The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-04-06
STILL A FORGERY.

STILL A FORGERY.
The first page OF the book called
Coins Financial School, contains the
Following. and nothing else besides:
At the Christian era the metallic money
q. IL the Roman empire amounted 70 M,soo-
It had shrunk to SOC. 100000. dr. Adam
Smith informs US that In lass the price Of
Population dwindlea S and Commerce arts.
wealth and freedom all disappeared The
70 the most degraded Conditions Of serfdom
and slavery. The disintegration of society
was almost complete History records no
such disastrous transition as that from
the Roman empire to the dark ages. The
discovery of the world by Columbus
brought with it rising prices, enabled So
cfety to reunite its shattered links, shake
and uplift the almost extinguished torch of
civiizatlon--Repor United States None
etary Commission of 1878.
The Journal stated a few days ago
that this was forgery, and SO it is. 1t
is credited to the report of the United
States monetary commission of 1878, and
nothing Of the kind appears in that re-
port.
But now comes free silver coinage
paper and says the extract is genuine;
that it appears in the report of the
monetary commission of 1876 and that
the credit to the report of 1878 was a
typographical error. 1t was certainly
material error that credited to the report
of an international monetary commits
sion containing two such members as
Gen. Francis A. Walker and 8. Dana
Horton an extract taken from a commits
sion appointed on the motion of Senator
Jones, of Nevada. and of which he was
chairman and wrote the report. But let
that pass. The pretended extract is
still forgery The report of the COM
mission of 1876 contains the following:
AT the Christian era the metallic money
100000. By the end of the fifteenth century
1t had shrunk to less than $500. 0000 900. Dur
bae canse took pace In h
of the world. Population dwindled, and
commerce. arts, wealth and freedom all
disappeared: The people. were reduced by
poverty and misery to the most degraded
conditions of serfdom and slavery. The
piete The Conditions e of life were So hard
that individual selfishness was the only
thing consistent with the instinct of self
preservation. .All public spirit all generous
emotions, all the noble aspirations
of man shriveled and disappeared
prices fell. History records such dis
astrous transition that from the Roman
empire 10 the dark ages
The concluding sentence of Coins quo
tation, beginning, 1.-THE discovery of the
new world by Columbus" ETC., does not
appear IN the report. A comparison of
the correct extract with the pretended
one shows that the latter inserts
parenthesis about the price of wheat as
If it were in the report, leaves out some
sentences and adds one garbled sentence
of seven lines not found in the original.
II the extract had been quoted complete
1t would have shown that even Senator
Jones did not claim all the credit for
the revival of civilization and the rise
of prices for the new discoveries of gold
and silver. 1T is a suggestive coin
cidence,'' he says, that the first glim-
mer of light only came with the inven-
ton of bills of exchange and paper SUBJ
stitutes. through which the scanty stock
of the precious metals was increased in
efficiency" But Coins forged extract
claims all the glory for the restoration
of the volume of the precious metals fol-
lowing the discovery of America by
Columbus.
The point is Of little consequence be-
yond showing Coins dishonesty in doc
toring quotations to make them fit his
purpose. The argument of the quota
ton itself is largely fanciful, as history
shows very conclusively that there were
many other causes for the decline of
civilization during the dark ages besides
the reduction in the volume of metallic
currency. In fact. the worlds store of
money which existed at the beginning
of the Christian era was not destroyed,
but simply transferred from one part of
the world to another-from Europe to
Asia. The best authorities agree that
the stock of gold and silver in Europe
reached it's lowest point about 800 A. D.,
and that from this time on till the dis
covery of America there was no further
reduction.
This phase of the question has at most
only vague historic interest. The real
question for the American people to de-
eide is whether they want bimetallic
currency of gold and silver at parity,
every dollar of one equal to a dollar of
the other. or whether they will elimi-
tirely, drive it out of the country and
place the country on single silver
basis with Mexico, India and China.
That is what free silver coinage by the
United States alone .at the existing ratio
would do. The advocates of this kind of
free silver coinage are silver monometal-
lists.