The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1895-06-04
CARLISLE On FINANCE.
The Secretary's Speech at the
Recent Memphis Convention.
UPH0LDs THE EXISTING SYSTEM.


Determined by Legislation - Present
Money System Practically Bimetallism.
Failures of other Nations to Maintain a
Double Standard.
Mr.. President and Gentlemen Of the Con-
vention:
/ congratulate myself upon my good for
tune in having the opportunity to appear
before this large assemblage of southern
business men, and congratulate the peo-
pie of the south upon their good fortune in
being able to send here so many real repre-.
sentatives of their great industrial and
commercial interests.
Mr. President, do not think the impor-
tance of the questions you are called to
consider can be overestimated, or that the
gravity of the situation can be overstated
The proposition to revolutionize our none
tary system and thus destroy the credit Of
the government and the people at home
and abroad, violate the obligations of all
contracts, unsettle all exchangeable values,
reduce the wages of labor, expel capital
from our country and seriously obstruct
the trade of our people among themselves
and with the peoples of other countries is
one which challenges the Intelligent patri-
otism and commercial honor of every man
to whom it is addressed. No matter what
may be the real purposes and motives of
those who make the proposition to legalize
the free and unlimited coinage of silver at
the ratio of 10 to /, these are the conse-
euences involved in their scheme, and in
my opinion, they cannot be avoided if it
should be adopted. In no part of the coun-
try will the consequences of such policy
if,ir RI bp at nj
ests of the people than in the undeveloped
and progressive south.
The world has never witnessed grander
exhibition Of courage and fortitude than
was presented here when a defeated and
impoverished people, without money or
credit and almost destitute of the tools
and implements necessary to the perform
ance Of manual labor, went unComplain-
ingly to work to re-establish their social
order, renew their commercial relations
and reconstruct their industrial system,
and I am unwilling to believe that the
same people can now be so discouraged by
a temporary business depression or so
moved by appeals to their prejudiCes, that
they will hastily resort to new and hazard
Gus experiments with the currency in
which all their transactions must be con-
Quoted.
do not charge that our fellow citizens
who propose to revolutionize our monetary
system by a sudden change in the stand
ard of value really desire to see the bust
ness of the country ruined or even injured
or that they believe any injurious COnse-
quences would follow the adoption Of their
policy; but, in my Judgment, the results
would be most disastrous to the material !
interests Of all the people in every part of
the country, and therefore I shall appeal to
them carefully to review the grounds upon
which their opinions have been formed be- |
fore it is too late to correct q possible mis- |
take upon q subject of such supreme i'm |
portance to themselves and to their poster |
ity.
Some Historical Facts.
p Before proceeding to the discussion Of the |
main question presented it may be advan- |
tageous to state as briefly as possible few |
admitted or well established facts having |
an important bearing upon it. From the |
earliest times gold and silver have been |
used as money, not because there was Mt
the beginning any law declaring them to
be money, but because, by reason of their
limited and regular supply, their great
value as compared with other things in
proportion to weight and bulk and their
durability, they were more stable and con-
Venicnt than any other commodity as meas
ures Of value in making exchanges. Con-
sequcntly these metals were used as money |
by common consent of the people for CEN
turics before there was any law upon the |
subject or any coins in existence. They
passed by weight, and their values in eff
fecting exchanges were determined by the
quantity Of pure metal contained in each
piece. Each metal had a distinct value of
its own, and when it was used in trade
neither the buyer nor seller troubled him
self about the ratio between it and the 9TH
er metal
The laws of trade fixed and regulated
the actual and relative values Of both
metals in the purchase and sale of other
commodities, just as they do now. They
had been used as money several centuries
before any government undertook, by roy
al proclamation or statute law, to establish
a ratio between them, and when this char
acter of legislation was first begun the
public authorities did not attempt to es-
tablish new values or new ratios, but ac-
cepted those already fixed by the laws of
trade and the custom of merchants. Coins
were made, not for the purpose of attempt
ing to add anything to the intrinsic or ex-
changeable value of the metal contained
in them, but for the purpose of attesting,
by public authority, its weight and purity,
thus avoiding the delay and uncertainty
resulting from the practice of weighing
each piece as it passed from one to another.
That the coinage of the metals does not
now add anything to their actual value in
the commercial world is conclusively
proved by the facts that, in all the great
transactions between the people of differ
ent countries, the coins are accepted only
at their bullion value, determined by their
actual weight and fineness, and that bull
lion itself is still used in making pay
ments, just as it was thousands Of years
ago. Whatever effect legislation upon the
ratios, in connection with legal tender
laws, may have had upon the use of the
two metals in the payment of antecedent |
debts, it has never had the slightest effect |
upon the actual or relative values of the |
two metals in national or international |
trade. For many centuries, even after the |
commerce Of the world had grown to enor-
nous proportions, the propriety of making |
any given quantity of bullion or any par
ticular coin n legal tender was not even |
suggested, and up to the present time there |
is no legal tender in international trade.
Coin In the United States.
Although we have the gold standard, or |
measure Of value, in this country, our ac-
tual stock Of gold bullion and coin amounts