Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1895-05-30
GREAT DEBATE ON THE CUR
RENCY QUESTION.
w. n. Harvey vs. Prof. Laughiin-For-
mer Cham pions Free Silver, the Lat
ter Opposing It-Thousands Hear the
Discussion In Chicago.
silver Question Discussed.


silver at the ratio of 16 to 1. independently
of the action of any other nation. Dr.
Homer J. Thomas presided, and the spa
cious rooms of the Illinois Club were
crowded TO suffocation.
DR.. Thomas read the proposition to be
discussed as follows: Resolved. that the
United States should at once enter upon
free coinage of silver at a ratio of III to l,
independently of the action of any other
nations" Harvey, it was stated, would
speak for an hour in the affirmative and
Prof. Laughlin an hour and half in the
negative, Harvey then having thirty min
utes for rejoinder. Both men were lib
erally applauded. In opening for the
affirmative, Harvey said:
ssThe Hrst reason why am In favor OF In
dependent action by this country is that we
should not be subjected to the Influences Of
the governments of Europe. when our Iore-
fathers declared their independence from
Europe, II was TO free themselves OF tne
class legislation of those governments, Justly
termed plutocracies. II the people can be re-
duced to poverty and the prosperity or tne
United States can be ruined by hanging to
the financial policy Of Europe, then we can
be reduced to the same conditions by nn9p-
cial legislation as a war conquest would re-
duce us. If we are right, and our friends,
the mono metallists mostly say: we admit
bI-metaiism would be good II we could get
international bi-metailism;' in other words,
they agree that there Is something radically
wrong, but claim that we are TIED =, 70 TN, the
was war of conquest iu this country py tne
monarchies of Europe. whose form OF gov
ernment Is different from ours; II would re,
duce us to q condition that the people OF
those governments are In. and they can ac-
complish the same purpose by financial leg
islation. then there Is necessity Tor indepen-
dent action. Where there Is necessity. there
Is a remedy. The governments or Europe
are plutocrncies. They squeeze the lemon
for the people about every so OFTEN. rev
the hewers of wood and the drawers OF
water for the titled few. Like the farmer
who goes out and robs the bees nest they
rob the people and then give tnen 70 tune rnh 70 t
again. We have certainly not forgotten MS
tory giving reasons why our forefathers es-
tablished this government-and that was the
sNow as financial legislation is one OF the
classes OF class legislation by which many
are robbed and few are enriched, then IL
is one of the institutions of the European
governments that we as nation should de-
clare our independence Of. That Is the first
reason why indendenpent financial action
should be taken by the United states. III
they say: we must have the same money
they have In order to carry on business with
them my reply IL, that the biggest busi.
the world, and particularly with Europe,
was the time when they had silver as
money and we had neither.
''This nation can have an Independent
financial system without any reference what
ever TO the balance OF the world. and can
carry on its own commerce by ocean ana Dy
land with the other governments OF the
world Notwithstanding. We do not now set
tie our balances with Europe In coin except
on it's commercial value and by weight Our
coinage has nothing to do with It, Primarily
the balances of trade are settled by trade.
We give them our wheat and we take their
silks and the balance that we may owe them
or they may owe us Will be settled JUST as
merchants between Importing points may
agree TO settle It. They can settle 1t In gold
for so much per pennyweight as measured
In the money OF either country or our coun-
try or in 30 much silver or so much copper,
or so much of any other merchandise may
be agreed upon between them In their trade
relations. There is no such thing as an In
ternational money.
"What we are contending for is the open
ing OF the mints to free coinage OF silver
(they are now open to free and unlimited
coinage OF gold and M. have never been e,9sed es
inetallisn on these simple and fixed prin-
cipies that were adopted by those statesmen
who had IN view the Interests OF t no Class s, ss
metallism. And scientific 'bimetallism Is
this
81. Free and unlimited coinage of both
gold and silver; these two metals TO consti-
tute the primary or redemption money OF
the government
40 The silver dollar OF 371l4 grains of pure
~
coined into money and the ratio TO be
changed if necessary from time to time, IL
commercial parity. to legal ratio shall be
affected by the action Of foreign countries.
.'3 The money coined from both metals
to be legal tender In the payment Of all
debts.
moneys Is 10 be paid in liquidation Of debt
to rest with the debtor. and the government
also to exercise that option when desirable
when paying out redemption money"
n fOlIOwR. n
ton of capital on one side and humanity on
the other. OF sound, the sound of the clod
ON the coffin. on one SIDE and sound money,
the sound that has an honest ring Of the
peoples money In II, on the other side. 1t
Is question OF an English policy or an
American policy. Which shall 1t beP'
Prof. Laughlin's Argument.
Prof. Laugbiin. replying for the negative,
amount of money equal to all the goods In
existence. The measure OF value Is that in
paid. provided the measure is also the legal
lender In any country. Ii Is evident that
the quantity OF measures Is not 80 material
s as" the unyarylng stability q the standard
money Is growing less Important with the
development OF the system OF exchanges
From 81 TO 95 per cent. of the transactions
are PEI 'ormed by this machinery without the
use OF money and Investigations by the comp
troller Of the currency show that "a per cent
of the rstail transactions are similarly per-
"But sOBe one might say that this vast
system must be liquidated In actual coin
and money. go our business system rests like
an Iryerted pyramid or a vertex on n small
reserve OF coin. This is wholly untrue We
extiress the value OF goods In terms Of money
but then we really exchange them almost
entirely by means of q deposit OF currency.
IL Is not tru, that this system is unstable
like the Inverted pyramid Checks and de-
posits are not reason for the existence Of
transaction. The redemption IL ultimately
In goods, not coin Coin Is only the means
OF going from one set Of goods TO another
"Thc prices since 1873 have not fallen be-
cause OF lack OF money Silver has fallen
about 30 per cent, compared with the very
modest fall In the price OF commodities
Silver does not have the same purchasing
price as In 1873. Hence free coinage can
not be urged az n just means of paying n
debt. More so-called redemption money, by
the amount of 81, ,002, ,0O0, 900 Is In existence
to-day compared with 1878. and yet prices
have fallen and silver still more. Prices un-
mistakably have fallen because OF the cheap
ened cost of production. Since we under
took the purchase of silver I'm 1878 IL has
fallen nearly one-half In value although we
have purchased about 5000 ,OOO, 900 worth. 1t
is perfectly evident there is no use In the
United States acting alone TO bolster up the
price Of silver when we have failed even In
concert with the Latin union. Free coinage
Of silver at 10 to 1 means a single silver
standard or silver recommendation. To-day
the market ratio between gold and silver is
nearly "a to 4. III we had free coinage there
would be n premium of nearly eighteen
ounces Of silver on the Withdrawing Of every
ounce of gold In circulation. Free coin
age Of silver under such conditionss as
sIist to-day would mean the Immediate