Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1895-08-14


every year, and there was no good reason
for debasing one Of these metals, discrim-
mating against it, and destroying the de-
mand for 1t that gave to 1t its value In the
market"
Horr expressed surprise that Harvey,
latter taking so long time yesterday to
prove to the people Of the United States
that the year before the discovery Of silver
in the world silver money had become so
scarce that the people were on the verge
OF starvation. should now accuse me Of
trying to divert him from the regular work
before US when 1t is the very work he him
self introduced" He then read from Prof.
George Gunton, author Of Wealth and
Prosperity" page lao. that In 1896 wheat
was Ave shillings and five pence ha penny,
and In 1914 1t was five shillings and four
pence. II we take the average for the dec
ades in which each Of these years occur
which Is still better, we will find the re-
suit to be the same. The average price Of
wheat from 1441 to 1850 was FIVE shillings
and three pence and three farthings; from
1491 to 1900 1t was five shillings and three
farthings, and from 1911 to 1920 1t was six
rhillings and eight pence. three farthings." I"
He said that this showed that wheat
had been steadily advancing instead Of
gong down az you claim. Now proceed.
The next thing desire to call your atten-
tion to is the matter we were talking about
when we closed last night. The question
whether the trainers Of the bill Of 1902 In.
tended to establish two measures OF
value" He referred to the decision OF Judge
Vincent on the question submitted to him
some time ago to decide bet as to which
was tho unit according to the law OF 1892
The Judges decision was that the unit was
the dollar, to be expressed IN both gold
and silver.
Horr then said: Nov, have before me
letter Of Mr.. Leach, who was for many
years tn director OF the mint; man
whom know we'll. and who is considered
authority on all the money matters IN the
United States. He takes precisely the
same view that Judge Vincent took he
tells us, II, as Mr.. Turck says. the silver
dollar was the unit which measured the
value OF the gold coins from 1I92 10 1910
what becomes of the act Of January l"tn'
1887 supplementary to the act OF 1854,
which changed the ratio in coinage to 1880
to y, IL which act no reference whatever
is made to units, but in prescribing the Sill
Yer coin says: "The dollar shall be the
weight Of 412h grains" Nothing about
unit" And the gold coins. the weight lot
the eagle shall be 258 grains, and that 1er
all sums whatever the eagle shall be legai
tender Of payment for ten dollars The
true reason that the gold dollar was re-
duced in weight in 1884 to conform to the
new ratio rather than the silver dollar
was that gold being undervalued by the
ratio Of Is to 1, gold coins constituted no
material part Of our circulation
Just as I stated last night exactly.
The bulk Of the circulation IN 1884 consist
ed Of silver coins, and It was easier prac-
tically to change the gold dollar than the
silver dollar Does not Mr.. Turck per-
ceive that this claim that the silver dol
lar was the unit Of value Is inconsistent
with the bimetallic system? The bimetal-
lie system presumes a unit Of account,
uait Of name or number to be represented
in coinage by a given quantity of silver. If
either is the sole measure the system Is not
Ulnel6illC. lucu QuOtSo ANtSsN'
deputy comptroller Of the currency. In the
mint report for 1S6S-Si, to the same effect.
and said this was written before this
discussion on the subject Of demonetizing
silver at all, written by an expert upon
this very subject, and again In the same
report he states: The present laws conse-
Quently authorize both a gold dollar unit
and a silver dollar unit, different from
each other In intrinsic value That was
the reason he proposed the law OF 1873. y
Harvey said: Yesterday Mr.. Horr ad-
mitted that the silver dollar was the unit
OF value and the record OF yesterday
shows that. Now in view Of his attempt
to try to twist something back into the dis
cussion by which We are to believe him as
saying one thing yesterday and something
else today, leave him to such fate as
the readers Of this debate think IS proper"
Harvey said Horr was trying to discuss
bimetallsm before its time in the debate.
That subject was in the second chapter
Of the book, and would be discussed at
the proper time. He said he wanted to
take up the subject Of decentralization, as
that was the agreed subject for the day.
Horr denied his but Harvey went on to
discuss the act Of 1873.
He said: ITO understand how silver
could be demonetized in this republic the
reader should understand that we had
then paper money, and NJ silver or
gold was in circulation. except in Califor-
MIA. The conspiracy to demonetlze silver
originated IN London. European fnan-
ciers had discovered that the demonetiza-
tion of silver by England had no effect on
the commercial parity OF the two metals at
the ratio fixed by France. 1t was there
fore current that In order to break the
commercial parity and substantially de-
preciate silver all Of the great governments
would have to be included In the legisla-
tion needed. coed zeal Of diplomacy.
concealment and Misrepresentation was
practiced In securing the cooperation Of
politicians in Germany. France and the
United States.
"Following his trip to London and Paris
Mr.. Sherman introduced bill In 1868 that
was On it's face intended to establish the
gold standard. Senator Morgan Of New
York jumped on 1t In the Finance Comit-
tee. Sherman saw that Morgan under
stood genuine bimetallism, and this bill
died that day and was never heard of
again. Senator Morgan's term OF office
expired In 1869. and the very next ses-
SIGN another bill made its appearance The
bill this time went to a committee, in
which the second attempt to leave out the
silver dollar was again discovered, and 1t
was inserted at the ratio Of '51a to l. To
knock this dollar out surrept' tiously at the
last moment then became the plan of the