The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1895-05-06

redemption must he exchanged for IL by
the British mint? And the same holds
good for the holders Of gold bullion on the
continent of Europe and elsewhere where
the minis are by law compelled to ex-
change legal tender money for gold bullion.
Therefore it is that the world has been
dcluded into the belief that god of ali
things on the face of the earth Is un-
changeable in value. Why, Of course. i.
viii never change as measured by itself.
one might well expect two yardst.cls
to change or two-bushel measures as
silver dollars are constantly lil5ened
by the advocates of the single
gold standard 10 yardstcks and
bushel measures, and IL this be true why
not enshrine a single gold dollar in the
treasury department and let the United
States have gold standard without a gold
currency, as was suggested by Mr.. Ber-
tram Currie. an English delegate to the
International bimetallic conference in
Brussels in 1892, as a panacea for the evils
affecting Enslands great dependency-In-
da. 1t would certainly save this country
from the hysterical spasms that afilict it
whenever the course of exchange leads to
shipments of gold from this country to
Europe. The only way by which a change
can be ascertaincd is by measuring with
something else. a disabled ship afloat in
the gulf stream would have no apparent
motion, would from day TO day be making
no change in her position, but her officers,
through the Observation-Disclosures of the sex
tant would from day to day clearly as
certain that her position changing
every minute. owing to the operation of
invisible but not, therefore, less potent
causes So il is with gold bullion and gold
money measured by one another; under
the operation of human legislation they
do not and cannot show any change, but
measured by comparison with the great
v4,fs~ In.
dustry they both show great changes, and
those changes are ana have been for
many years, disastrous to the mass of
humanity.
syIndIcd by the Gold Dollar.
but it has become the fashion with the
advocates of the single gold standard TO
speak of silver money as something that
Is debased and therefore unit for the
purposes of legal tender. In what way
has this debasement been brought abou,
, ard in what way does it manifest ttseliE
VIII they claim that any change IN the
chemical composition or physical struc-
tu~e of silver bullion has taken place since
1873 by which this handmaiden of gold as
a money metal has been relegated to the
position of the baser metals? L hardly
think so. ON the contrary, silver bullion
today is doubtless the same chemically and
physically that it was thousands of years
aro and the fall in its commercial value
the effects of human legislation. As far
rs the debasement of coined money,
whether of gold or silver. is concerned,
the less that the advocates of the single
gold standard say the better. ana for the
simple reason that no silver dol
lar has, since the act of 1892,
conta.ia,d less than 37lA grains
of fine silver, while the gold currency of
the country now contains % 22-lO0 grains
of fine gold to the dollar. while prior to
the act of 1884 it contained "a 1910 grains
a difference of about per cent, out of
which conhding creditors must have been
swindlcl according to the jargon of the
day But, strange to say. we see but
Ettle reference to this change in the gold
money in any of the illusions of the single
gold standard writers.
Decentralization Argument Exploded.
Coming now TO the question as TO why
silver was discarded as a money metal
by the so-caled civilized nations in 1873
the reason is given that It was on account
of over-product!on. and this assertion has
been so industrously circulated that the
great majority of people really believe that
the assertion is true and that the fact of
the over production is sufficient cause for
the great decline in the gold price of
silver since its decentralization. Let us
examine the question very carefully. Ac-
cor,ling TO the figures given by the director
of the mint it appears tnat the Wor",
production of gold between 172l and 1870
was 2l6 100000 ounces, and that the worlds
production of silver during the same time
was 1851 100000 ounces, thus showing thai