The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1895-04-06
THE FINANCIAL QUESTION

From the Easton LNdl Lodge.

E Mk- ftENkk hEFAit~ w VII. NLhlNtHs
From the Easton Md Ledger
With your permission will reply 10 the let
| Ter Of Mr.. Preston B. Spring in the last issue
, of your paper. do this not because think
that there Is anything remarkable in the letter
or that It particularly requires auswering-fnr
the letter really Is diSappointing-hu it gives
me the opportunity to emphasize what have
I previously written and show more clearly the
I correctness Of nv views upon the question Of
silver as money.
had expected that Mr.. Spring would pre-
sent an array of facts gathered from gold
standard countries which would at least give
our people some hope for the future But iu
stead Of this be contents himself with the As.
Scrti0n Of some two or three propositions
which are entirely inconsistent with each other.
He says; FIrsy-That silver demonetized
itself hy being more valuable than gold; il
went ont Of circulation and Was boarded.
[ Second-That being demonetiEed il Is not nov
So valuable Is It was formerly and that to coin
it NJ its present ratio would be dishonest and
would enable the people 20 pay their debts in
deprecated money; and third-fhat II silver
Is to h. rrmouesized dollars worth Of silver
should D. put in the dollar.
This briefly stated IA what Mr. Spring let
ter contains. Now Il does not require much
examination or disccrnmcnj 90 discover that
his propositions do not agree and are, IN fact
II war with each other. u silver wa more
valuable than gold and was boarded when II
was coined upon an equality with gold At a
ratio ot L. tn l. what possible injury would its
remnneiizafion iniiiCi upon the creditor The
very moment the mints uf our country are
opened Ia free cciuagc that very moment hay
..iseF would go up 10 pnr and everything
else would 20 mp cryrcSpondingly ~ price.
The dollar which the creditor would get would
be worth ia the markets Of the world just a.
much A. tn silver dollar Sehaye nov II
wu0ld then be an huuest dollar. while the pres
eut silver dollar i only worth without the gov
ernmeut stamp titty cents; the dollar which free
{ coinage would give yoa Sould be worth dol
lar, with or Si5hout the governments endorse
menL
LOOKING IN a Gntp sAstS
And again. Il silver wa more valuable than
gold Whsn coined at a ratio of rs % l, aud wss
hoar,ied. shat possible benefit voald accrue
10 the people 10 restore silver by coming 1t a.
a ratio equal to It's present market price? This
F Woald make silver dollar a a rniio u shout
~ ta l.
Il vas hoar,lei wheu coined a, o ratio Of Is
. to /. Il must b manifest TO every one that
Z in caio silver At a ratio Of 81 70 ! vonld only
add "a cur present trouhlsa Gold Is BOT IN
circulation and i boarded now. SILVER then
Soald not circulate At such Fatlo baf wonll
he boarded Gold at course would come into
{ circulation after a time. but before that time
arrived money woald be dcarer in this euun.
try than ever knew Il. We wonld indeed
+ then b. upon gold basis, hu, silver would he
a a premium.
The trouble wish Mr. Spring and an those
vho thiHk with hifa is De dors not seem 20
H. s-,Ff 4.
gold dollar or IL equivalent viii buy more
thaH twiee ~ aueh produce Of the soil or of
human labor now a. j; could in lSSO and this
has been brought about by the decentralization
~ silver hy the 'niied States and Germany
aud other countries: and Il japan aud Mexico
and the South American Republics we're ali
10 go upon a gold basis there would be ssiil a
greater demand far gold, and busheI Of
wheat would NOT be worth over twenty-five
GENTS, A man today could cut a gold dollar
inIo t~o and he would then pay Mr. Spring
more money value than be borrowed Of him
in lSs0
saw an account the other day Of the dis
cuVery ia Australia Of \ gold mountain seventy
feet high and one hundred and thirty feet ~
Us base, and il just occurred TO me, suppose
the leading countries ct the world were to
dcmoneJike gold. o. England once thought Of
doing and we're 10 adopt diamonds IS the
standard ~ value. Nov. gold Is scarce aud
We find that Il becomes scarcer and more APP
preciatee as toe countries Of the World adopt
a gold standard bat still diamonds are scarcer
and more valuable than gold. We are told
thai ycu ean put all the gold 10 the world in q
cubic space twenty-five feet On q side and stlll
have room to box it Up. while all the diamonds
of the ~orsd could be pat perhaps in good
sized saratoea trunk. We're diamonds adopt
4 IL
iis. dollar stone adopted as the unit to take the
place Of the present gold dollar. the silver in
our present silver dollar would be worth Just
two cents and bushel OF wheat would then
sell for ies> than three ceAts.
rHE "oyERPR0DUCroN CRY
Now, this Is all very plain, but In the face
of all these facts which cannot be successfully
deuied the single gold standard followers cry
Gut their old song. 'overproductiou. We
take the price Of wheat and cotton and Of
silver since 1850, and show these people that
as silver went down wheat and cotton went
down. They tell ms that Is mere cnineident.
Had these people lived in the days before it
became generally an accepted fact that il was
the ifuence of the moon which made the tides
Of the ocean ebb and flow, they would have
doubtless declared that too is merely coin
cident.
Bat how and bv whom was silver demone-
,ized? Mr.. Spring SAYS, Silver demonetized
itself This is a revelation, because there
has always been great mystery surrounding
the question aud many of the best informed
members OF Congress who were III position
TO know something about the question have
always admitted their ignorance of how the
thing WAS done, and now to he told after the
elapse of twenty years that nobody Is re-
sponsible for it-that silver demonetized It.
self-is really piece of information which
should enttle Mr.. Spring TO the thanks Of
Congress If not of the whole people.
Judge Kelley. who was chairman of the
Committee on Coinage anu who reported the
original bill, saws in the Congressional Record
that the bill reported contained provision
for both the standard gold and silver dollar
and trade dollar. Never having heard till long
after It's enactment of the substitution IN this
Senate of the section which dropped the
standard dollar. profess TO know nothing of
its history. bnt am prepared to say that
in all the legislation of this country there Is
no mystery equal TO the demonetization of the
standard dollar of the United States. have
never found man who could tell how il came
about or why. | wish, gentlemen, 10 know
what the bill was; it was bill to reorganize
the mints and ii passed without allusion IN
debate to the question of the retention or
abandonment of the standard silver dollar.
was the chairman of the committee that re-
ported the original bill, and aver upon my
honor that did not know that it proposed 70
drop the standard dollar and did not learn
that il had done so for eighteen months after
the passage of the substitute offered by Mr..
Hooper
MR.. TURNER'S SARCASM.
Ii is very evident from this extract that
Judge Kelley did not enjoy the acquaintance
of Mr.. Spring What relief it would have
given this distinguished statesman had he
been fold that the demonetization of silver
was no longer mystery, that Mr. Z. b.
Spring. of Talbot county, Maryland, had given