The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-24
MEMPHIS SOUND MONEY MEN.
CONTINUED from First Pagel

was complied with, and there was more
When the vote was taken the resolu-
tons were adopted without discussion AMI
with a shout. Not a voice was heard
In the negative. Then resolutions were
passed giving hearty. endorsement TO the
money Of New York, and also urging the
formation Of sound money leagues and
clubs throughout the south, and after
farewell address from Congressman Pat
rersOn the convention at $40 o'clock ad-
lJurned sine die.
Full extracts from Secretary Carlisle's
1lr. President. I do not think the impor-
tauoe of the questions you are called 10
cJnsider can be overestimated, or that the
gravity Of the situation can be Over-stated.
The proposition to revolutionize our none
fary system, and thus destroy the credit of
rhe government and the people at home
and abroad, violate the obligations of all
contracts, unsettle all exchangeable val
ues. reduce the wages Of labor, eXpei cap
ital from our country, and seriously OBJ
struct the trade OF our people among them
selves and with the peoples Of other coun-
tries, is one which challenges the inteln-
gence, patriotism, and commercial honor
of every man to whom IL is addressed. No
matter what may be the real purposes and
motives of those who make the PROPOSE
yiOn to legalize the free and unlimited coin
age of silver at the ratio otis to /, these
are the consequences involved in their
scheme. and, in my opinion, they cannot
be avoided II il should be adopted. In no
part of the country will the consequences
If such a policy prove more Injurious TO
the material interests of the people than in
the undevelOped and progressive south.
When the great civil war closed, your in
Hustrial system was destroyed, your COM
mercial relations were all broken up, your
currency was worthless, your farms were
devastated, your mines were closed, your
forests were untouched, your water power
was useless. and your railways We're I'M
safe and Inadequate, even for the limited
service they had to perform; but your
great natural resources were still unin-
paired and upon that foundation you have
constructed, and are still constructing, a
system of diversified industries and inter
state and international commerce which.
If not disturbed by unwise experiments in
financial legislation, must attract to your
section of the country all the active capt.
tai and skilled labor necessary to make IL
the most prosperous part of the continent.
Before proceeding TO the discussion of the
main question presented, it may be advan-
tagc0us to state as briefly as possible few
admitted or well-establshed facts having
an important bearing upon it.
Coins were made, not for the purpose of
attempting to add anything to the intrinsic
or eXchangeable value of the metal con-
tanned in them, but for the purpose of at
testing by public authority its weight and
purity, thus avoiding the delay and uncer-
tainty resulting from the practice of
weighing each piece as IT passed from one
10 another That the coinage Of the metals
does not now add anything to their actual
value in the commercial world, is c0nclu-
siyely proved by the facts that in all the
great transactions between the people of
different countries, the coins are accepted
only at their bullion value, determined by
their actual weight and fneness, and that
bullion itself is still used in making pay
ments just Il was thousands of years
upon ratios, in Connection with
legal tender laws. may have had
in the payment of antecedent debts, IL 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 enormous pro-
portions, the propriety of making any
ular coin, legal tender was not even sug
gested. and up to the present time there
IS no legal tender in international trade.
Whether payments are made in gold or
silver coins, or in gold or silver bullion,
actual intrinsic value determines the
amount or quantity 20 be delivered, no
matter what may be the legal tender laws
of the different countries, and no matter
though they may have the same or differ
ent ratios of value between the metals
within their respective limits. The law
of France, for instance, places a higher
value upon silver relatively to gold than
is placed upon X by the laws of the United
States, the French ratio being 1872 to l.
and ours being IS to l; but if Is pounds of
our silver, coined or uncoined: were sent
10 that country to be used in the payment
of "A debt or in the purchase of commo-
diues, it would not be accepted at the
ratio ratio of 16 70 / as compared TIC to
gold, but only at the ratio of about
/, faLlO
nor the French ratio has any effect what
ever upon the value or purchasing power
Of the metal itself. Coinage is free in
Mexico, and the dollar which is full legal
tender, contains 377.17 grains of pure silver,
while our dollar contains only 371.25 grains
of pure silver; yet Mexican silver dollars
are sent into the United States and other
parts of the world and sold at the price of
the bullion contained in them, which is
about one-half their nominal or legal value
IN their own country. The legal tender
laws effect the debt paying power of the
coin itself in the country where the laws
prevail, but the laws establishing ratio do
not affect the value of the metal contained
IN the coins either at home or abroad, be-
cause II is the metal that fixes the value
OF the coin, and not the coin that fixes
the value of the metal.
The use of credit in the form of bank
notes; checks, bills, and other evidences
OF debt has so increased in modern times
mat in all highly organized commercial
communities the use of coin, except in
making change, has been almost entirely
dispensed with. The percentage of coin
actively employed in conducting business
IN this country is so small that it is al
most inappreciable; so small, in fact, that
rs 0lsuSe IN our transactions would not
be felt if we had a substitute for, or pa
per representative of, the subsidiary
pieces. In England, France and other
countries, larger amount of coin is used,
because they have no very small notes
Although we have the gold standard, or
measure of value, in this country, our ac-
tual stock of gold bullion and coin amounts
10 only about one-third of our actual cur
Iehcy-a condition of affairs which would
nave been inconceivable a few centuries
ago We have about $625. 100000 in gold
Siyts 692 6l3 in full legal tender silver $685.
$4,000 in old United States notes, $149 58i,-
81 IN treasury notes issued in the purchase
OF silver bullion 5000 719 $50 in national
bank notes, and S76 $50 in, subsidiary
silver coin, making in all 81, S04, 707, 763, ex-
elusive of the minor coins, and every dol
lar of this vast volume of currency is kept
equal in value to the standard established
by law, so that every man who receives
silver dollar or paper dollar in exchange
LOT his products, or in satisfaction of
debt, gets just as good a dollar as the
man who receives gold. This is the mon
etary system and this is the financial con-
duon which the advocates of free coinage
az the ratio of Is to l now propose to rev
oiuuonize at once by a change in the
standard of value, so that the whole mass
OF circulation left for the use of the people
would be reduced to about one-half the
puIchasing power it has now; or, in other
%ofds, 50 chat it would require about
uouple the amount of currency that is re-
IuIed now to perform the same service
~ me exchange of commodities But the
SSuusu mfnation of such policy would pro-
uuce results more far reaching and dsas-
g5Ious than the mere reduction of the stan
hnp for lou 81