The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1895-10-17
SUPPL EMENT.

NdlUt Oh all hluuN Oh property, / ne lINN,
unlimited and independent coinage Of Sil-
yer means the establishment of another
standard of value.
Silver MS have shown, is now depend.
ent money, dependent on tine commercial
value of the gold which enters iuu the
composition of gold coias for It's wrchas-
ing power and not ON its own merits 1t
Is now proposed to declare it's ndoppu-
dence of gold, and to make it standard
money Should the law be passed. then
the holders of silver bullion will have The
lawful right to take il to thc mms and
there have it coired without cost 10 them.
The coinage will he unlimited, which
means that all men, no matter in what
! country they live on what language they
| speak, shall have Il lawful right To bring
all the silver they may or can acquire Ia
our mnts, ana thor, secure for II free
coinage into American money The COM
age is to be independent. which means
without consultation. arrangement, agree
ment or dependence on any other coun-
try.
rms, according to the definition and
meaning of standard money. would make
sllNef an independent standard of value.
II would then depend, like gold, ON the
commercial value OF the silver which en-
tered into the composition of the coin for
It's purchasing power, and not on gold or
any other form Of money. We have al
ready shown that the gold dollar is COM
posed of 80 grains Of pure gold and
LOS grains Of alloy, which constitute the
standard gold dollar of 25.S grains and
lhat It's purchasing power is exactly
commensurate with that number of stand
ard grains, The proposed legislation
would make the silver dollar weigh six
/ teen times as much as the gold dollar
winch means thar it will be composed, as
our present dependent silver dollars are
composed, of BIZ grains of pure silver
and IA grains Of alloy, which would
constitute the standard silver dollar of
4l212 grains. Therefore its purchasing
power will be, should the law pass, ex-
actly equal to the commercial value of
31lA grains of pure tor 41212 grains of
standard silver.
Now, if 1922 grains of pure gold be
equal in value to 37lA grains of
pure silver, then it would fol-
! low that the gold and silver
standard would be exactly the same. We
would not have a double standard. but
we would have the same standard COM
posed of different substances of equal
value. If they are not equal in value
then we would in truth have two stand
ards OF value, each differing in purchas,
| ing power from the other If the sub.
stance which composed the silver dollar
was equal in value TO the substance
which composed the gold dollar, then we
would have the bimetallic standard.
80 ! maintain that where the CONNER
clal value of the gold which enters into
the composition of the gold dollar differs
from the commercial value of the silver
which enters into the composition of the
silver dollar, we will have two independ
ent standards Of value established by
law, and not a bimetallic standard. and
that the result will be the abandonment
of one of the standards by the people
and the use of only one. 1t is impossible
to use both in such case, because, both
/ being standard money and a legal tender,
in the payment Of debts that money
which is least valuable will be used to the
exclusion of the other
This morning ! looked in the paper and
saw that an ounce OF refined silver was
worth 6712 cents. You all know by
Troy weight that "a grains make one
pennyweight, and twenty pennyweights
make one ounce, so an ounce of silver
contains 4S0 grains But the dollar
coined at the ratio of IS to contains only
3I14 grains BY simple single rule of
three calculation you will find that if
4S0 grains of silver are worth 67lh
cents in the open market, 371A grains
would be worth 52H cents, that being
the value of the silver in a silver dollar,
measured in gold. Now, if 52A cents in
gold be equal in value to 100 cents in
silver, it follows that 100 cents in gold
would be equal to 1914 cents in silver;
50 the commercial value of the silver in
silver dollar, measured in gold amounts
to 52H cents; whereas, the commercial
value of the gold in a gold dollar meas
ured in silver would amount TO 1917
cents. To assume that the bimetallic
standard would result from the free coin
age of silver at the rats of 16 to |,
in view of the relative values of the two
metals is preposterous.
Let us see for a moment how it would
work. Suppose a man had 500 in gold,
and owed a debt of like amount; the
debt could be paid in either gold or
silver, both being legal teEder standard
money. Now, he could take the gold
and buy sufficient silver bullion to coin
$l91.25 in silver, pay his debt with 500
of the amount, and have sol % left over.
Is it not plain that everybody would sell
goods and ali kinds Of property at prices
fixed in standard silver, for the reason
that if prices We're fixed in gold the
cheap silver, i'll the absence of a special
contract, would be rendered in payment?
50 il is inevitable gold would 90 to u pre-
nrium and we would be on Il silver basis
The force Of this logic is met with the
claim that the commercial value of the
silver in silver dollar was little
greater than the commercial value of the
gold in gold dollar at the time the
coinage of the silver, dollar was suspend
ed by the act of 1873 1t is insisted that
silver was degraded by that act. and
when it is re.ieved from the badge of
inferiority it will resume its former value
Suppose we concedo that the suspensiCa
Of the coinage Of silver by the CONNER
cial powers has contributed to its de-
cline III the market it would be folly to
assume that tins country can independ-
emily undo that which all the great pow
ers have accomplished. Unless this coun-
try, by repeating the act, can restore the
conditions which then existed. it would
be idle to assume that it would result
in the establishment of the bimetalic
standard.