The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-05-12
DEMOCRACY AND PoPULIsM.

pe1iS nave taken up the hepuDilCdH
cry that the doctrine of free and I'M
limited silver coinage is Populism.
Democrats are asked to consider the
question whether they are really Dem
ocrats or Populists. that is, whether
they are wise men or fools"
That is not very complimentary to
either the Democrats or the Populists.
Nobody should be affected in the
smallest degree by threat to call
him something which may be looked
upon as term of reproach. If there
is anything in Populism that is right
and true no Democrat should be
afraid of accepting it, or ashamed of
being so far connected with a people
or a party that advocates 1t.
But is the advocacy of the free coin
age of silver at the ratio of 16 to L to
be classed as Populism? If so, where
was Populism from 1892 to 1878? Sill
yer and gold were freely coined dur
ing that period. Or at any rate the
law provided for their coinage, one
metal on equal terms with the other.
and during the latter portion of it at
the ratio of 16 to /. Was that Pop
ulsm? If so Populism is all right.
But Populism, although it has re-
Gently made the silver question its
most prominent feature, demands fiat
money also. That is to say, it holds
in another form the same heresy as
that promulgated by the greenback
party. If the government can issue
paper as money without any money
metal behind it with which to redeem
that paper, there is no need for either
silver or gold coinage. The printing
press may be set TO work to manufac-
ture money and the labor to develope
the mining interest for the production
of the precious metals may cease, ex-
cept as those metals are wanted for
use in the arts.
The Democrats who want the res
toration of silver as the money of the
United States do not believe in fiat
money. To class silver coinage with
that financial heresy is unfair and
misleading. 1t would be just as true
to call the coinage of gold the issue
of fiat money. In one sense all coin
is fiat money. 1t is made to be mon
ey by legislation. That is the fiat of
the law. There is no national money
without 1t. But that is not what IS
meant by the term.
Fiat money means something used
for money which has no value in
itself and which depends entirely on
the fat Of the government for its
recognition as currency. Such money
has no stability. 1t has no permanent
value. Paper money depends upon
that in which it is redeemable, for it's
worth in trade. So long as a paper
note is redeemable in real money
gold or silver coin which is legal ten
der-it will pass current. 1t rests en-
tirely on that redemption
Silver has been a money metal.
standing upon it's own merits as fit
for coin, side by side with gold, for
ages. A silver dollar IS a dollar to-
day in spite of what has been done
to the metal as bullion. There is no
such thing in the land as a "depreci-
ated dollar a "fifty-cent dollar" a
DECEASED dollar Every dollar is
good for its face as money. So far
the fiat of the government affects it,
because it is Interchangeable with
gold.
Open the minis to the free coinage
of silver as previous to 1873, and in a
very short time silver would return
to its old value in the market as
metal. Close the minis to the coin
age of gold. and in a very short time
its value as metal would depreciate
in the market. The two metals are
suitable for money above all other
metals known. There is not enough
Of either or both TO make too much
money for the uses of mankind AS
the production increases the needs of |
the world for money increase.
There is no danger of too much.
The trouble is usually that there is
too little or that it is boarded for
speculative purposes. The free and
unlimited coinage of silver and gold I
will keep up the balance of their
value in the market as bullion and |
their parity as money. There will be |
no more fiat in one than in the other
There is no more Populism in silver
coinage than in gold coinage. Demo-
Gratis who want free and unlimited
silver coinage, also want free and I'M
limited gold coinage. They do not
want irredeemable paper money. They
favor the issue of notes redeemable in
,oin, because that would be matter
If convenience, and the redeemable
quality of the paper would place it
IN a parity with coin. 1t would be
LII fat money in the right sense but
lone of it in the Populist sense.
Democrats need not fear to be class
ID as Populists because the Populists
lave adopted the free coinage doc
rne. And no fair paper in the
COUNTRY will seek to confuse the pub
ic mind by such misrepresentation.
However we need not look to the
,oldite papers for either fairness or
honest argument.
The silver conference in this city
7ill be a notable affair. 1t is crafty