The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-09-12

From 1850 TO 1860 we took from o.
mines S500,O00000 of gold; YET o III nod i9 9g,
nnr circulation only showed ZZS,oooioy'
of both gold and silver-more thah nan
Tho god went to the markets. IRON
100 10 1893 we took from our mlnei
I 60 nj 2 93G. 1863 in gold, but we OIL!
I 10 today about $5OOOOO,OOO IN Oul
n;rcnloti on and in the treasury. lhree
! sanrtbs nf il has left-and lett because
/ - was worth more in the markets IL
! rnotoI than in the circulation as money
| Tha decreased value at nome anu III ~
creased value abroad took NJ away:
we make silver the standard preciseiiS
| the same result VIII lollo". 49, nna
not oven benefit the mine owners one
80 Their silver would then De
We 80 gold value in the market, just as
- l. nov. and if coined and added 10 oui
l;rnria tinn. il would flow out as fast ~
- ,rouId he put in. Its value III the
Inorket would be greater than lts Fulu J
IN The circulation whenever the increases ,d
rolume of circulation raised prices hei :
| in silver higher than prices aDroau III
| silver.
We have twice in our history tried the
o,.,arimant of making COMPOUND
standard of gold and silver, ana sig sig,
| nally failed in both instances. IN 10
we made the ratio of 10 OF SILVER " l
| of gold and opened our MINIS 10 ING un
| limited coinage of Doth Solu anu i 9t.r
ns 'i'I The average value Of the gold IN
tbo cold dollar from 1892 to 1881 was
moro than i per cent greater than tHe
iilo lo yoIna of the silver III
Average silver dollar. This was
MARGIN enough and more than enough,
tn t9ta all of our gold coins out oil our
CIRCULATION and send them 70 the mar
lots for sale. The consequence was
that this country was on a SILVER stan III
ard with a silver circulation almost ca.
clusiyely. This proved TO DE II SIt".
Inconvenience to the country ana al!er
the war of 1872 had passed ana tne III
dustries of the country began ~ J
nand and our products were multipl!
INC and seeking markets everywhere, IL
vas seen that the absence OF gold was
n great hindrance to commerclal move
ment In 1913 the agitation began III
earnest for the restoration OF golu 10
orr currency. 1t continued until 1854,
wbon to restore it the ratio was
changed from 10 to to 1000 to J.
and in 1887 from that to l5.9SS TO J.
which is commonly called 10 10 l.
The mints were then opened to the uh-
limited coinage of both metals at that
ratio. BY this adjustment silver was
undervalued. From 1854 to loo3 lne
silver in n silver dollar averaged an
nuolly 9 ~ per cent more in the market
than the gold in n gold dollar. AS
consequence it left the circulation and
we had gold as the standard, and an
almost exclusive gold metallic clrcula- |
tion. These two conspicuous failures
in the efforts of our statesmen to make
n compound standard of value seems to
have so discouraged them that the eX-
pertinent was abandoned.
In 1853 a Democratic congress, nnding
the country destitute of silver, though
we had coined up to that time more
than $S5000,000 of that metal, deter
mined to restore it to our circulation by
coming it as a subsidiary money, and
over yaluing it enough to keep the COINS
in our circulation; and to prevent the
silver from so, raising
prices as to expel the gold they TOOK
from private depositors the right OF
coinage, confined it to government ac,
count, and within such limits as should
he prescribed by the secretary of the
treasury. The subsidiary silver was
coined at the ratio of 1885 to ]. 1t
was overvalued about B per cent, and
vet, in the judgment of the men of that
that was margin of profit
enough to take ali the gold out of our
circulation. what would they have
thought of n proposition to keep both
gold and silver in circulation with I'M
limited coinage of silver at 80 per cent
discount? This was not Republican
but Democratic congress. it was pre-
sided over by David r. Atchison OF Mis-,
souri, in the senate and Lynn Boyd OF
Kentucky in the house. X. Nj. I.
Hunter, distinguished Democratic
uinin RI
man of the committee on finance IN
the senate. and George s. Houston, one
of the greatest statesmen Alabama ever
produced, was chairman of the commit
tee on ways and means in the house.
In that congress were Sam Houston,
Rusk. Douglass, Cass, Hendricks,
Bright Shields, Breckenridge and
other distinguished Democratic leaders.
Mr.. Hunter, who introduced the bill in
the senate, and reported it from the
finance committee, said in his report
that "the great measure of readJusting
the legal ratio between gold and silver
cannot be safely attempted until some
relations between the market
values of the two metals shall be es-
tablished" If it could not be safely at
tempted when gold was at n discount of
4 per cent, can it be safely attempted
when silver is at discount of 30 per
cent? Mr.. Hunter and the Democratic
statesmen that supported him deter
mined that it was safe to permit the
existing standard of gold to remain.
They determined that the proper ratio
to establish and keep n common stand
ard of both metals should be left for
future settlement when conditions were
more favorable, and they contented
themselves with the safer policy that
the standard of all existing
contracts and provided for fractional
currency to meet the demands of every
dav commerce. When the bill passed
the senate and went to the house, it
was repocted from the committee of
ways and means by Mr.. Durham OF
Indiana, a distinguished Democratic rep
of that State. He was
very explicit in his statement of the OBJ
iects sought to be obtained by the bill.
1--WE intend" he said, ito do what
the best writer's on political economy
have approved; what experience where
the experiment has been tried has de-
to be best; and what the
committee believes to be necessary and
make but one standard of cur
rency and to make all others subservient
to it. We mean to make gold the stand
ard coin and to make these new silver
coins applicable and convenient, not for
large but for small transactions.
Mr.. SHELTON. another member of the
committee. and a Democratic represent
ative from New Jersey, in supporting the