St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-25


known law, bad money always drives
out of circulation the good. This,
then, is the way these double standard
countries have always behaved. So,
look where we will, the bimetaIlism
of our definition is nowhere to be
found. 1t is like the great sea SER
pent, visible to an excited imagination.
but unverifiable by the test of ordi-
nary observation.
The so-called double standard of
silver and gold has been and always
must be an alternate standard, now
the one metal, now the other, as their
market ratio varies. The confusion.
uncertainty and loss produced by the
fluctuations in value of such a standard
are readily seen. To avoid them. all
civilized nations. while using silver
largely in their currency, have in eff
feet adopted the single gold standard.
Silver and gold are commodities like
wheat and corn, depending for their
value upon the demand for them, or
chiefly on their cost of production
Though the government may call 25.s
grains of gold and 4121a grains of silver
a dollar, it is impotent to make them
of equal value, to make the cost of
their production the same No one
knows this better than the silver pro-
ducers. No matter what their party
affiliations, they all clamor for the
free coinage of silver at "16 to IL
Especially do they turn to the Re-
publican party, the party of protec-
ton; and in this they are right, for
free coinage and protection are nat
ura1 allies. They both profess deep
sympathy with the laborer. The one
talks of ''the dignity Of American
labor" the other of 1.-The poor mans
dollar" the one of "pauper labor
and British gold,'' the other of ''gold
bugs" and "Wall street, Precisely
the same arguments may be used in
support of the one as Of the other.
Both would tax the many for the
benefit of the few on the ground that
they will share their gains with the
many. How vain this expectation the
laborer is beginning to understand
Once in a generation, it is true, a
Carnegie builds a music hall or a
library for the public; but what self
respecting workingman taxed by Nc
KinleyiSm to create this wealth wishes
to be the object of his charity? Sen
ator Stewart, representing Nevada, a
mining camp with a population scarce
ly exceeding that of st. Paul, counts
upon the credulity of his dupes to get
help from them to sell his silver above
its true market value for gold, it be-
ing well known he is careful to make
his contracts payable in this metal.
The intelligent farmer and mechanic
will not be deceived by him and his
kind. They will not be misled by any
scheme for the payment of their wages
in a debased currency. This is be-
coming more apparent every day, as
the tide of prosperity is steadily ris-
ing in the belief that our present
gold standard will be maintained.
There is a place, and an important
one, in our monetary system for sill
yer, but it must be used in recognition
of this principle; it is the market ratio
of the metals which controls the value
of the metals in coin and the legal RAJ
ito of the coins must conform to the
market value of the metals. Govern
ments have found that they cannot
regulate the value of gold and silver
by law, and after repeatedly changing
the ratio to conform to the market
value, they are abandoning the task
of attempting to maintain fixed ratio
as hopeless; and well they may, for a
law of nature cannot be reversed by
human enactment. From 1857 to 1888
a period of 206 years, the market ratio
of silver to gold has varied from a
minimum of 14.14 to 1 to maximum
of 1852 to l. 1t is now about So to 1;
and the deluSion that it can be made
16 to 1 by international agreement is
the idleSt of idle dreams. The at
tempt, if it were made, would result in
universal bankruptcy.
In subsidiary coinage there is ample
use in this ana other countries, for
silver, while maintaining the gold
standard, the standard in fact in all
civilized nations today. The reason
they have adopted it, practically by the
limitat ton of the silver coinage, is be-
cause, in this commercial age, gold is
best suited to their use in the settle
ment of international balances. 1t
should be remembered, in the vast and
increasing commerce Of the world, that
it is commodity which exchanges for
commodity, so that in trade little &C
tual money is required, and its need
is constantly becoming less, exchanges
being effected chiefly by the clearing
house, bills Of exchange, drafts, bank
checks and other forms of credit.
Why should a farmer permit a silver
baron or any other variety of protec-
ZIONIST to tax him to raise the price of
the protectionist's product above its
just market value? The falsity of the
assertion that there is a necessary
connection between the price of wheat
and the price of silver he has already
| discovered, and the purpose of making
| il he may readily understand. The
kets of the world where the price is
fixed by the law of supply and demand.
Let the silver producer do the same.
1t may be added briefly to this al
ready too long communication that the
| opportunity of the Democratic party
was never greater or it's prospects
brighter. The victory for sound money
by the party in Kentucky is but the
prelude to the greater it will win in
1896 if true to its historic principles.
Let it keep out of the fog of bimetallic
mystifcation or any other form of
| Juggling with the currency in words
that palter in a double sense, but In
| clear, decisive, unambiguous language
| give to business, now reviving and
made possible by the wisdom and firm
ness of a Democratic president and
| that there shall be no tampering with
the standard of value, that our curren-
cy shall be as sound and stable as
Of that of "any other nation on earth
even England.
The recent Republican convention at
Cleveland revealed the weakness of the
party on the money question. In view
of what it accomplished as represent
ing a great political party, a more inn
potent and ridiculous assembly of pre-
sumably intelligent men never met
The half-dozen or more would-be Re-
publican presidential candidates all
with one accord refused to utter a sim
gle unambiguous word on this vital
question. In striking contrast is the
position of such representative Demo-
Gratis as the president, Secretary Car
Isle and Secretary Morton. These are
the true leaders of the party who pre-
serve its traditions and point the way
to success because deserved. Let the
party stand as in 1892 for a tariff for
,ovap1Je on1v sufficient for tho naadS