The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-22
Two Kind. Of Ri-metaTi.m.

/ In his argument in behalf OF the free,
unlimited and Independent coinage Of sill
yer at Chicago last Friday night, Mr.
{ Harvey. the author % Coins Financial
] School" virtually admitted that free sill
/ Yer coinage at the ratio OF Is 10 / would
drive gold out Of circulation. He said.
however. that when gold became the
cheaper metal Il would drive out silver.
In other words. what Mr.. Harvey calls
bimetainsm is a condition of affairs IN
which either gold or silver is IN circula-
tion as IL happens 20 be the cheaper,
but IN which both metals are not IN
circulation at the same time. What he
said on this point in the Chicago debate
was as follows: IF one becomes scarce
the other is used. II one is cornered the
other takes its place. Either answers
FOR money"
How would business prosper under such
a state Of affairs as this2 II we had. for
instance S50o.00.90 Of silver in circula-
ton and s5ol0oo0o) Of gold. one year the
gold might drive all the silver out Of cir
culation and another year the silver might
drive out all the gold. that is. if they
were anywhere near parity. Such radi-
cal changes would make it extremely
difficult to carry on business. But Mr..
Harvey doesn't tell US how long it would
take silver 70 reach a parity with gold
If we should throw open our minis TO the
free coinage of silver And he makes no
mention of the fact that the reason why
all civilized nations stopped the coinage
Of silver was because Of the very oscilla-
ton Of the metals which he seems to think
is so desirable.
But Is not the kind Of bimetallism which
we have now. and which Mr.. Carlisle
spoke OF in his speech at Covington, Ky.
Monday night. much more desirable than
the kind Of bimetallism which Mr.. Har-
vey advocates? OF silver and silver GER
tifcates we have now about as much
in circulation as Of sold. and the silver rs
just as much primary or redemption
money as gold, because it is legal tender.
The metals are kept on a parity. and
therefore circulate freely side by side.
Mr.. Harvey admits that his kind of BIZ
metallism would drive out gold. Why
question Mr.. Harvey gives no answer.
AS matter Of fact, Mr.. Harvey says
nothing In behalf Of silver that amounts
to an argument. He talks like man who
has plenty of words at his command,
but who has no knowledge of his sub
ject. What he said at Chicago in his de-
bate with Prof Laughlin was the worst
sort of trash. He talked like a dema-
gogue. He said, among other things, that
gold is the money of TIE rich and silver
the money of the poor. Well. in all the
civilized countries OF the world the poor
are paid in gold. 1t is the better money,
and they are just as much entitled to 1t
as the rich. Why should the poor be paid
in the cheaper money. They should have
the best. Mr.. Harvey and the silverltes
seem to think it is too good for them.
Mr.. Harvey said we should not allow
Europe TO dictate to US as to the kind
of money we should have. that we are
strong enough to decide for ourselves.
Well, we have decided. We have decided
to have the best money. the money that
is current I'm all the world. Should we
enter upon an experiment that promises
disaster simply to show our independence?
We are on a gold basis not because of
any yielding TO European influence. but
because we want to be on that basis, and
because it is to our interest to be on that
basis. 1t is the basis upon which the COM
merce of the world is transacted. What
| folly we would be guilty of If we should
adopt the monetary system of less en-
lightened countries simply to show our
independence of Europe. Mr.. Harvey
needs to learn a great deal before under
taking to set up school of finance for
the American people.