The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1895-06-09

ton money! there Is another class who
believe that both gold and silver should
be SO used, provided an agreement could
be arrived at between the principal COM
mercial nations OF the world, to coin both
metals upon some agreed ratio; there is
a third class who believe that the United
States should enter upon the free coin
age Of silver, regardless of the action of
the other commercial nations
Free coinage, as advocated by the lat
ter class, means that this government
should coin and put in circulation all the
silver and gold that is brought to its
mints, at the ratio Of 16 to (which means
that a silver dollar shall weigh 16 times
as much as gold dollar-and that botn
gold and silver, or either OF them, shall
be legal tender for all debts, public and
private, regardless Of when contracted,
or what the understanding or agreement
was between the lender and borrower,
at the time the loan was made. This
would make all existing notes, bills, con-
tracts and agreements for the payment
of money, payable in silver, at the option
OF the debtor, regardless of the agrees
ment of the parties to the contract. 1t
would, also, make all government, state.
municipal, and railroad bonds payable
in silver, regardless of its value as COM
pared with gold. When one considers
that the borrowers in all these cases
received gold from the lenders, is 1t right
that they should be allowed to return
money of less value than that which they
received?
Bue the free coinage advocate says that
If a free coinage law was enacted, silver
would be worth as much as gold, at the
ratio Of 16 to l. Assuming that it might
be, in this country, would 1t be in those
countries where free coinage did not ex-
list; that is to say, in all the great COM
mercial nations of Europe, and If silver
would not be worth as much in those
countries as gold, at the above ratio,
would not the debtor class in this coun>
try send their gold abroad, and buy sill
yer with 1t, with which to pay their
debts? Would not the great banking
houses buy silver in Europe and sell 1t
to the debtor classes in this country,
at discount, and would not such trans
actions drain all Of our gold out Of the
country, and leave us virtually on sill
yer basis? And after we had arrived
at that condition, in what respect would
We have bettered ourselves? We would
have a silver dollar of S71A grains, which
would have a purchasing value of one
half that of the present silver dollar,
as basis of values, instead Of the pres
ent gold dollar.
Probably one of the ablest If not the
ablest advocate of free coinage, who has
written upon the subject, is w. H. Har-
vey, of Chicago. His work entitled
Coins Financial School," created pro-
found impression throughout the United
States, and has been read with great in
terest by nearly every student of finance
Harvey is an advocate of free coinage at
the ratio Of 16 to l. and believes that the
silver dollar should be composed of 37H
grains of silver, and should never vary
thereform; and that the gold dollar |
should be composed of 232 grains of
gold. He says he believes the United
States can, by enacting free coinage |
law, such as 1 have above described, |
maintain that ratio, regardless of the |
action of the other commercial nations |
of the world. Mr.. Harvey, however, is |
not very certain of this, for in answer to |
the question, 'if after a fair trial gold |
continued at a premium, what remedy |
would you suggest?" Harvey, through |
"Coin," his teacher OF finance, answers: |
"Put less gold in the gold dollar; bring |
the weight of the gold dollar down till |
they are on parity" Again in his dis. |
cussion of the money question with Prof. !
we want is bimetallism, |
and scientific bimetallism is this:
"First-Free and unlimited coinage of |
both gold and silver these two metals
to constitute the primary or redemption
money of the government.
"Second-The silver dollar of 371H
grains of pure silver to be the unit of
value, and gold to be coined into money
at ratio to be changed if necessary,
from time to time, If the commercial
parity to the legal ratio shall be affected
by the action of foreign countries.
'Third-The money coined from both
metals to be legal tender in the payment
of all debts.
''Fourth-The option as Il Yhich of the
two moneys is to be paid in liquidation Of
a debt, to rest with the debtor, and the
government also to exercise that option,
when desirable, when paying out re-
demption money"
1t will be seen that Harvey admits that
the action of other nations will possibly
affect the parity of the two metals not
the enactment of a fr Q
coinage law by this country and his rem
edy is to put less gold in the gold dollar,
thus destroying the ratio of 16 to 1 which
he contends can and ought to be main.
tained. In other words, Harvey's whole |
is in favor of the passage of
a law which will allow the debtor to pay
his debts in deprecated currency-m
money of less value than he received
when borrowing. Do the people of these
United States favor such scnemes? 1 be-
ieve they do not. They have, in the past,
opposed repudiation of debts, public and
private, in every shape and form. as l
believe they will continue to do, in the
future. Harvey is not a bimetallist, but
/ monometallist. He does not believe in
gold and silver standard, but in a sill,
yer standard as will be seen by reference
to his second proposition above quoted.
DEBTOR.