The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1895-08-30
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From the August.p umber of Rhodes
journal of Banking" l clip the follow
ing article: :" a.; .,
-sTo put gold on an equality with sill I
yer it is only necessary TO repeal the |
law which now permits. private iindiNid-
uals 70 take gold baliiSn 70 thesmints
and have, it coined into. the gold coins
of the Uaited' States Idphisoisvould re-
move bcyondi All question =. the COIN
plant that,is now made that gold is a
metal favored beyond its therits !" %
instead Of the present law let the
government purchase all gold bullion
offered at the rate. of 3 dollar for every
%. 90 grains of pure0gold, paying for
the same with gold certificates The
minis could. coin as much of this bull
lion as there happens to he a. demand
for. retaining both the coins. and the
oncoined bullion to redeem the gold
certificates. Most Of the bullion could
be kept in the form of bars such as. are
aow. prepared at the minis for exporta-
,ion. There would be no free coinage
Of gold any more than Of silver. =. The
rec coinage of silver dollars from the
present stock of silver bullion could 20
On to the extent there was any public
demand for them, and whenever, this
stock of silver bullion became exhaust
ed then more could be bought sufficient
GO keep up the requirements of the sill
yer coinage at the market price, - The
gold coins would, of course, be minted
On government account and any seign
,orage or gain there might be would
accrue to the treasury in the same
manner as upon the coinage of silver
bullion. fii "t i'f 49, - - 1-'-'r"' ~ =
1T is not probable that there would
De the least objection on the part of
the gold monometallsts to the depriv-
Ing of gold bullion of the right of free
coinage Such a course would make it
clear, that the right Of free coinage
not possess without that privilege.
''Of course it will be said by the ad-
vocates of silver that If this course is
taken with gold the goxernment.o ought
also to buy silver, giving one dollar in
silver certificates for every 371..25
grains of pure silver, but the answer
to. this is that by SO doing the amints
would be paving more than the mar
l1et price. If the contention be true
that, the shutting of the minis to the
free coinage of silver has been the
main cause of the depreciation IN value
of that metal, then the shutting Of the
minis to the free coinage of gold should
have a similar effect upon that metal,
After gold has in this way been de-
monetized as long as silver, it should
depreciate correspondinglya aud the old
ratio between the two metals would be
restored. va ~ - -
at may also be said by the advo-
Gates of silver, that the United States
should not undertake the demonetiza-
ton of gold in'' this manner single
handed, but should only do, SO as the
result Of an international agreement.
1t is believed that the several CONNER
cial nations, even England and Ger
many, could much more easily be
brought. to consent to- stop, the. free
coinage of gold on private account
than they could be induced to agree to
opening their minis to the free coinage
of silver. In fact the British mints. at
the present time, practically purchase
gold bullion in the manner advocated.
They purchase all of such bullion Of
fered Of a given weight, and 6neness
at a fixed price per ounce, which an
swers precisely to the amount of pure
gold in the sovereign into which the
minis coin 1t. j.. s1,. " 10 ii j, :. n,.,ia..~
''Of course the adoption of this plan
by international agreement would not
alter the real status Of gold coins one
iota- 1T would in one sense be an
illustration of the old adage of whip
ping the devil around the stump.
Observation-Disclosures Il 1uo,,ld cbouy hot he
estimate in which gold is held by man.
kind is not in the least affected by the
regulations of the minis OF the world.
BY analogy, too, it brings out most
clearly that as government regulations
can have no effect upon the valuation
of gold, so these same regulations tan
have no permanent effect in increasing
the estimate in which silver ia held by
mankind. In other words, If govern
mental action cannot depre ciate the
value .; a given quantity of gold nc
more can it appreciate the value offs
given quantity of silver. niF' IA" -" 81.
THE only course that a government
can take is to depreciate, or appreciate
the money of account by making il
worth less or greater quantity OF the
precious metal. Thus the British gov
eminent might decree that, the ,sover
eign should. contain 100 grains of go}t
instead of 1887 grains Or congress
might declare thai the dollar should
contain Is grains of pure gold only. in
stead of 60 23 grains. But this woule
be debasing the coinage. 1t is just a.
much a debasement of the coinage fol
congress to decree that 81. 30 grains oi
pure silver shall be a dollar, iwithou
making provision to main tain the sill
yer dollar at par with the gold dollar
when for nearly sixty years the dolla
of account has been the dollar of 23.2
grains Of pure gold, - ..s,x $50 1 n, =.
The foregoing propositions, of tn
Journal Of "a Banking are. . eithe
prompted by ignorance born of q lacl
of knowledge of the laws of finance,. o
else they are cunningly devised to de
ceive the masses of the people, VIII
are presumed to be wallowing in tn
slough of ignorant superstition, TIL
latter hypothesis is probably the tru
one, for it is Incredible that the edito
of banking journal should posses
4 e. L. ~l<>l. 81