The San Francisco call., 1895-05-21

maintained concurrently with other forms OF
money, notwithstanding it has been coined at
ratio which does not conform to the real
value OF the metal contained in 1T. In the
United States sixteen pounds OF silver coined
into dollars will now purchase as much as one
pound OF gold coins, but this would not be the
case under q system of free and unlimited
coinage on individual account.
have never been, and am not now, un-
friendly to silver in the sense OF desiring to
see 1t excluded from the monetary system OF
the United States or of any other country, but
know that it cannot be kept in circulation
along with gold by means of any ratio the law
OF any one country may attempt to estapi1sh
between the two metals, and that the only
way to secure the use of both at the
same time is to make one of them the standard
OF value, and SO limit the coinage OF the other
that the Government which issues them and
receives them for public dues may be able at
all times to maintain their exchangeability,
either directly or indirectly, through the oper-
alton OF its financial system l am, therefore,
in favor of the preservation of the existing
standard of value with such use of all legal
tender silver coins and paper convertible into
coin on demand, as can be maintained without
lmpalrlng or endangering the credit OF the
Government or diminishing the purchasing or
debt paying power of the money IN the hands
of the people.
Th1s is what / mean by the term "sound
money" and in my opinion 1t is what Is meant
by an overwhelming majority of the opponents
of free coinage at the rate Of 16 to l. This is
neither gold monome etallism nor silver mono
metalhsm, but it means that one standard or
measure OF value shall be maintained, ana that
all forms of standard coins in use shall be Kept
equal to that standard in the purchase OF COM
modities and in the payment OF debts.
How long do you suppose the $625,OOO,OOO
OF gold in this country would remain here and
be used as money under free-coinage policy?
The banking and other great financial institu-
tions, which own and hold in their resources
much the greater part of this gold, would at
once sell it at large premium for silver-about
So for $1-or they would exchange 1t Tor silver
bullion in the market at the ratio OF about
thirty-two pounds of silver for each one pound
of gold, have the thirty-two pounds OF silver
coined into dollars at the expense OF the
people, and with this cheap money pay the de-
mands of their depositors and other creditors.
The masses of the people cannot do this, for
they have no gold, nor have they any silver
bullion to be coined at the expense of the
Government.
If the immediate effect of the adoption of
freecoinage policy at the ratio of sixteen to one
would be to contract the currency to the extent
of about 1926, 100000 by the withdrawal of
that amount of gold from circulation and from
use hS Tue pdSlS OF nOtGS duO OtAeT lOllliS Va
credit, prices would not even nominally ad-
vance. On the contrary, for the time being at
least, this contraction would greatly reduce
prices, because it would alarm the country,
destroy credit, and undoubtedly produce the
most serious financial disturbances this
country has ever witnessed.
OF course great country like this, rich in
natural resources would ultimately recover in
some measure from even such disaster, but
11,.1 a
man can predict. All the mints of the United
States, if devoted entirely to the coinage of
silver dollars, could produce only $4O,OO0,000
per annum. and, therefore, with free coinage it
would require more than fifteen years to put
silVe dollars in the place of the gold we now
have, and give back to the country the same
amount of metallic money now existing.
But, in the meantime, we would have de-
preciated standard of value with nominally
higher prices-after the first collapse was over
ON account of the reduced purchasing power
of the dollar, and at the same time we would
have for long time fewer dollars to pay with.
Common prudence would dictate that, when
any considerable change is to be made in our
monetary system, some provision should be
made in advance of the actual change for 8
gradual transition from the old to the new
order of things; transition period should be
provided for so as to avoid, as far as possible,
|
of the currency; but the advocates of free
coinage have no such purpose.
/ It is well known personally to every gentle
man in this audience who is old enough to
know what was transpiring in 1878 that there
was not dollar of silver in circulation at that
date. The only metallic or redemption money
in use here at that time was gold, which
amounted to only $l35, 900, 900, including
what the Government was using; whereas we
now have about $625 5,OOO, 900 in gold and
1897 ,652, 1873 in full legal tender silver, be-
sides about $S7 ,00O, 900 in subsidiary silver
coin. If, therefore, prices have fallen since
1873 the decline has taken place in spite of
the fact that our full legal tender metallic
money has been increased until it now
amounts to more than seven times as much as
it did at that date, and consequently the
alleged decline in prices must be attributed
to some other cause than the demonetization
of silver. These facts prove not only that the
demonetization of silver did not reduce the
amount of redemption money in this country,
but they prove also that the fundamental
proposition of the advocates of free coinage is
erroneous and that prices are not fixed or
regulated by the amount Of redemption money
alone, for, if so, prices should have increased
since 1878.
AS long as there appeared to beIreasonable
ground for the hope that silver could be raised
to parity of value with gold at the ratio of 16
| to / by the separate action of the United
States, I was willing to make the experiment,
butt was never willing to make it by legisla-
ton providing for the free and unlimited coin
age of silver at that or any other ratio. The
| only speech 1 ever made in Congress on this
| subject was delivered in the House Of Repre-
| sentatives more than seventeen years ago, at q
| time when the value of the bullion contained
| in silver dollar was only about cents less
| than the value of the bullion contained in q
| gold dollar, and /, together with many other
| opponents of free coinage, believing that q
restoration of silver to our mints would bring
| it to parity with gold, supported measure
providing for the limited coinage OF silver dol
| lars on Government account, not on account OF
| private individuals and corporations, as is
now proposed.
! Fifteen years experience, however, demon
| strated that those of us who believed in 1878
that larger use of silver by the United States
| would enhance its price of value, were mis-
| taken. Instead of increasing the price OF sill
| yer it continued to fall with greater rapidity
than before, Notwithstanding all the efforts
made by our Government to uphold 1t, until
| now the bullion contained in silver dollar Is
worth only about half as much as the bullion
| contained in gold dollar.
| Tha iro1u aIo cina