Mexico weekly ledger., 1895-10-17
About Europe's silver.

About Europess silver.
But we are told by Secretary Smith. and
| Secretary Carlisle of the treasury depart
/ nent, that II silver be coined; II the un-
limited coinage OF silver be advocated in
! the United States. then you Will be flooded
with the silver pots and pans and knives
and forks of Europe. trough here TO pc
| coined into dollars. My friends, 1t would
! he impossible TO transact the business OF
/ continental Europe for one day. as l nave
stated. without the silver they now have
WAS in circulation. In Europe All transae-
! smallest kind.
Prices are much lower than In the
! United States, and among the nlddie anu
/ lower classes the most OF the transactions
are never equal hardly TO a single doiiar,
Austria to-day has 500, 100000 in legal ten,
der silver. II Is rare that you see a goid
! piece in Austria unless 1t Is possessed py
sorae foreigner, who pays railroad fare In
{ going from one country to another. Aus
tria Is attempting now to go 70 tne single
gold standard, aping England ana Ger
| many, but II silver be stricken out or sur
rendered or taken away from Austria to-
morrow. 1t would be absolutely impossible
to transact the business of thai kingdom.
! Germany has 500. 900. 600 in silver coinage,
represented by the mark, % cents In value,
also the Austrian silver unit value. Ger
many could no more do without her $780,
| OO0, 600 of silver than her people could do
without oxygen in the air they breathe.
In France they use gold, because II is
small and compact, In transacting a large
4 NOluIit u III IL ScP SfOS
where in France. however. use silver, hav-
INF, $3.50, 900, 600 of silver legal tender. and
form one of the most prosperous nations
In Europe.
In the states of Europe there are 15M
ounces of silver to one of gold. In the
United States there are. 16 ounces OF silver
to one of gold. Does any sane man be-
litve that the silver of Europe, without
which they can't transact business, would
( be brought to this country with the loss
Of one-haif ounce and the payment of the
{ rGSf nf fra n1nOrfa HIM In nEdnr tn hA
eeined in the United States? Silver an
svTers the purpose of banking reserve In
Europe, having for ordinary commerce an
interchangeable quality in the affairs of
tie people. IL 15h ounces of silver are
equal TO one ounce of gold in Europe. 16
ounces of silver are surely equal to one
ounce of gold In the United States, and /
wish to say right here that while in con-
gI'ess I did vote for a highe ratio in order
te secure some kind of a silver bill, l
never wavered In my allegiance to the
1e-to-i standard and that 1t is tho proper
standard is my honest opinion to-day.
The stamp of Sovereignty.
/ remember. a few years ago, showing
Mr.. Hoke Smith. the secretary of the in
terror, the result of the stamp of sover-
eignty upon al silver dollar. l remember
that n few years ago. In 1880, when l had
United States a bill for the free and I'M
limited coinage of silver, 1t passed the
n And silver, then worth "a cents
an ounce, went up in 10 days to SLIT an
caused it to advance? Not its intrinsic
value. 1t wal the same silver. h
caused it to go up q cents In the market
inside of 10 days?
1t was the stamp of sovereignty put
pom 1t by the people of the United States
fy the action of the senate and house of
representatives, which had Endorsed the
action of the senate; and If we had passed
hat free coinage bill, and it had been
sent to the president, still there would
not have been a parity with gold until
l +hA avan1ltiua allyn fINra had hann mt 20
the bill. (Applause.) What is the intrin-
sic value of which we hear so much now
Is 1t worth of itself, or what can
you do with 1t? What can you make of
1t? What are the uses of 1t? 1t will make
a ring to cover some lady's finger; 1t will
make something to adorn the ear, or a
bracelet or a necklace; 1t will make
spoons or knives or forks; but that in
trinsic value is comparatively nothing
compared with the great monetary use of
gold and silver, which makes it, as 1 say,
the representative Of all values. 1t ena-
bles the holder to purchase commodities
of every sort, which makes 1t the great
interchangeable instrumentaiity of civili-
cation.
