Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1895-10-17

| WOulu De W dulluCt uOOu VI sllVtI v
our shores, drive our gold out Of cir
culation and visit untold ills upon us
Demand does affect the price of sill
yer as it does other commodities, bu
there is another element to be consid
cred and that is supply. The suppl.
Of silver that would come by the ofte
Of $l.29 per ounce would vastly ex
coed our ability to put it into circula
tion without running our present Il
nances
Prices are not fixed arbitrarily. De
mand and supply meet and their rela
tive strength determines prices. Blu
silvelites are not satisfied with Thu
system. They will not agree to fret
coinage at the existing commercial
value of silver, but want to double thu
price before beginning.
A stock argument with free silver
ties is that gold has appreciated OF
account OF silver's demonstration
They say that one-half the money Of
the country has been cut off; that IN
consequence the remainder, which they
assume is gold, is twice as dear; that
it takes twice as much of other COM
modities to "buy dollar" as when
silver was coined free; that in conse-
quence it is twice as hard for debtors
to pay their debts, etc. Now as a mat
ter OF fact the volume of silver in use
as money is five times as great as I'M
der free coinage. There is more mon
ey per capita to-day than in '73. In
stead of one-half the money being cut
off there is actually more of it. Prices
Of nearly every commodity have de-
clined because of improved methods
in production and transportation.
Wheat and cotton are cheaper for
these reasons and on account OF the
competition of Egypt, India and Aus
tralia which is stronger than former
ly. OF course the ''war prices" of
1860. to 1873 could not continue in
definitely. Nobody will contend that
it is as hard to earn dollar to-day
as it was in 1910, even though that
period enjoyed the blissful effects OF
free silver coinage. And dollar to-
day buys more of the things that make
life enjoyable than two did then.
1t has always been next to impossi-
Bile to keep silver dollars in circula-
ton. They are too large and heavy
for convenience. Half dozen OF them
are load enough to carry. As for gold,
it is more convenient to deal with, but
for real convenience paper money, the
representative Of actual value deposit |
ed in the U. S. treasury or the prom
Use Of the government to redeem, or
else checks or drafts, representing le-
gal money deposited with banks--such
money is what serves the real needs OF
The people in amounts exceeding few
dollars. Paper money should be I'M
'ailingly sustained by the government
md redeemed when presented in I'M
doubted value. The only safe and re-
liable value at present in which the
whole world places confidence is gold.
The silver which now circulates at par
;ould not do so were the redemptive
lbility Of the government in gold
Questioned.
We are free to say that we do not
ike the present financial system of
ur country. We should like to see
ONE system devised whereby the
United States treasury would not
e at the mercy of any gold SYM
icate. We believe some system could |.
g devised that would prevent this and
hat, too, without trying what to our
1ind appears to be the fatal expert
lent Of free coiuage at l6 to l. Were
possible to retire the greenbacks
7hich serve as an endless chain in
vithdrawing our gold and substitute +,
a their place paper certificates repre-
snting actual value Of silver and gold !
eposited in the treasury, we should
ave an end of the peculiar spectacle !
Uncle Sam on his knees before a i
wv bankers. K
We have increased the national debt !
lSO,OOO,0O0 during the past three
ears in the effort to sustain our gold j
sserve. We are practically no better 6
f than at the beginning. BY fur b
Ter increase Of the debt sufficient gold !
nd silver could be bought to serve as !
"a ov,, !.