Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1895-09-21
THE CHEAP MONEY rALLAoY
Free Coinage of silver Means Deprc-
ciated Dollar

Free Coinage of silver Means Deprc-
ciated Dollar.
The advocates of the extended use of
silver as currency plant themselves
also on what they regard as a funda-
mental principle, namely, that it is de-
sirable to have cheap money. But as
a matter of fact, no commodity money
land all true money is commodityt
be it gold, silver, copper, iron, cattle
or cabbages, can be relatively che aper
than another kind. The value of each
(f not n token or representative cur
rency, and minting is free) will depend
upon the amount of labor embodied in
1t, or that will be required to purchase
it; and no legislation can give it any
other value. If statute could make one
metal or other commodity equal in
value to another, the state that first
availed itself of the opportunity would
acquire boundless riches, and the dream
of the alchemists would be realized.
IL it requires five hundred million
dollars to supply an exclusively gold
., currency for the United States, and
silver is deprecated to fifty per cent.
in value in comparison with gold, it
TO perform the same money work as
gold; and it will require the same
amount of commodities or embodied
labor to buy the exclusively gold cur
rency that it will to buy the exclusive
ly silver currency A man who advo-
Gates the free coinage of silver for the
purpose of obtaining cheap money
means, if he has any clear idea of
what he is talking about, n depreci-
ated dollar, which, if left without any
provision for redemption in gold,
would be worth just what the bullion
contained in it would buy in the open
market; but which invested with legal
tender ability becomes an instrument
of rascality for the scaling of all obi
cations of Indebtedness, wages, bonds.
savings bank deposits, insuranccs,
trust payments, pensions, and the
like. person contracting to perform
work for given number of dollars
especially the day laborer-wants and
is entitled to have, the dearest dollar
that the market affords; and any other
kind of dollar means full work for less
wages.
remaining argument for the free
coinage of silver. or for legislation for
its increased use, is the assertion con-
tinually made with all confidence that
there is not sufficient gold in the world
to effect its exchanges and that the
adoption by the United States of a sin
gle gold standard would exclude the
use of silver as currency. abolish half
the present money of the world, and
produce tremendous and widespread
disturbances in prices and business.
If these assertions be true, the silver
problem becomes invested with philau-
thropic interest and the ad vocates OF
free coinage virtually call upon the
United States to lcgislate for the ben
eft of humanity generally, 1t is i'm
portant, therefore, to ascertain at the
outset the extent of the field open tc
such service. More than one-third OF
the population of the globe use copper
for money, or trade by barter, and can
not by any international influence be
induced to do otherwise. To another
third, the almost exclusive use of silver
as money metal is an absolute neces-
sity of their condition, and there is no
doubt that they will so continue to use
it, and in increasing quantity, for a
long future. OF the remainder OF the
worlds population, "A large proportion
i. e., the mass of the people of Rus
sa, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal
Mexico, South America and the like
could not by reason of their economic
condition use gold to any great extent
as money, even if an abundant supply
of it was to them available, All of the
nations of the latter class use a great
amount of silver for their subsidiary
coinage because they cannot use gold
or any other instrumentality to equa
advantage; the United States alon,
carrying at the present time owe
seventy-seven million dollars worth o
such coined silver The claim that tn,
adoption of gold standard of value
10y the United Stat would be th
obstruction of silver" as a coinag
metal is therefore simply concret
nonsense, the offspring of profoun'
ignorance or charlatanry; and tn
problem of the scarcity of gold is ac
cordingly of moment, not to the Who'll
population of the world, but to only
very small part of it; to the people o
the few great commercial countries.
David A. Wells in Toledo Blade