The record-union., 1895-05-21
Secretary Carlisle Addresses the
People of Kentucky.
WHY HE IS OPPOSED TO THE FREE
COINAGE OF SILVER
President Cleveland Signs the Appli-
cation of Rear admiral Meade to
be Retired, and in Doing So Makes
Some Cutting Remarks About the
Officers Conduct in Crlticising the
Administration.
Special to the RECoRD-UNIoN.

Special to the RECoRD-UNIoN.
CovINGToN (Ky.), May 20.-The Secre-
tary of the United States Treasury, Hon.
John G. Carlisle, opened the discussion
of the question of sound money here to-
day in quaint lecture hall called Gen.
trail Garden. The hall is in the middle of
beer garden. 1t is theater-like struct-
ura, with a small stage at one end, where
the song and dance artists are wont to en-
liven dull hours. The rush to hear the
speaker was tremendous.
Mr.. Carlisle preiaced his remarks with
brief Introduction in which he assured
his audience "that 1 am not and do not
expect to become candidate for any
office in the gift of the people, or their
representatives. and that l do not appear
in the State in the interest of any candi-
date.
There has never been time," con-
tlnued the Secretary, "since the close of
The civil war and the settlement of the
question growing out OF it, when passion
and prejudice eXerted such powerful
influence in controlling the action OF the
people upon political and economic
questions as they have during the last
Two years. A great wave OF depression
has swept over the whole Industrial,
commercial ana financial world, moro
injurious in its effects in some places
than in others, but entailing great loss
and distress nearly everywhere. 1t did
not begin twenty years ago, aS some of
our friends are In the habit OF asserting,
but less than five years ago. Its first
serious effects were felt in Argentina,
where the people and the Government,
notwithstanding The warnings of ex-
perience i'll ali ages, determined to try
again the experiment OF a cheap and ill.,
lated currency.
The allegation, even if it were true,
that a great crime was surrepttiously COM
mitted III 1873, or at any other time, does
not prove, or even conduce TO prove, that
the Tree coinage or silver at the ratio of IL
To l would be beneficial to the country
under the conditions now existing. But,
gentlemen, it is not true that the Act OF
February II, 1913, which made the gold
dollar the unit OF value and dropped the
standard silver dollar from the coinage,
was passed by stealth or that its purpose
or effect was TO deprive the people Of the
use OF any coin then In use or then In eX-
lstence III This country.
1.-The plain truth Is that this Act of
1873, which has been the subject of SO
much misrepresentation and denunclatlon,
was simply a recognition of monetary
condition which had existed in fact i'll
this country for about thirty-tive years,
or ever since short time after the pas
sage of the Coinage Act of 1884. The
value of the United States note or green
back was always measured by gold and
not by silver, and commodities had gold
price and paper price, but never a sill
YER price, because silver, except the
half itpa ,oI
! under the ACT OF 1858 had been out of
use here for more than twenty years be-
| fore the commencement OF the war, and
even these subsidiary coins had not been
in use Tor eleven years prior TO 1873.
"Our own monetary history had al
| ready furnished two most striking illus
trations OF the operation OF the law under
which the coins which are over valued
| by statute always drive out of circulation
the coins which are undervalued. Our
own experience had again demonstrated
what the history of the world already
showed-that whenever the coinage laws
! of any country permit the tree coinage of
metals with full legal tender qualities at
u ratio of value which does not conform
substantially to their intrinsic or COM
mercial ratio in the markets of the world,
both kinds of coin cannot be kept it cir
culation at the same time.
There was never i'll our whole history
one-third as much legal tender silver in
! use in the United States at one time as
! there is now, and it is used without de-
priving US of all our gold. which was
never done before. Silver is not demOne-
tized in this country, but its coinage has
been so limited and regulated by law,
and the financial affairs of the Govern
ment have been SO conducted, that up to
the present time it's purchasing power
has been preserved and its circulation, to
large amount, has been maintained con-
currently with other forms OF money,
notwithstanding it has been coined at a
ratio which does not conform to the real
value of the metal contained in it. In
the United States sixteen pounds of silver
coined into dollars will now purchase rs
much as one pound Of gold coins, but this
would not be the case under a system of
free and unlimited coinage on individual
account.
II have never been and am not now
unfrendly TO silver in the sense Of de-
tary system of the United States or of
any other country, but l know that it
can not be kept in circulation along with
gold by means of any ratio the law of any
one country may attempt to establish be-
tween The two metals, and that the only
way 10 secure the use Of both at the same
time is to make one of them the standard
other that the Government which issues
them and receives them for public dues
may be able at all times TO maintain their
exchangeability either directly or indi-
rectly through the operation of its finan-
cial system.
"It Is well known personally to every
| gentleman in this audience who was old
enough to know what was transpiring in
| 1873 that there was not dollar of silver
in circulation at that date. The only
metallic or redemption money in use
| here at that time was gold, which
amounted to only Sl35, ,0Oo,000, including
| what the Government was using, where
as we now have 25OOO.OOO in gold and
$780,, ,652, S73 in full legal tender silver, be-
sides about SS7 O00,0 600 in subsidiary sill
yer coin. Ii. therefore, prices have fallen
since 1873, the decline has taken place in
spite of the fact that our full legal tender
metallic money has been increased until
| it now amounts to more than seven times
| as much as it did at that date, and conse-
quently the alleged decline i'll prices
must be attributed to some other cause
than the demonstration of silver"
REAR-ADMIRAL MEADE.