The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-05-18
For Bimetallisnn
ON a Gold Basis.
Senator Knute Nelson of Minnesota Expounds
His View of the Silver Question.

1t into the latter. And this is what we un-
derstand by the term interconvertible. II
so cents silver dollar can at all times be
converted into a 100 cents gold dollar, we
are all as anxious to receive silver as gold.
Not on q Gold Basis.
But to keep up this state Of intercon-
vertibility there must not only be a law
for 1t, but the actual ability to maintain
it must exist. And today the United
States is possessed Of both of these
qualities. We have the law and we have
q gold dollar for every silver dollar In ex-
istence. In other words. We float our sill
yer currency with a gold redemption fund.
France does the same thing. She is today
floating a 500, 900 silver currency with
$500, 100000 in gold. Last year the equilib-
rum Of the two metals was threatened.
The owners Of silver bullion sold the same
to the federal government and received in
exchange therefor treasury notes under
the act Of $780, and then, as though doubt
ing the ability Of the government ian aci-
dent of the change Of administrator,
they at once procured the redemption Of
these notes in gold. and this gold was In
its turn hurried out of the country to Eu-
rope for various purposes, especially to
aid Austro- Hungary to place itself. like
the rest of Europe, on gold basis. THIS
great outflow of gold was threatening the
interconvertbility of the two metals and
was fast driving us into a state of silver
monometallism, or exclusive silver circu-
lation. The gold was rushing out of the
country faster than the silver was rush.
ing into the treasury. This threw the
financial and business world into panic.
Money disappeared from circulation and
went into hiding. 1t was as hard to bor-
fnr tt,a rt,t, f,v. tha
Under these conditions and to relieve the
tension. distrust and alarm congress re-
pealed the purchasing clause Of the Sher-
man law-that feature requiring the gov
ernment to purchase every month 4,500 900
ounces Of silver. This was not the demon
etixation Of silver. 1t was in effect merely
the temporary suspension Of silver coinage
or of the enlargement Of our silver cur
rency. 1t was for the purpose Of keeping
up the equilibrium Of the two metals and
to keep them running away from each
other. In other words. 1t was for the
purpose Of keeping up the interconverti-
bility of our silver with our gold. for. as
l have pointed out, we need gold dollars to
maintain and float our 5O-cent silver dol
lars.
His View of Bimetallism.
The moment a silver dollar Is not coli
vertible into gold dollar. silver now, as In
the early days Of our nation, will entirely
usurp the place Of gold and drive the lat
ter out Of circulation and into hiding.
This would reduce US to a state Of silver
monometallism, a state Of exclusive silver
circulation. Our 1856. .0O0. 900 Of gold would
at once disappear from circulation. In
stead Of having combined gold and sill
yer currency, as We have today, amount
ing to 81, ,313 700, 900, We would be reduced
to an exclusive silver currency of $647, 900.
Even with the free coinage Of silver 1t
would take years to supply the vacuum
and in the meantime the country would be
suffering under an immense and extraor-
dinary contraction Of the currency. The
country would be In q far sadder state
than 1t Is even today. We would all suf-
fer and be oppressed, except the owners Of
silver mines and silver bullion. They
would reap big harvest, but 1t would be
at the expense Of all the rest of us-of the
entire country.
No. my friends. silver monometallism is
at least as dangerous as gold monometal-
llsm. No honest man, having the good of
his country at heart. wants either. We
want honest, genuine bimetallism. We
have 1t in a measure and to a limited eX-
tent today. And the substantial, the
statesmanlike, and the patriotic question
Is, how to maintain and enlarge 1t, not how
to destroy 1t. We can, by ourselves,
maintain II to limited and local degree,
as we did under the Bland act Of 1878, and
as we never succeeded In doing before. We
can enlarge II to its greatest limits and
put 1t on an enduring basis by interna-
tional agreement among the leading COM
mercial nations Of the world. The former
is local bimetallism, the latter interna-
ThA fT. -l..1-
of interconvertibility, the latter on mu-
tual agreement. In the former case a So
cent dollar passes current because 1t can
be converted at will into O gold dollar. In
the latter case the same silver dollar
passes current the world over, because all
great commercial nations have agreed to
receive 1t as such on a parity with gold. A
free coinage which sustains and upholds
blmetallism is desired by all friends of
good government and honest money.
Against Free Coinage.
A free coinage which would at one fell
blow strike down bimetallism and reduce
US to state Of silver monometal is
not desired by anybody, except the most
extreme inflationists and the owners Of
silver mines and silver bullion. The farm
ers Of this country have no silver to sell
or to coin and theirs would not be the in
flation harvest. Why even the silver mon
ometallism Of China Is more honest than
the silver monometallism sought here, for
silver circulates there on its commercial
or bullion value, and not on its coin or
token value. And yet in spite of this
fact, silver has gone down in that country
from value Of sl.67 per tael in 1871 to a
value Of $.S per tael in 1893, and this in the
face Of an exclusive silver circulation.
But 1t is urged that there Is an insult
ficient amount Of money in circulation for
the healthy business Of the country, and
that this scarcity Of money Is one of the
chief causes Of hard times and low prices.
particularly the low price Of wheat. This
contention is untrue, and is not warranted
by the facts, as will appear from the fol-
lowing statement, compiled by the bureau
of statistics, showing the population and
per capita circulation for every year since
1865, and the average price Of wheat per
bushel for every year since 1869:
Our Per Capita Circulation.
The following is a statement Of the pop
ulation and per capita circulation Of money
in the United States from 1867 to June !.
1894. and value Of wheat per bushel from
20 to 93:
!: z|E|