The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-10


iatlon by the year ISIS. However. there
Z can be no shadow Of doubt as 10 the truth
OF the historical fact that gois went out
I OF circulation under. and the silver stand
ara resulted from, the act OF 1872. Aside
from the experience Of other nations.
what are our free silver friends going to
. DO with this notable and historical Illus
trauon OF the operations OF a universal,
economic law, within the range Of our
own national experience?
II the United States fixed the coinage
ratio a. Is 10 I at a time when the com
mercial ratio was exactly Is 10 /, and sill
YER Notwithstanding, declined within two
years 10 a point where the commercial
ratio was l5i2 10 ], is It possible FOR this
country now, when the commercial ratio is
30 70 2, TO raise the price OF silver in the
open markets OF the world until the COM
mercial ratio shall be Is 10 ~
Again, If gold retired from circulation
under the act of 1872, when the ratio was
IS TO I because the bullion in a gold dollar
was worth five cents more than the bullion
in silver dollar then tell me how you
are going to maintain gold ana silver in
concurrent circulation at the ratio Of Is to
!, when the bullion in a gold dollar is worth
forty-nine cents more than the bullion in
silver dollar?
Again tell me how it Is within the range
Of possibility 20 maintain gold and silver
in concurrent circulation under a free con-
age law at the ratio of l6 to ], when the
Spectator can melt a thousand gold dol
lars and exchange the bullion for sum-
cient silver bullion 10 coin 1850 standard
silver dollars?
Again. If the gold dollar went out OF cir
culatiOn under the act of 1872, because il
was worth five cents more than the silver
dollar, and at a time when all the CONNER
cial powers were attempting to maintain
the bimetallic standard, what will be the
Q ns L.. - {, l. lii.
when it is worth forty-nine cents more,
and the bimetallic standard has been
abandoned by every commercial power in
the world?
Again, all the silver coins in the silver
standard countries, amounting TO about
2,0W,OJ0,00O dollars OF our money, have a
purchasing power equal only to their bull
lion value. II we adopt the free coinage of
silver at the ratio of 10 10 !, then in order
to maintain the concurrent circulation of
gold and silver in our country.
the result must be not only
to double the purchasing power of
all these coins, but to double the value Of
all the uncoined silver bullion on the globe.
Who believes this to be possible? Again,
II the United States could net maintain the
bimetallic standard when the fluctuations
in the price of silver bullion were very
slight, how is IL TO be maintained at a time
when the fluctuations in, single month
entire century?
Again, when gold retired from circula-
ton under the act of 1892, we had no rail-
roads, no steamships, no biography and
no telephones. Now, If our fathers could
not maintain gold and silver in concurrent
circulation under these conditions, when
the temptation to retire the more valuable
money was so slight, what would be the
result should We attempt It, at the ratio
of Is to /, under existing conditions when
the inducement offered to Spectators to
force gold out of circulation is ten times
greater than 1t then was?
These questions, fellow citizens, must be
answered to the satisfaction of the Ameri-
can people, or the advocates of free coin
age must abandon the pretense of being
bemetallists. 1t is impossible for the bime-
tallie standard to grow and flourish in the
soil they would prepare for it,
But this not half of my case. Why did
the United States change the ratio from 10
to to Is to l? The reasons which infiu-
enced congress to pass theact of 1884 throw
a flood of light on this subject. 1t was an
admission on the part Of the government,
solemnly entered of record, that II could
not maintain the bimetalic standard, at
the ratio Of l5 to ]. Ii was an admission
on the part OF the United States that gold
had retired from circulation under the act
of 1892 because the ratio of 16 to ! was
established by reducing the gold in the
gold dollar. 1t was not only legislative
declaration that gold would not circulate
concurrently with silver at the ratio of
10 to l, but 1t was a legislative declara-
ton that the country had tried the silver
standard, and wanted to induce gold to re-
turn TO our circulation. This may be rea-
sonably deduced from the statute itself,
but when you read the report of the Sec
rotary of the Treasury, and the debates in
congress, then the evidence is cumulative
1t was recognized by all sides that gold
had been driven out Of circulation under
the act of 1882 and IN that generation,
when Andrew Jackson was president, and
the congress was democratic, the prefer
ence for gold was undisguised. The bill to
establish the ratio of 16 to J. was called at
the time the gold bill" The operation of
Gresham's law was thoroughly compre-
nended. 1t was perfectly understood that
gold retired under the act OF 1892 because
it was worth more as bullion than as
mon ~. 1t was perfectly understood at the
tirne that 10 ounces of silver was worth
mare chan one ounce Of gold. 1t was then
known that the commercial ratio was Is 20
TO and not 16 to l.
1t was openly charged, on the floor of
the House, that the effect Of this act
would be to drive silver out of circula ton.
Members voted for ii and advocated it, be-
lieving 1t would have that result. The
friends and partisans of Andrew Jackson,
the men who stood with him in opposition
to the bank OF the United States, support
ed the bill and passed il, over the opposi-
ton of the friends of the bank. When An
drew Jackson approved that act he invited
gold TO return to the circulation of the
United States and deliberately gave IL a
preference over silver as the better money
metal.
There is no Disgusting the historical
truth that the act of 1884 was the first great
step which was intended and did bring this
country to gold standard. From the day
If its passage gold began to return and
silver to retire from circulation.
Precisely the same cause which forced
gold out of circulation, under the act of
1892, forced silver out under the act of
1884, The inducement, however, for the re-
tirement of gold under the one was greater
than for the retirement of silver under the
other. Five cents on the dollar drove gold
out and it only required three cents on the
dollar to force silver into retirement Each
went at different times and under different
acts, but both went under the operation Of
the same unerring and universal economic
law. Gold went unbidden and its depart
ure-was regretted by the American people
The historical truth is that silver went by
q nH