me metal contained i'm it. l repeat that
silver is not demonetized, and the ques-
ton presented to us by the agitation now
going on is not whether it shall be demon
etzed in the future, but whether the mints
OF the United States shall be thrown open
TO all the silver in the world that any in
dlYidual or corporation may desire to have
coined, free of charge, into legal tender
dolars-that is, legal tender in the United
states only-at the ratio of Is to /. In or
der to discuss this subject intelligentIv
we must understand distinctly what Is
proposed by our opponents, and fortu-
nately there is no difficulty upon this
point.
Free and unlimited coinage of full legal
tender silver dollars at the ratio of l6 to
means that our law shall be so changed
that any owner of silver bullion NAV SEND
1t 10 the mints and have it coined at
the public expense into dollars each con-
tanning 4l2l2 grains of standard silver. the
dollars, when coined to be delivered to the
owner of the bullion and all the peon1e of
the United States to be compelled bv law
to receive them as dollars in the payment
OF debts, although not intrinsicallv worth
more than SO cents each. The 25 $40
grains of standard gold contained In
gold dollar is worth 100 cents, or the
equivalent Of 100 cents, all over the world
IN silver standard countries as well As in
goid standard countries, and it IS worth
Just as much before it is coined as after
VI a -fl hut fba.
yer contained in silver dollar are nor
worth anywhere in the world more than
ABOUT % cents. Or to put the statement
In a different form, Is pounds of silver
cannot be exchanged for l pound of gold
anywhere in the world, but II requires
aoount 81 pounds of silver to procure l
pound OF gold everywhere. But some one
may say that this is not a fair state.
ment, because it measures the value 81
silver by gold. The answer to this oh
Jection Is that the statement does not at
tempt to measure the value of either of the
metals, but simply to compare them one
with the other, and that for the burmese
OF making the comparison the value OF
gold is determined by its purchasing now
er in the markets of the world. and the
value of silver is determined In the same
way Sixteen pounds of silver bullion will
purchase only about one-half the uuanti-
~ of commodities anywhere that
pound of gold bullion will purchase and
TINS purchasing power is the true tesr
OF their actual and relative values. In
the United States Is pounds of silver
coined into dollars, will now purchase
as much as l pound of gold coins but
this would not be the case under the
system of free and unlimited coinage ON
individual account. The coinage of silver
dollars here has been limited by law for
the purpose of preventing an excassiva
Issue and fbaV have
government on it's own account and Maid
our Tor public purposes as dol
lars or full value, and consequently the |
government Is bound by every considera- |
ton of good faith, to say nothing of the |
positive declarations contained in the |
statutes, 10 keep them as good as gold, |
or, IN other words, to maintain the parity |
of the two metals; and this it has don.
ana Will continue to do as long as the |
present system exists. But. if the present |
system is to be abolished and new one |
established so that private individuals and 4
corporations can have their own bullion
coined at the public expense and bava I
the coins delivered to them for their pri Il
Vate use, the government would /
be under no obligation whatever legal |,
or equitable, to keep them as good as /
gold, and in fact, it would be impossibIa i
Tor 1t to do so, because the coinage would
be unlimited and the volume of silver in /,
circulation would become so great in pro- |
portion to the gold the government ]
could procure that the attemnt
would necessarily fail. The most extreme I
advocates of free coinage have not
yet ventured to suggest that the
government would be under any obIira-
tloh 70 guarantee or maintain the value
OF silver dollars coined without charge far
private parties, and without such suaran-
tee 1t Is clear the dollar would be worth
no more than the commercial value of
the bullion contained in it, Just as the
Mexican dollar is now. I admit that If
the United States could coin without
charge to the owners all the silver in the
world available. for coinage purposes 42is