Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1895-07-31
THE DEBATE ENDED
Horr-Harvey Silver Discus
sion at Chicago Finally
Concluded.
is FREE COINAGE FEASIBLE7
Mr.. Harvey Believes 1t Is But
Mr.. Horr Thinks 9th
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erWiSe.
/ CHICAGO, July 31.-The last day o
the Harvey -Horr silver seige openet
during the afternoon in the auditorium
of the Illinois club. The days attacl
was directed at the question of TIN
feasibility of independent action b.
the United States for the remonetiza
ton of silver and it's free and unlim
tied coinage at ratio of IL to l will
gold, regardless of the action of othe'
nations, Mr.. Harvey arguing for sucl
action. Mr.. Horr against it.
The discussion was opened by Mr.
Horr with statement that the price!
of corn referred to by Mr.. Harvey on {
former day, showed that the fiuctua
tions for series Of years had been
normal ones in view of supply and de.
mand and showed that silver legisla-
tion had nothing to do with the mat
| ter. The fact was that it was impossi.
BILE to show that silver legislation had
| affected the
Price of Agricultural Products.
Mr.. Harvey's figures, Mr.. Horr de-
clared, were made upon English, not
American prices Taking up the regu-
lar discussion Mr.. Harvey presented a
table showing the coinage Of gold and
silver from 1892 to 1878. He did this
to show that gold did not seek the
mints for the first so years of the ma
ton, and that silver did not from that
time till 1878.
Mr.. Harvey then quoted from his
book the total amount of gold and sill
yer in the world and the cubic space
they would respectively occupy. He
went on to argue that there was not
enough gold in the world for coinage
uses, in view OF the fact that the
amount diverted from coinage for use
in the arts had greatly increased with
in the past few years.
Congress Can't Fix Prices.
Mr.. Horr, coming down to the ques-
tion in hand, declared it was useless to
try to fix the relative value of any two
substances by legislation. Suppose
congress should try to fix the relative
value of bushel of wheat and a bushel
of oats. AS soon as one of them had a
large crop, down would go the rates, and
legislation by the nations of the whole
world would not maintain the ratio
any more than it would make water
run up hill The law of gravity would
stand in the way. 1t was SO in the
matter of the ratio between silver and
gold. The law of supply and demand
stepped in there and the history of the
worlds legislation showed that it was
impossible to maintain fixed ratio
between the precious metals.
Demand for Gold Would Decrease.
Resuming his argument, Mr.. Harvey
said chat the gold advocates feared
that the debts contracted in gold
would be paid in silver, and the man
who had stipulated to pay gold would
have to buy it at premium. This
was fallacious.
AS soon as silver was remonetized no
man could stipuate for payment in
gold; the demand for gold would de-
crease; at the same time the demand
for silver would increase, and soon the
difference between the metals would be
wiped out. He declared that it was
not the stamp on the coin which gave
it value, but the making Of new use
and new demand for it. If, at the next
general election, a bimetallic congress
~ IL
be passed the next day, silver would at
once begin to appreciate and gold to
depreciate, and they
Would BE at Parity
before congress met, as the greenback
dollar became equal in value to the
gold dollar before the resumption act
came into force.
Mr.. Horr, resuming, enumerated the
classes of people, who, he declared,
would be ruined by cheapening the
measure of value. They include day
laborers, clerks, stenographers, rail-
way employees, domestic servants, JAM
itors and scrub women, skilled labor of
all sorts, agricultural laborers, miners.
and the like, in the aggregate %, 1885,
661 in number. In addition to these
he spoke of the pensioners of the gov
ernment, making touching reference
in doing so to the empty sleeves of the
veterans and the black robed widows.
It was proposed to cut down the PEN
sion rolls by destroying the value of
the money in which they would be
paid.
business Would Absorb All Silver.
Taking up his argument, Mr.. Harvey
said that, under free coinage, gold
would decline, while silver and every
thing would advance. He asserted
that the demands of business in this !
country would absorb all of the silver
available for coinage. If all of the
gold and silver in the world were sent |
to our mints for coinage it would be to |
the benefit of the United States and |
the injury of the rest of the world,
Money in circulation made business, he
said, just as life does not make blood,
but blood makes life.