Mexico weekly ledger., 1895-05-30
Mexico, Audrain County, Missouri, Thursday, May 80, 1895.

II VIII ever enjoy their confidence or receive
their SURFACES
silver az the ratio of 10 to ! are proposing no
in the measure or standard of value
now existing, nor are we proposing to discon-
tfnue the use OF silver as money. / have never
been, and am not now, unfriendly to silver in
the sense of desiring TO see it excluded from
the monetary system Of the United States, or
Of any other country, but 1 know that 1t can not
be kept in circulation along with gold by means
of any ratio the law of any one country may at
tempt to establish between the two metals, and |
that the only way to secure the use OF both at
the same time Is to make one of them the
standard OF value and so limit the coinage OF
the other that the government which issues
them and receives them for public dues may |
be able at ali times TO maintain their exchange
ability, either directly or Indirectly through
the operation of its fiscal system. / am, there
fore, In favor of the preservation OF the exist |
ing standard of value with such use OF full le-
gal tender silver coins, and paper convertible
into coin on demand, as can be maintained
without impairing or endangering the credit Of
the government or diminishing the purchasing
or deot-paying power OF the money In the
hands Of the people. This is what l mean by
the term sound money" and, in my opinion,
1t Is what is meant by an overwhelming ma
iortty OF the opponents of free coinage at the
ratio of 16 to !.
This is neither gold recommendation nor sill
YER recommendation. but it means that one
standard or measure Of value shall be main
tanned, and that all forms Of standard coins in
use shall be kept equal to that standard in the
purchase of commodities and in the payment
of debts. ANY policy which would discontinue
the use of silver as money, by direct legal en-
actmeht or by undertaking 1t relatively to
gold in the coinage laws, would certainly result
t nfheer rd Sahd II g q e mSngne eisar mat sa say On poi fes
which would disc ontinue the use of gold as
money, by legal enactment or by Undertaking.
that metal relatively TO silver in the coinage
laws, would result in practical silver mono
metailism.
SILVER M-oNoMETALLIsM
Free and unlimited coinage at the ratio of 10
to / would at at once establish silver mon
ometalliSmr pure and simple, for, as already
shown, the coins of the overvalued metal will
ultimately drive the coins Of the other out of
Circulation and out of the country, even when
the legal ratio varies but o small fraction from
the commercial ratio, but the expulsion of the
underyalued coin from circulation would be
instantaneous when it's value Is really double
the value of the other. How long do you sup
pose the s6aS 5000 0O of gold In this country
der such a policyf The banking and other
great financial institutions. which own and
hold in their reserves much the greater part OF
this gold. would at once sell it at O large pre-
MUM for siiver-about s. for sl-or they
would exchange 1t for silver bullion In the
market at the ratio of about 81 pounds Of Sill
yer for each pound OF gold. have the 30 pounds
of silver coined into dollars at the expense OF
demands of their depositors and other cred
TORS. The masses of the people can not do
this, for they have no gold nor have they any
silver bullion to be coined at the expense or
the government.
But it is said that although the masses of
the people have no bullion, many OF them are
in debt and that the free coinage OF silver
would increase prices and give them more
| money, thus enabling them to discharge thoir
argument viii be judged by each Individual ac-
cording to the view which ne may take
of the nature of his obligations to the
people who have loaned money or sold
| property to him. II a man who has bor-
rowed $1,000 In gold, or its equivalent, and
has promised to pay 1t, or has purchased 81 900
| worth of another mans DrODerty and DrOualSed
to pay for it in the standard money recognized
| by law at the date of his contract, believes
that 1t would be Just and honest to discharge
| his obligation in a new standard worth only
half as much as the money he borrowed or the
property he purchased, he would appreciate
and indorse this argument, and 1t would be
useless to discuss the question with him.