Intrinsic value of gold and silver! Who
can eat 1t? Who can use 1t for any pur-
pose of husbandry or outside of the arts
and sciences, where it is used to a limited
extent? How can 1t compare with iron.
with copper, with brass, as to intrinsic
value? Why, then, ask the question why
gold and silver had been selected as
were scarce; because originally they were
used as articles of worship in the ancient
sacred metals; because the worshipers OF
the sun used gold and the worshipers of
the moon used the white metal, silver. We
have the same metals to-day to purchase
Il with, because they are scarce and man.
| kind needed some scarce commodity. unit
to take the place of gold as the represent
tative of value for use in the needs of
and trade. The intrinsic value
of gold and silver amounts to nothing
when compared with the great monetary
use to which they have been applied
The amount of gold and silver in the
world is about equal. There are 81, 600, 600.
900, by the last reports. of gold, and
s4.05S 900, 600 of silver, and now 1t is pro
posed for the sake of the gold standard
advocate to strike down silver and make
gold the only money throughout the
cold and the European War Ciosd.
Russia is boarding her gold in her war
chests to-day. yet the people use silver.
Russia Is a powerful and rich nation, yet
her people are lowly and poor, and why
Because the car is Russia. There is no
reichstag, nc parliament, nc congress to
question his acts. There is no prominent
man to rise In congress and introduce a
resolution Of inquiry into the acts Of that
government, or to inquire why gold Is be-
ing boarded. The czar has been aecumu,
fating gold for military purposes, because
q great war is imminent in Europe, and
the time has come when 1t Is expected
hA1s 80 'A@ - ~ SO
against Russia. That is the shadow that
Is now cast over the contine-a. That Is
the war cloud that is covering Europe
When Russia combats against Europe
with France, 1t will take more than 1900,
900 of armed men to determine the great
conflict and issue of battle. If Russia gave
up her silver ruble-it is the only money
in circulation-she would have to put out
this gold, which she is boarding herself
for the great coming conflict. to replace
1t.
Nrl-- -.r Sazzz- E,.z-o -. H., l. =
great purchaser of silver, and silver has
gone UP within the last two days more
than s cents an ounce In London Europe
Is purchasing silver. She will continue te
purchase 1t. India, for some purposes, is
a grave of silver; SO is China, and japan
has been, for the last 500 years, and al
absorb silver, and not one single cent has
ever come back from their eavernous re.
ceptacle.
/ am tempted to indulge in old reminis.
cences regarding the matter. l don't wan
to increase the dissensions in the demo
cratic party. but l can't help thinking of a
few years ago, when an intimate personal
and political friend of mine. NJ. e. Ben.
ton, of Newton county, was appointed
United States district attorney for the
western district of this state. Mr.. Cleye.
land was a candidate in 1888 for reelection
) and dismissed Benton, as was claimed
/ for pernicio!ls partisanship. I got off the
train at Washington and walked into the
) presidents room and he looked up and
said: II expected you would be here
! said to him: Mr.. President, II you didn'
} expect me, ! would think you had a very
poor opinion of me, indeed" / asked the
J president why Benton had been dismissed
, and he said:
J For pernicious political activity" Ben
ton being an oficeholder. 1 talked with
the president for some time. and as a re-
J s ssl.s5 NJ; Benton was rsinstated In his 20.
! In those days 1 stood much nearer the
! throne than / do to-day. His reinstate
. ment, however, had a string to it. He
9 must promise to be a good boy and never
2 do 1t again. But how about the cabinet
4 ministers to-day, who have their duties e
/, the government to perform, and are to
! day going about the country making
Z stump speeches?
Carlisle went to Kentucky to show then
( how to run things, and he is now in Mass.
= achusetts trying to do the same thing
These distinguished apostles Of the single
gold standard claim that this country has
too much money: that there is to-day In
, the country s25.W for every man, woman
n and child. We are happy without know.
Ing 1t. Twenty-Five dollars and sever
cents! I will say that there Is not IS pei
capita in this country. I have made VI
n this statement from the official report o.
the treasury department of 1898, made By
the secretary OF the treasury, showint
how these estimates are arrived at. Col
RatcHfe. will you read this2 You are
much younger than I.
Col. Radcliffe read as follows:
. United States Circulation.
On July ], 1898, the secretary of the treas
ury. In his report gave the amount OF
money in circulation as 81, 80, SAL. eT7. Or
examination, II was found that in this