The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1895-05-24

the great transactions between the
people of different countries, the coins
are accepted only at their bullion value,
determined by their eotual weight and
8neness, and that bullion itself is still
used in making payments. just as IL was
thousands OF years ago. Whatever effect
Legislation upon the ratios, In conneoc
tion with legal tender laws, may have
had upon the use Of the two metals in
the payment of anteoedent debts, it has
never had the slightest effect upon the
actual or relative values of the two
metals in national OF international
trade.
"Whether the payments are made in
gold or silver coins, or In gold or silver
bullion, actual intrinsic value deter
mines the amount Of quantity TO be de-
livered, no matter what may be the
legal tender laws Of the different coun-
tries, and no matter, though they may
have the same or different ratios Of
values between she metals within their
respective limits. The law Of France,
silver relatively to gold than is placed
upon IL by she laws of the United States,
the French ratio being 15H to /, and
ours being 10 to l; but II 10 pounds of
our silver. coined or uncoined, were
sent TO that oouutry to be used In the
payment OF debt or in the purchase Of
commodities. 10 would not be accepted
at the ratio Of 15x 10 1,
or that the ratio OF 16 to / as compared
to gold, but only at the ratio of
about 80 10 which shows
that neither our ratio nor the French
ratio has any effecs whatever upon the
value OF purchasing power of the metal
itself.
coinage ia free in Mexico, and the
dollar, which is full legal tender, con-
tains II grains Of pure silver, while
our doller contains only 371.25 grains Of
pure silver, yet Mexican silver dollars
are sens into the United States and
other parts of the world and sold at the
price Of the bullion contained In them,
which Is about one-half their nominal
or legal value in their own country
The legal tender laws affect the debt
paying power of the coin itself in the
country where the laws prevail, but the
laws establishing ratio do not affect the
value OF the metal contained in the
1t ia the metal that fixes the value Of
the coin and not the coin that fixes the
value OF the metal.
when life and property had been
made reasonably secure by the estab-
lishment Of sable governments, and
regular processes were authorized for
the enforcement of pecuniary obliga-
lions, credit or confidence largely took
the places Of bullion and coin in she
commercial transactions of the people,
and much smaller amount of metallic
money was required in proportion to
the whole volume of business done than
had been required before. The use of
credit In the form OF bank notes, checks,
I'D 0kh - Al
increased In modern times that In all
highly organized commercial commune
ties the use of coin, except in making
change, has been almost entirely dts
pensed with. The percentage of coin
actively employed in conducting bust.
ness in this country is 80 small that 1t
Is almost inappreoiable.
"Althou gh we have the goldstandard
or measure of value, In this country,
our actual stock of gold bullion and
coin amounts to only about one-third Of
our actual currenoy-a condition Of
affairs which would have been incon-
oeivable few centuries ago. We have
about $685., 100000 In gold, 1897. 652.s73
In full legal-tender silver, 8346, 6S1 900
in old United States notes. S149, 5s5,471
In Treasury notes issued in the pur-
chase of silver bullion, S2O9, 719, $50 in
national 3bankanotes, and S76, 1e9, 1853 in
subsidisry silver coin. making in all
81 ,s04, 707,S59. exclusive of the minor
coins, and every dollar of this vast
volume OF currency Ia kept equal in
value to the standard established by
law, 80 that every man who receives q
silver dollar or paper dollar in exchange
for his products, or in satisfaction OF
debt, gets just as good dollar as the
man who receives gold.
"This IS the monetary system and
this Is the financial condition which the
advocater Of free coinage al the ratio of
16 to l now propose to revolutionize at
once By q change in the standard of
value, so that the whole mass of circu-
lation left for the use of the people
would be reduced to about one half the
purchasing power 1t has now. or, in
other words, 80 that it would require
about double the amount of currency
that Ia required now 20 perform the
same service in the exchange of COM
moditles. But it ia commended by
large number OF advocates of free coin
sge that 1t would establish what they
call bimetallism and double standard.
~ confess my inability to understand
what ts really meant by double stand
ard or measure of value, because cam
not conceive how it Is possible to have
two different legal and authoritative
measures OF the same thing in use at
the same time, as. for instance, pound
weighing sixteen ounces and pound
weighing eight ounces, or only halt as
much, and both declared by law to be
legal pounds. 1 agree entirely with
General Jackson's Secretary Of the
Treasury. who said, The proposition
that there can be but one standard in
fact Is self-evident.' The proposition
to establish and maintain two different
measures OF value, to be in use at the
same Time, and to be applied to