Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1895-09-14
DIR. HILLS PAMPHLET
4 SUPPOSED slLvERlTE WHITES
AGAINST FREE COINAGE.

1t Would Lower Our Standard of Value
and Would Not Give Us 16 to Coinage.
A Pamphlet Which Has Dumfounded
the Free Silver People.
DIR. w, p. Hill of ST. Louis has just
written pamphlet entitled Argument
Against Free Silver Coinage at 16 to
~ which has dumfounded the free sill
yer people. DIR. Hill is the youngest son
of the late Britton A. Hill, one Of the
ablest champions of fiat money Of the
old Greenback party. Dr. Hill was edu-
Gated in the best universities in Europe.
1t has been generally supposed that he
would follow in the footsteps Of his
father and advocate cheap money. There
is little d. abt but that he made a
special study Of finance for the purpose
Of securing arguments against the gold
standard. Study changed his opinions,
as is apparent from the following quo
tation from his excellent pamphlet;
Many people innocently imagine that
the free coinage Of silver is simply
proposition to open our minis more
freely to silver and to maintain our
money OF its present standard Of value
on the gold basis, and that by adopting
free coinage we are not going to debase
and lower the value of our money, but
raise the price of silver all oyer the
world to 10 to l ratio with gold.
There could be no greater mistake.
They fail to see that it also involves o
change in our unit, standard Or meas
ure of value
If the proposition was that the United
States should give gold dollar for e7-
cry 371M grains Of pure silver brought
to the minis, then that would really be
an attempt on the part Of Our govern
ment to raise the Nice Of silver, and
how long we could Praise it would de-
pend on how much silver there was in
the world and how much gold We had.
But this is not the proposition. The free
silver idea is that we must stop insult
ing the silver dollar by redeenitng it
and giving q gold dollar for it. and
their proposition is simply to stamp as
a dollar every 41216 grains Of standard
silver brought to the mint, and that
this piece Of silver SO stamped shall be
our unit or measure Of value.
Is it possible to believe, when the
the new law shall say that 41219 grains
Of standard silver shall constitute the
value of our dollar, that the dollar will
be worth any more than that? Under
the present system we have issued mil.
lions of silver dollars on the ratio of i6
to I. The world has steadily refused to
accept our dictum as to their value, and
we are compelled to maintain 8 large
gold reserve, and not only stand ready
to redeem all those dollars, but also
constantly to redeem many Of them in
gold to maintain their valne.
We are staggering under our load
now with our present silver circulation
and have difficulty to maintain our gold
reserve. Will our load be lighter when
we undertake to coin the worlds sur
plus of silver? Will the world accept
our dictum more readily, when, ON the
one hand, we will loudly assert the 10
to ratio, and, on the other hand. teso-
luteIy give the lie to our own words by
refusing 10 exchange them at the ratio
Of t6 to /, which is the only way we
can make our words count for hnythmgf
The director Of the United States
mint estimates the coined silver money
of the world at $4.055, 700, 900, which
is about 50 per cent of the total Of the
coined silver money more than $4,000.
600, 900 passes current at exactly the
Same value as the silver bullion In the
market, and would flow just like SO
much bullion to any place where it
could obtain q higher price. The
worlds annual production amounts 10
$500, 900, 600; the annual production In
this country alone to $84. 100000. Oar
gold reserve amounts to barely s100,.
900, 900.
Suppose that by free coinage we could
possibly raise the price Of silver IN this
country to double what it is now--We
need not say double, but even q fraction
more than pow-does any man need 10
be told that that would start q flow Of
silverNto this country, and that our lit
tie gold reserve would be completely
overwhelmed, and that the mighty
stream would never stop flowing until
all vestige Of a higher price had been
completely annihilatedf And when that
bad been accomplished, does any man
need to be told that our dollar would
simply be worth what 41eE grainssof
standard silver would be worth in the
market as bullion? Thts feet Is una14
swerable-there is no free silver county
in the world where the dollar Or unit a
value is worth one particle more than
the silver in 1t as bullion IN the market.
Our attempt would be aboqt as ridice
ulous as if we tried to stop the ebb and
flow Of the ocean tides by an act Of con.
IL, ,.oos,1o4o h. 4e. 80