The Monticellonian., 1895-09-13

l gold as well as silver and 6 currency of lu i convertible paper and the West indies a circulation based on gold but consisting of l token silver made legal tender to an uu- l limited amount
 In the face of these well established prop 1 ositions. what becomes of the piled up ar 1 guments of our adversariesY
 In view of these well established facts. i t is yory evident that the average goldtes i who argue, upon the one hand, that silver vas really demouetized long prior to lS13 because the coinage and circulation of sil- yer dollars had practically ceased, and on l thesother. that silver has not been demon etized at all. because more silver dollars 1 have been coined since 1875 than ever be- ] fore either don [ understand what they 1 assume 10 discuss, or else gre trying to de eeive he people as to the real issae in ] volved All their piledup agreements ate based upon q confusion of terms the con. l founding of question of circulation with that of standard of value YHes eeeI- I3eok. or else perYert. the very elementary principles of Political Economy and MoHe- i tary science. Thev ignore the fact that i money has three entirely distinct fuuc- l tions, to wit:
 lst. As q medium of exchange
 2nd. As measure of value.
 l 3rd As standard of value. or standard i of deferred payments, and that in the pres eut issue it's most important function is 1 that of standard of value.
 By turning to the old arithmeties you studied at school, you will find that all measures of denominate numbers may be embraced under four divisions. Value, time, weight and extension. Our standard of weight is the Troy pound of the Mint. Our Standard unit of all measures of Extension is the yard, and is adjusted to the old bronze yard measure obtained from Eng land in 1856, and kept at Washington. Our standard unit of dry measure is the Win chester bushel, containing 2150.42 cubic inches, and so on.
 For all these things there has to be a standard, and with respect to all but money i the idea of the standard Is easily under stood, as it simply measures the weight, extension, or capacity. of things, but is not given or taken in exchange for what it measures. Money however is not only the measure. but also the equivalent of values and is given and and taken in exchange for what if measures. Among all civilized nations valuei is estimated by is price in l money. Money is therefore standard of value and our law provides that the dollar shall be the unit of that standard.
 Now the Standard of Value Is also the standard of deferred payments for all future or time contracts To illustrate: as 1t is competent for an individual to say. for this horse you now sell me. l will pay yen. one year hence 59 bushels of wheat or loo i bushels of corn. so 1t is competent for the government 10 say what shall constitute its dollar. or standard of value OF de. iened payments SO that all contracts for fHtWe payments shall be payable in so uauv grams of silver or so many gtaius of gold. designating the number of each t. IeaHstitute | deIlaf ar be the equivalent of , ite unit of vaat
 In the individual contract iazt referred to, one busLeI of wheat was 6Ned on as equivalent to two of corn. or. in other Woud-. the ratio waS two to oue a- between the two things in which the deferred pa1 neut might be made When payment be- eame due, I it was easier to pag in lon bushels of corn than 90 in wheat, tbe debtor woula pay lu corn. and f tHefe Was a large number of such contracts that would increase the demand for corn and tend to bring II upon a parity with wheat at the latieof two to one.
 The Standard of Value them =is that ! amount af precious metal designated hH law, either gold or silver, that the holder of every dollar of Representative money is ultimately entitled to receive, and with which all dete1ed payments can be made and future or tune contracts be performed, and have their present value estimated
 If that kind of system iS a physical and metaphysical absurdity. then the fathers of this republic were smHiF mon Strous fools, for that was the biuataic s4.. .1., 4I -I.f l. was good enough for them, and theiI chjl- dreu and ehldren's children, until struck down by the hand of Shylocks in IST3l
 Goidites may argue, if they please that the men passing that act knew what they were doing and that, therefore it's passage was not a blunder. but it was nevertheless d CRIME; and it should never be forgotten that prior to the present administration, ne real and prominent democrat eyerattcmpted to iuStifythat act, or bowed down to praise and glarfy the sin gle gold standard then set up, hut maHs millions of honest democrats have been deaouneine it for years, and they will never cease to do so as long as God shall lei them live!
 At the very time that silver was degraded by being deprived of is function a standard of value, the silver in silver do,di Was worth three cents more than the gold in a gold dollar
 II was demonetized then because it was too dear. IL must he kept dcmonetizcd now be- cause il is too cheap,
 From the earliest periods of history gold and silver have been money metals, just as wheat and corn are HOW food products, and closing the hints against the free coinage of silver denre- cated it's yaiue and enhanced the value of gold just as naturally as il would decrease the price of corn and increase the price Of wheat 10 close the mills against corn
 With the mills open to both. and corn selling at 10 cents and wheat at so cents a huShel If the mills were closed against corn, its functions and value as bread material would be largely de volyed on wheat, thereby lowering corn to about 20 cents, and raising wheat to Sl
 Closing the mills against corn would not only tHiwe every corn grower but every being that had been using cornmeal for food, and every such person would have to give more of his lahor, and more Of his products, in exchange for Wheat flour or any form of bread.
 Such was the effect, upon silver, of the sher man act Of 1873. Il sent gold mp and silver down.
 Goldtes deny this, and claim that Il Is the largely increased output of silver that has lowered its price, but carefully prepared tables of the worlds production of gold and silver show that at no time in the history Of the world has the output of silver. compared with gold been So small aS il has been since 1852.
 Prom the discovery of America the output of the two metals WIS 6e per cent. of silver and 3t per cent. of gold
 From ls0l to is4o the output of silver ta gold was more thar T dollars in silver to 2s in gold, and yet, during all the time above referred tu, the principles of bimctallsm kept them upon the average commercial ratio of less than iG to l. At preSeIg the eomnaratiye Outnut is ahout %