Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1895-12-27

1T COULD NOT BE COINED IN
DEPENDENTLY.
That VIII he the Final Proposition of
the British COMMUNICATING BIZ
metaliism Admits of No Limitation
Whatever-Some Examples.

AS this question is frequently asked.
and a considerable number of people.
inclined TO be friendly 10 silver. favor
the restriction OF the coinage TO the
product OF American mines. the answer
will be given under its own distinct
heading. True bimetallism admits of
no limitation upon the coinage. To re-
strict the coinage to the product of our
own mines, would have the effect of at
once creating two prices for silver. The
American would be worth the American
mint rate, while foreign silver would
/ have 10 take it's chances in the general
market. What price it would there
bring would depend upon circum-
stances, but unless other nations should
take steps for the coinage Of all the
foreign product, ii would certainly be
worth less than our coinage rate. I'm
der such circumstances the foreign
price would be regarded as the true
value, while ours would be deemed a
forced and fictitious rate. The Ameri-
can dollar would be of the same char
acter as ii Is now, somewhat of the ma
ture OF token money,-that is, coin of
greater nominal value than the same
weight OF bullion in the general market.
cola would remain the standard as ii
is now. Every time a million or two
went abroad New York would have a
spasm This would frequently occur
silver having greater value at the
American mint than in foreign coun-
tries, OF course ii would not be export
ed. If specie were needed for that pur-
pose, gold would always be the metal
selected. AS the supply of gold ran low
the cry of danger" would be echoed
far and wide. and there would be no
end of agitation for the repeal of the
law. In short the experience of the
sherman Law" would probably be re-
peated. But with our mint open to all
silver bullion, the price would be uni
form everywhere, except as there might
be trifling and temporary variations,
owing to local conditions of supply and
demand The moment our mint stands
ready TO coin all the silver bullion in
sight at $1.29 an ounce, that becomes
practically the market price every
where. The Mexican silver producer
is not going to sell it in London for any
less than he can get at the American
mint. Silver needed for India. China
and Japan must be paid for at the same
rate, and the American mint would con-
troll the market just as the French mint
formerly did. If people will get below
the surface of the question, and in
consider the effect of OPEN
ing our mint without limitation. they
will see that the status of silver would !
be completely changed. The greatest
weakness OF the argument against free
coinage lies in the assumption that the |
foreign price of silver would be the !
same after our mint is opened as ii is |
low. The idea is also quite general that !
We could only sustain silver at our mint |
'ate by taking all the silver in the
world. This is erroneous, and even alb
iurd Every nation takes care of its
,Wn silver coin, and will continue to
10 so. When France stood alone from
S03 TO 1865 as the bulwark of bimetal-
ISM, an VI the SILVER ulu not 20 10 npr
mint, neither did all the gold But the
act that all of each could, as a last
esource go there, obliged every other
ation and individual to pay about that
rice, and consequently the huctua-
ions in the bullion markets were ex-
eedingly small-so slight, in fact, as
o never disturb the parity of gold and
liver coin at all.
The silver question cannot be settled
Y mere eXpedients. The demonetiza-
ion of silver was a wrong. little less
han crime. Every principle of JUS
ce requires the undoing of that wrong.
his can only be done by placing silver
4 the position which it formerly oc>
1pied. AS the address of the National
imetallic Union adopted at Salt Lake
ity declared there is but one way to
estore silver and that is to restore it,"