The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-08-15
THE SILVER STANDARD,
And What 1T Would Really Mean ii
Enforced.

Enforced.
unrestricted coinage of silver by TINS
country alone would result, according
ITO the admissions of some of its advo-
Gates in the senate, in a reduction OF
the country to a silver basis. NounS
this admission, the LATTE director of the
mimi. Edward q. Leach North Amer-
cam Review, july, calls attention to the
| fart THAT heretofore silver advocates nave
insisted THAT free coinage, by creating
am unlimited demand for silver, would
raise it's market value and maintain 1t
at the legal ratio. If this claim IS aban-
doned, he says, it is important lot us 10
know lust what would happen II our
currency We're suddenly placed on sill
YER basis He proceeds as follows:
ut means in the first instance "a vio-
lent contraction of the currency by the
withdrawal of gold coins and gold certlil.
cafes from circulation. The stock 0l
metallic and paper money in the United
States is about s., 209, 100000 every, dol
lar of which, under our present standard,
is as GOOD as a gold dollar and practl-
cally interchangeable with gold. Inc
law makes it the Imperative duty OF tne
secretary of the treasury to MAINTAIN
the two metals ON "a paTity with each
other and provides Uhe necessary metllp
to accomplish it, the pledge OF phe pup
| lie credit With free silver coinage ulie
obligation, both mOral and legal, upon
the government to maintain tiie two
METALS ON a parity' would end. The i'm
mediate result would be the destruction
of the parity, the separation OF our cur
rency between gold and silver, and the
withdrawal of $676, 600, 900 of gold from
circulation and use as money Inc eIot-
| nous contraction of THE money, WHICH Is
fine basis of our currency system, WouIu
unsetitle business, impair credits, destroy
values. and produce the most tremendous
fnacial disturbance which this country
has ever witnessed.
| "A,fter the first shock, the effects OIL
which mo man can fully foreseer WllelI
values had adjusted themselves 10 eA-
listing conditions, SILVER pasIs llle'! ~
that the paying power OF our money III
for,ninn exchanges would be deprecated
TO t6e commercial value of the SILVER
i'm our dollars, whatever that may be.
We have a, perfect illustration close rt
hand i'm our near neighbOr, Mexico, on a
country ON a settled silver basis, ldh I'M
restricted gold and silver coinage. line
Nnyican dollar, although it contains more
silver than our dollar has purchasing
mower in foreign exchanges equal OlHg
10 tits commercial value as bullloh'
| The same is true of the currency OF every
country which is on a silver basis
What the purchasing power oil our cur
rency would be in domestic tranSactlors
no one can possibly forecast, COM l a
| Mr. Tpech. because uncertainty ANA nue.
tnations would be the rule rather tIan
fine exception. He proceeds to argue that
the foreign silver owners would move
THEM. stocks of silver to this country
the moment our min.tS were opened NO
| free coinage, but that this movement
would naturally terminate ntUef u SUI
YER basis had been reached. MI. Leech
asks: -,- &c
"If we should exchange our stock OIL
cold for a stock of silver, cut loose lroDi
the standard of all the great collnlercl GA \
countries with whom we do business anu
ally ourselves to Asiatic and South Alilei i
lean monetary systems, what would we
roin9 One of two things would most Ger
family occur: Either our gold would pg
Ihnordpd nv banks, trust companies ana
individuals. or else would go abroad 10
nav for the silver shipped here Tor sac
| I'm either case our currency WOuiu ne uc
nreciohed and fluctuating in value 10 Gle
commencement of business and the uitl-
mote injury of the wage-earner' ny
basis of our currency Wouiu De cHpn7eu
from gold to silver, but Whether uhe lli'
crease in the volume of money-tls p5li ~.
Goa for oIl our Industrial ills promised by
80 sil,,or odvocates-wOud be consider
nble or the price of silver be permanently
increased is open to serious doubt. Just
ns Iom.o as If was profitable to ship silver
| bo tho limited States-that is, JUST us toHs
as If would bring higher price mere un '1 !
oIsau1herp-silver would come, but IL Woulu
not come when the shipment ceased 70 DC
nro6table. If silver ceased to come nel !; :
because it was not profitable TO SNIP a.
and receive payment in dollars Mho ~
purchasing power was. only eiuI"l "
tbo commercial value of the metal coil'
ltained in them, where Wouiu ~ ~, 'ire gun
in the volume of our currency! .,,
Would free silver and the consequent,
-;l,-or standard benefit our farmers ana
vnrkmen? Mr.. Leech answers:
"rThere never has been n period When
the money paid the laboTng man III ,o IlstS
c com would buy as much of the necessl
tins Of life MS today. The greatest caiam
itv which could possibly happen to MN
would be to double the price, OF tne con
modities which he must use by uel11r w,
ing fine value of the dollar in Wnch ne y
paid. All persons living on nNeG iil T., tb[
would snffer severely. The deposits III wv
SoTin@s banks of the United States, own
cd Inv thn lahoring men and women w
c,r,ocSSta 81 500, 100000. These deposits
funds of the present standard OF yalue any
today are payable in money interconyera
Iible with gold. Under free silver c9upaE'
every dollar of these deposits and the Ge.
nosifs in all the commercial banks OF lhi
country. arrro~ating tho enHrmo Gus SIM OF
81 GGiG61. coo, could be AID and W9u;t,
he paid in legal dollars of about cne-hGa Z
the present purchasing price6necqaqlIntn
the present purchasing value of the dollar
The value of every insurance policy and
everv tension would in the same way, DC
crrtaiIed One-half. "
"Reholl the countries with free silver
coinage, or the silver standard -MeXlc,o
South America. and Ashland see the
rates of wages there compared win
wages in countries that have TIE gold
Standard: see the 'n-oS7tofitv oNd hap7i-
ness(N' there among he '9hNrin" classes
compared with the wagc-carncr' Of Eu-
rome and the United Stats, and surely M
more practical and complete refutat+on Of
the theorv tha silver currency would
benefit our labOrprs and producers could
possibly be alduced."
YT-. IT'S So
/ That Fc,ny's ".,'o ~! n,ar-an,a Hnro
gives quick and positive relief in a. bowel