The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1895-08-13


than two points between the legal ant
commercial ratio, that does not help Mr.
Harvey ir this debate in the least Tha
does not tend TO show that the Unitet
States governments alone with the entir,
civilized world refusing free coinage Of
silver and when the difference between
the commercial ratio; and the legal ratio
Is l6 points, can restore the old ratios. Il
proves that II the combined action of tn,
civilized world, except Great Britain
with the half civilized nations--all tha
have silver working TO help them-could
not maintain parity between the loyal
and commercial ratios when the produc
tiun of gold and silver were nearly the
same, now when the production of silver
has increased twice as fast as that OF gold
1t is folly to claim that this nation
| alone can restore that old ratio.
! ''Mr. Harvey admits as much when he
| provides for cutting down the sizs of the
| gold dollar He has not had the hardihood
to claim that the United States alone can
restore the old ratio. / think he does not
desire to have any such thing occur. He
says reduce the size of the gold dollar
tells us that the gold dollar has been con-
stantly advancing in price, and that the
silver dollar has remained stationary. He
says over and over again that an ounce OF
silver will exchange for as much OF hui
man productions today as it ever would.
! Now, my proposition is that gold has re
manned nearly stationary in price since
1873, and that silver has fallen In price in
accordance with the great law of supply
| and demand"
Harvey began on taking the floor by
saying: THE table on production of silver
for the world shows the worlds produc-
tion In 1869 to have been $40, 800, 665j, anu
that the production increased each year
till 1872, twelve years later, when it was
$50, 25O, 900 Here was an increase of GA
per cent. in twelve years in the production
of silver. Now Ii you are right, why did
not this increase break down the price of
silver from 1859 1892 And before you
answer l call your attention to the twelve
years. 1872 to 1884, when the increase is
90 per cent, per cent. less than the pre-
vious twelve years, during which 81 me the
price of silver haG fallen IL per cent"
Horr said he would take time TO think
over that question, and Harvey contin-
ued: MIR. Horr challenged me TO show
where any dollars were coined outside
of the Philadelphia mint did that
Now want to say to Mr.. Horr while
disputing all that he has said, that the
silver derived from gold in refining gold
at the minis was not coined into dollars,
but was coined into fractional silver.
Suppose man in Nevada had a lot Of
silver bullion and wanted it coined in
those years into silver coin. Now2 or 3
per cent premium for silver would DO
no iuducement TO lat man to ship that
bullion to Londo lA>shat is where this
premium was; 1t wasn't here nor in New
York. The freight and insurance and
expressage would more than consume
that 2 or 3 per cent, not to speak of his
being out OF the use of his money in the
meantime. Hence he would take 1t to
the United States mint and have it
coined into money that he could use inn
mediately."
Resuming the matter of credits Harvey
said: ITO say there is "a, 800 900, 900 de-
posted in the banks is today at the same
time tho banks are drawing interest
on So 800 600, 00G Of it, 1t works this way:
A deposits SO, 900 in bank. B borrows
the $40, COZ from the bank, but does not
take the money; it is placed TO his credit.
Now the $4,000 has swollen to $50, 900 on
deposit. The $40, 600 is still in the bank.
@ comes in ami borrows it, and places it
to his credit. Now there is $50, 900 on de-
posit Interest is being paid on S21, 90 of
it. A has $40, 900 to his credit the capital
in his business, on which he is paying
no interest B and G have each $40, 900
to their credit as capital in their business,
and they are both paying interest"
Horn took the floor with the remark
that he would discuss that later "in its
,,U 10 a.. oh
idle talk, Brother Harvey, about silver
costing 81 an ounce. To add to the cost
of producing an article all the money
that has been lost in mining speculations
and gambling is too ridulous to announce
as an economic proposition. There are
mines in the United States that can pro-
duce silver, and save money at 10 cents
an ounce-large mines that are doing
that very thing today"
He then quoted NJ. L. Scudder, who,
naming the mines and having seen the
books, said silver was produced In one
mine at fraction over IL cents and In
another at "a cents an ounce.
Harvey rejoined: What Mr.. Horn has
said about the cost Of producing silver he
could have said with a great deal more
force about the cost of producing gold.
u
less than silver does" He then read
from Del Mar on the History of Money;
"a part from other considerations there
can be but little doubt that the average
cost of producing pound of silver, from
the beginning of the world to the present
time, has been far greater than that of pro-
duoing pound of gold" He then told of
the uncertainties Of silver mining-how
you never know just where you are at"
as it were; how we all know that of 100
Of our friends who may go into silver
mining, ninety-nine come back broke"
He said that the mines continued to pro-
duce because men would gamble--risk
their money on the hope Of making a for
tune suddenly, and because large per
cent. of the product of the mines is gold.
Only three or four silver mines are left in
the United States that ars paying. TO
Scudder's statements he replied by de-
claring that Scudder was a fraud who
was sent out to Colorado TO defame his
own country, the willing servant Of the
National Banking association.
Horr denied that it cost as much to get
pound of silver as pound of gold 1t
had not been done for many thousand
years Del Mar would show the separa-