St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-05-18

the commercial ratio between the two
metals made it advisable to change the
legal ratio, the change was. made by
recoining the gold coin. This was in
1884 and 1897. The spirit of our fore
fathers then lived in their coins. The
gold coins were changed in weight and
size In 1884 the gold eagle had twelve
grains taken out of it. In 1887 the gold
eagle had two-tenthS of a grain added
to it. No change was ever made in
the quantity of pure silver in the silver
unit There was to be no two yard
sticks. The rich mans tnoney-gold-
was recoined when the commercial
ratio changed to interfere with the
legal ratio. This is the law we would
re-enact. We would make
BOTH LEGAL TENDER
in the payment of all debts. We
would repeat the law of 1878 and the
Sherman law of 1890 authorizing con-
tracts (bondS, notes and mortgages)
to be taken payable in gold only. We
would allow no discrimination to this
made between the legal tender char
acter of the two metals. We would
allow no private Individual to dictate
to the government what it's legal tend
er money should be. We would place
the white metal on an equal footing
with the colored metal, without re-
gard to previous condition of race or
servitude." We would give the option
to the debtor If there was any prefer
ence as to which of the two he would
use in the, payment of debt. A break
in the commercial parity causes the
cheaper metal to be used. This in
creases demand for the cheaper metal.
This increased demand restores the
value of the metal that has thus fallen
below a parity, and brings it back to
parity. To give the option to the cred
) itors causes the dearer metal to be de-
manded, and it thus grows dearer and
dearer, and a parity is permanently
i broken, and the gap grows wider and
! wider. When the debtor has the op-
ton the two metals will oscillate
close to a parity, and substantially at
parity. This oscillation is the elas-
ITCHY that bimetallism gives to prim-
:, ary money. If one becomes scarce the
other is used. If one is cornered, the
other takes its place. Either answers
for money A true knowledge of BIZ
metallism and the simplicity of that
system died with our ancestors. Sell
| fishness is talked into the American
congress at the time when neither
metal was being used as primary
money-our primary money. was then
paper money-at a time when lC-a
CORRUPTION WAS RIFE -.
in our national legislature, followed
orfin Of aI,v oi,,r
| Vive President Colfax for completely
in the Oak-Ames affair, the resignation
Of Secretary Of War BeIknap, for
bribery, the charge of corruption
! against numerous congressman in con-
nection with the credit-mobilier scan
/ dal and land grant swindlers. At the
| time when craftsmanship was dwarfed
| in personal selfishness, men who knew
! what the effect of such a change in
our financial policy meant, organized
successfully the first trust to be bene-
| fitted by national legislation in this
country. 1t was a money trust. 1t
was the demonetization of silver. The
money of the people was destroyed.
| Silver at that time was at slight
premium over gold. By this act the
mlnts were closed to the unlimited
coinage of silver, except the trade dol
!! lar which was over-valued by eight
grains and intended only for export
| to China, and it was shut off by the
! act of 1876 except as the secretary of
! the treasury. might permit it to be
coined. Silver had then begun to fall
as measured in gold and the breach
IN the commercial parity Of the two
metals as was, natural, gradually
Widened. With resumption gold as
serted it's Importance and silver cor
! respondingly declined. Under the
Bland-Allison act of 1878, creditors
began to the exclusion of all other
forms of legal tender money. This in
creased the demand for gold. Silver
has ceased to be primary money. 1t
had taken a place with nickel and COP
per money, all redeemable directly and
indirectly in gold. That elasticity
In the alternate use of silver with
gold that true bimetallism gave to our
primary money was now absent. If
the demand for gold became too great
to supply the normal needs of pri-
mary or redemption money, there was
nothing to take It's place as such.
Creditors would demand the dearest
metal, and the law had given them the
right to do so. There was but the one
metal to which the mints were open
the commercial value of the other
metal had been lowered by
LEGAL DISCRIMINATION
against it. Gold was carrying the sill
yer just as it is carrying paper money.
Silver was not permitted to take the
place of gold. If gold was cornered.
neither the United States treasury nor
the debtor could put silver in COM
petition with it. They must go TO
the men who have the gold and get II
and submit to their terms A corner
on beef cannot seriously threaten the
health of the people of this nation so
long as mutton and pork are in com
petition with beef. A corner on gold
could not, as it does now, seriously
threaten the credit, of this nation if
silver was in competition with gold
as primary money. What is the rem
edy? Let us have nothing more to
do with the men who have assisted in
tying the hands of this great nation
and delivering it's financial policy over
to the gold gamblers of the world
The bank of Rothschilds in England
is now behind the United States treas
ury. They are our financial agents,
our financial managers. We are paw
ing them the princely salary of SIS, ,0oO,-
600 for each six months of their valua-
BILE service How long is our reserve
stock of gold going to last? How are
we to replenish it? There is only one
way. That is to borrow it from those
who have it, and that means Eng
land And that is what we are doing
That means more interest, more gold
annually to be paid to England. Where
will it end? 1t means the ''Dismal
Swamp" and 'HelPs Half Acre,
beyond. This is what having a
/ GOLD STANDARD
! means, a money that is easily cor
nered. That can be physically cor
nered; cornered in this room-all Of il
all there is in the world. A dollar
from it is the size of a drop of water
so small that by act of congress oi
j Continued on Fourth Page,