The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-10

is not a compliment 10 assume that the
bulky. incOnvenient silver dollar is for his
. special use and that his wages do not rise
10 the dignity of a quarter-eagle per day or
more. The truth Is. that rich people
handle as much silver coin as poor ones do.
But both rich and poor prefer paper notes
on account Of their greater lightness and
portability.
Then Harvey says: THE. minis were open
to the free and unlimited coinage Of both
metals. and with the two at z commercial
parity either answered for use as money.
The two combined became the measures
Of value for all other property"
Why does Harvey suppress the fact that
the TWO metals never were at a CONNER
cial parity from 1872 on to 1873? Congress
tried on Two Occasions to make coin
age ratio which was the same as the COM
mercial values, and failed both times.
Commerce was stronger than law in fix
ing their values. The two metals did not
combine. When one was in circulation the
other was absent. could this properly be
called "bimetallism?
Says Harvey: Gold was measured in sill
yer, and property measured its value in
the money quantity Of gold and silver.
This was bimetallism."
The fact is that property measured its
value not in gold and silver, but in which
ever of the two metals was the actual
no real bimetallism prior TO 1873. for first
gold was driven out after 1872, and then
silver after 1884, by reason Of a CONNER
cial difference in their bullion values.
Then Harvey closes his paragraph with
the statement that under this bimetal-
lism these We're coined at our minis from
1892 TO 1910 S2S. 3l2. l35 in gold coins and $780,
/ l0i,SH In silver coins-nearly twice as
much silver as gold"
But he ignores the fact that of the sill
Yer in question only $,4lO,Sl7 was coined
/ into standard dollars, and except this in
/ significant amount that all the remainder
was halves, quarters. dimes, and half
/ dimes, the small change which the people
use the most and which are called merely
/ subsidiary coins. A dime passes from
/ hand to hand more than ten times as often
as a dollar
1t is true that these small silver coins
/ were unlimited legal tender up TO 1853
/ but nobody paid large debts with them.
/ Bank notes We're used. Then in 1884 the
1 gold dollar was reduced in value about {
per cent. Thereupon all this 55000,OO0 OF
| silver which Harvey speaks of that had
/ not already left tle country began to de
| part from the United States. The halves
! and quarters were worth more as bullion
! than they were as money The gold
| coined prior to 1884 had gone abroad as
fast as coined, because undervalued al
| - TO of silver. After 1884 the silver Wen
away to stay and the country was lefi
| without fractional hard money.
To correct the evil congress in 1853 re
! duced the number of grains in a half dol
lar from 1854 to ~ as grains. The othe
| small silver coins were reduced in th'
| same proportion. Then they remained il
| the country when coined. That Legislation
| made token money of them and left then
/ legal tenders only up TO s.; while they
were unlimited legal tenders they wer,
| NONRESIDENT. So the assumption which
! Havey makes so often that the eurrenc,
OF the country between 1872 and 1910 wa
two parts silver and one part gold il
false and fraudulent. The actual curren
cy was aine-tenths bank notes-mostly a
a discount. OF the specie in circulation
after 1884, or up to 1851, all but a trihe wa
gold. and what silver there was after 1856
was the deprecated fractional coinage be
fore mentioned.
These are sample falsehoods in one o
/ Harveys paragraphs, and there are man!
others equally full ofthem- Such an ar
ticle as his never should nave found room
in a magazine like the Forum.