The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-06-18
THE APOSTLE or FREE SILVER
STATES THE ARGUMENT.


pendulum OF nonsense called COINS FL
nancial School," has written an article
in the current number OF the Forum. In
which he undertakes 10 state what he
calls 1.-THE free-siiver argument" We
take from 1t the following. which con-
tains all of argument that the article
has:
when our forefathers. whose memo
ries ac.-cherished. and to whom we
properly accord great wisdom, establish
ed this Government. they adopted
financial system that was believed by
them to be founded on correct and scicn-
tinc principles. What was IL? IL was
bimetallism. and what. with them. did
bimetallism mean?
T. II means the minis coming all the
silver and gold that came. free OF charge
into money-primary money-both to be
legal tender In the payment Of debts.
81 The ratio was fixed between the
two metals at L. to ! that IS to say, the
pure silver I'm the silver dollar was 10
be sifteen times the weight of the gold
in the gold dollar. Or. to reverse the
proposition. the gold In the gold dollar
was TO be onc-hfteenth the weight OF
the silver in the SILVER dollar.
open 10 the coinage into money of all
the silver and gold that might apply ana
the republic was to rely on these TWO
metals exclusively for its primary money
"Why two metals2 One-silver-would
answer the purposes OF the peopie-ol
the many. would become the medium OF
exchange Of the middle and lower classes
and circulate TO the pores OF CIVILIZATION,
The othcr-gold-would be the money OF
III 4. "a
transactions Of business. If to either 10
which of the two metals did our fore
fathers attach the greater Importance!
To silver This was TO be government
of the people. with its organic laws us
financial policy. and its statute laws III
tended 10 promote the interest OF Inc
manv-the poorer people The stuny Oh
history showed that the rich would saKc
care Of themselves. and that the seiiS"-
Werlich were aggressive. ana "eie w.
aeeking TO promote class Legislation, III
tended further to enrich themselves
vcns from this class-legislaton that IA
vorod the few. that our forefathers de-
ciared their independence. and. IN estap-
fishing the principles OF repubiicanism'
they drafted a financial policy, with other
laws that were intended 10 couh'eIdo'
the Influences of the selfish rev. ana 10
ho in The interest Of the many. 1hoy
therefore.
yer. the peoples money.
This extract is long, but we wanted 10
state the gentlcman's argument Just aS
he has made Il. so that the free coiners
may SEQ the strongest plea for their falih
that their apostle can make
Now. we deny. in limine, that the
trainers of our Constitution Favored
either of the two metals. and. If there
is ANYTHING certain in this world. it Is
certain that they did not favor ether
They we're perfectly impartial between
them. They wanted TO see our money
consist Of both gold and silver as far
as II WAS practical for the two metals
70 serve the purposes Of money, ana
the absolute unanswerable proof of II
- The fact that they provided. as soon
as they Iegsated upon the subject, that
the silver coins should contain an amount
of silver which was of exactly the same
bullion value as the gold in similar gold
coins We say. therefore. that 1t is a
fat contradiction of the record to say
that our ancestors favored e,ther
metal. Their favor was for BOTH
without preference.
But even if they had had it in mind
that the poor people would need silver
for their affairs, is that any reason why
we should suppose that they intended TO
commit the country to silver monometal-
ism? They knew Greshams law as
well as we know it, They knew that II
two full legal-tender colnages are put
10 circulating freely side by side, one OF
which is cheaper than the other. the
cheaper will drive off the dearer. If we
are to suppose. therefore, that in their
tender regard for the poor. they intended
that there should be always free coinage
at the ratio of Is to 1, even though the
market ratio became 80 to 1. we must
suppose that they intended we should
have silver monomctallsm. in case silver
fell very materially in value. For II
they intended this, they were making
provision, as they knew very well, for
Greshams law to drive all the gold
away. and reduce our money to silver
alone. 1t is impossible to impute such
a purpose to the wise men who establish
ed this government, and it is at direct
war with their actions when they pro-
vidcd for coins of the two metals that
should be Of exactly the same market
value. Ii they were particularly con-