The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-03
A LETTER FROM SPEAKER FLEM-
ING.
He Presents Some Views in Behalf of
the Free Coinage of silver.

the Free Coinage of Silver.
Editor Of the Morning News: Ny atten-
ton was called this morning to your sun
day editorial on my silver letter" publish
ed in the Atlanta Constitution on April %.
1 wish to thank you for the considerate
tone OF your criticism, and also for the
implied invitation TO make use Of your col
umns, when you ask me certain questions
and say; we think Mr.. Fleming should
write another letter" Silver men should
seize every opportunity to put the truth
as they see it. into the columns of a gold
standard paper, for in that way they can
give light to a class of readers who might
otherwise remain in comparative dark
ness as TO the true merits Of one side OF
this great controversy
You are entirely correct in your infer
ence that I am not a recent or sudden con-
vert on the money question.
l have never believed in the demonetiz-
alton of either gold or silver. 1 have al
ways desired the free coinage of both
metals. In other words. 1 nave always
been blmetalliSt 1t is true that up to
the recent past, l have been willing for the
final issue as to the free coinage of silver
by the United States alone to be held in
obeyance. in the hope that the promises of
international agreement might be in some
measure realized
But now that the issue is made up be.
tween the advocates OF gold mOnometai-
ism on the one hand, and of gold and sill
yer bimettallism on the other, it seems to
me that u would be sheer cOWardice in a
man, holding the convictions / do not to
state under which flag he will fight.
congratulate you that nowhere in
your editorial do you abuse the English
language by calling me or any one else
ilYer-mOnometalist."
A gold monometallist' may for pres
ent purposes, be defined as one who is
opposed to the free coinage of silver. And
conversely a silver monometallist" would
be one who is opposed to the free coinage
of gold. But there are no such persona.
No one desires to demonetiZe gold. Free
coinage of silver by the United States
alone may carry gold to a premium or as
some express 1t, put us on a silver basis,
but IL cannot deprive gold OF the right of
access to the mints nor impair its market
value.
While admitting that there may be 9TH
er points in my ''VOluminOus letter" you
profess to find only two that deserve at
tentiOn, one relating to the demOnetiza-
ton of silver In 1873. and the other To the
price of farm products.
l. You say In substance that / assume
that contraction was effected by the act
of 1873, and that consequently gold appre-
ciated and the prices of farm products de-
clined. l understand you to deny this
so-called assumption of mine and you ask
why does he content himself with as
sertion?" Having already complained OF
the "voluminous" character of my letter,
you ought not to find fault with me for
emitting statistics to which any one may
Do You not perceive that the act of 1873,
with subsequent legisla ton making sill
yer bullion mere commodity. and es-
pecially the action OF the United States
treasury in paying coin obligations in
gold at the option of the holder on the
plea of maintaining parity, has prac-
tically changed our silver currency from
redemption money into token money re-
deemable in gold?
If the bullion in a silver dollar is worth
only 50 cents Gas measured in gold) and il
that dollar directly or indirectly can be
exchanged at the national treasury for
gold dollar, II is too plain for argu-
ment that the silver dollar is no longer
primary money in the true sense of thar
term, but token money, only little bet
ter than paper money. Being dishonored
by law, 1t keeps its par value because
it is redeomable in gold.
You say at present there are over six
hundred millions of silver dollars and
silver certificates in circulation. Now.
when you consider that all this silver
money by the act of 1873 and by suisse
quent legislation and by treasury con-
struction has become more or less IN ad-
ditional drain on the gold resources of
the country, you VIII not fail to see that
the primary money or money of final re-
demption has been vastly contracted, al
though the so-called per capita circula-
ton Including silver and other forms OF
> token money may not have been de-
creased at all
Token money adds to the volume of cir
culation and thus facilitates business, but
values depend chiefly on the primary or
redemption money
| lutely certain that, other conditions re-
manning the same. the general values OF
commodities must decline when one of
two primary money metals has suf-
fered the adverse Legislative discpmina-
ton that silver has suffered in the United
States.
This conclusion, certain in logic. is
fully born out by the facts, as we can
easily ascertain by figures cited below:
Second-You seem to deny my PROPOSE
ton that farm products have deprecated
In money value. l insist that not only
farm products, but marketable commo>
dities generally have persistently declined
from 1873 to the present day
Ny only surprise is that any one so we'll
informed as yourself would be so rash as
to raise an issue on this point.
According to a table of figures pre-
pared by Mr.. Augustus Sauerbeck and
published. | think, by the Royal Statis-
teal Society of London, the index num-
bcrs of wholesale prices of 45 principal
commodities went down from 102 in 1874
TO 6S in 1892.
I know of not one reputable statistician
who asserts that prices of commodities
clined greatly since 1873. Even Mr. Ed
ward Atkinson admits the fact, though
assigning different cause.
Again. the royal commission appointed
by England in 1888 to consider the cues
ton of monometallsm or bimetallism was
| composed OF j members and on the
main issue they divided 6 and s. one of
thoSe who signed the monometalist re
port was Mr. Courtney. In April 1891 he
published an Srticle in the Nineteenth
Century in which he says: Il am now sat
iSIled there was an appreciation of gold
greater than ] suspected when | signed
the report, and | should not be able to
concur in the same paragraph again." 50
that If Mr.. Courtney had pOssessed n, tNSR
the information he had in 1893. the roval
commission appointed by England would
have reported in favor of bimetallism.
Again ne says We have been passing
through period of appreciation of gold