But If, as 1 have already endeavored TO show,
the immediate effect of the adoption of a free
| coinage policy at the ratio of 10 to 1 would be
to contract the currency to the extent of about
S625, 600 900, by the withdrawal of that amount
of gold from circulation and from use as the
basis of notes and other forms OF credit. prices
would not even nomtnally advance. On
this contraction would greatly reduce prices
because it would alarm the country, de-
stroy credit, and undoubtedly produce the most
serious financial disturbance this country has
ever witnessed. Every deposttor in the saw
ings and other banks, fearing that he would
ultimately be paid in deprecated silver, would
and this would compel the banks to call at once
for the payment of all the notes and other
| securities Luty nave ulSCOuntCu IoA "a
toners, and the contraction of the currency
would cause an increased demand for currency
at the very time when 1t could not pc obtained
and thus the dindculty of the situation would bt
Increased by both causes. The banks would be
compelled to either suspend payments them
selves or drive their customers, who are
generally business men-the men who give
employment to labor in every community
into bankruptcy at once. Who would profit BY
this condition OF affairs? Nobody except the
holders OF gold and the owners OF silver mines
the holders of silver bullion and the brokers
o-5 E-an,t1otnrc In tho Gtnplg of silver minIpf
companies. The people who owe debts an
are unable to pay them would be the ones u
suffer most, while the people VINO owe no DEBT
profit most. Every man in debt would be callet
upon to pay IL promptly when due; there woul'
be no more extentions Of old debts or any new
credits given, because no man could foretel
what the money would be worth at any tim
in the future.
RESULT MUST BE DISASTROUS.
In this crash the laborer would be thrown GU
Of employment by the failure or suspension O
his employer, the farmer would receive les
at low rates under judicial proceedings al
over the country, credit would be destroyed
and all industrial and commercial enterprise
would stand still, awaiting the result OF III,
new experiment with the monetary system
OF course. a great country. like this, rich i
sama measure rom even such a disaster, bu
how long a time would be required to do s
no man can predict. All the mintS Q
the coinage of silver dollars, could produc
only about 100000 0 per annum, ant
therefore, with free coinage 1t would Tequir
!, more than fifteen years to put silver dollars 4
J the place of the gold We now have and Civ
back to the country the same amount OF metal
lic money now existing. But, in the meantime
we would have a deprecated standard Of valu
| with nominally higher prfces-after the frs
} collapse was over-on. account OF the reduce
i. purchasing power of the dollar, and at the sam
| time we would have for a long time fewer do
!, hut suppose the change is made, and tina
l ~ 81 uHofrG nf the country have hHA
finally adjusted to the new standard. wha
1 will be the effect on our domestic trade? tn
prices of all things will be nominally increase
| that is to say. It will require a greater nun
l Der of dollars to purchase a given amount {
:, any commodity than It required before: IheE
= OF some upon this subject. Many good Fec
D Pile appear to think that in some mysteriot
a manner, which no one has yet attempted
explain, the government, Dy legislation or OIL
Of erwise, can increase the prices of the thing
they have to sell without increasing the price
| of the things they have to buy. II there is an
= financial necromancy by which this one-slde
: increase of prices can be accomplished, OF
q free coinage friends ought to explain it to II
people. The plain, everyday, common-sens
n view Of this subject is the only correct one.
s prices are increased solely on account OF an II
crease in the volume of circulation, or on q
d count of q depreciation of the currency, witt
out any change in the relation between Il
o supply and demand OF the commod1ties 70
sarily affect all things alike: II, therefor
the farmer or planter receives a great
- | numDer OF uOlltES lOE HIS tIOP "a SO
. ton or wheat, he will be competed
= pay a correspondingly greater number -,
- dollars for his agricultural impl
ments, for his groceries. for his clothing, an
- in short, for everything he purchases. Cons
quently, his profit, II he has any, Will be
3 about the same relation to his expendttur
- that IL bears now-that Is to say, IL he NJ
70 makes a profit of 10 per cent, he will make
20 profit of no more than 10 per cent. then. No
y It is out of the clear profits Of his business tn
T. he must pay his debts, and 1t therefore I
:. mains TO be seen how much benefit he wou
, ultimately derive from a nominal increase
70 the prices of commodities, He can not. CONT
> the prices of the commodities produced by h
!. to the same extent that other producers C
q control the prices of theirs, and IL may be tn
y, the prices OF the things he is compelled to b
y will be increased In much greater proporti
i than the prices of the things he has to sell, a
j II so, he will be a loser instead Of a gamer
Z, the change,
IL THE DECLINE IN PRICES
1 1t is eonteaded, however, that prices of CO.
he moditieS have fallen since 1873, and that Il
a | reduction OF prices has made It more dime
or TO nav debts now than it was then. 1t Is tn
We that the prices of some things have fallen, /
as it Is equally true that the prices OF some thin
o. have Increased. 1t is not true, however, Il
The S. P. Emmons Wool Co. ha
now on hand the largest stock of We