Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1895-10-02
MILLS'S POSITION.
OUTSIDE THE SILVER CAMP.
He Finds 1t Impossible Longer to Be
lieve In the Free Coinage Delusion
He Gives Most Excellent Kea-
sons for His Change of Front.
He Fin,

lieve In the Free Coinage Delusior
He Gives Most Excellent Rea-
sons for His Change OF Front.
Senator Mills, OF Texas, has during
the past six months renewed his study
of the money question, and has come
to the conclusion that free coinage o.
silver at ratio of 16 to l with gold l:
delusion. His recent letter to the
Chairman of the Democratic State
Committee of Texas has created con-
sternation in the camp of the silver
ties. Why it should do so will be IN
derstood after reading the following
extracts from his letter:
1.-The proposition is not to be dis
puted that the increase of currency,
all other things being equal, raises
prices wherever the money circulates
But prices are not affected in any
country where the money does not
circulate. The opening of our minis
to the unlimited coinage OF silver will
increase prices in the United States,
but not in Europe. As the prices OF
commodities rise here, the value OF the
dollar falls here in precisely the same
proportion. The price OF the gold
dollar, which is the common measure
of value, remaining the same in Eu-
rope, il would 60 to Europe, because
it would buy more commodities there
than here.
'T object to the silver standard be-
ing adopted IN lieu of the existing
standard because it Will defraud all
creditors out of one-half the value OF
their debts. Every debt contracted
since January l, 1879, was contracted
on the gold standard. The debtor
honestly owes the value of 1922
grains of gold for every dollar prom
ised. and the creditor is honestly en-
titled to receive it. When it was pro-
posed years ago to demonetize all the
coined silver of the world and sup
press the further coinage OF that
metal, 1 Joined with other friends OF
silver in denouncing the monstrous
proposition, because it was an attempt
to double the debts of the world, and
to bring all debts in this country CON
tracted on a paper standard, much OF
it at less than 80 cents on the dollar,
to par with gold. Is not the propo-
sition now to substitute the silver dol
lar on the silver standard for that gold
dollar the same that we all con-
demned, except it is the creditor now
who is to be the victim instead OF the
debtor then?
''No persons would receive the
least benefit from the change of stand
ard to silver except the man who
owes 100 cents and wishes to pay it
with so. He would under the silver
standard be able to discharge his debt
by paying one-half of what he prom
ised. This would be a scheme to en-
rich one-half of a community by
despoiling the other half. Wherever
there is debtor there is n creditor,
and he is entitled to the same protec-
ton as the debtor. Congress has the
power to discharge insolvent debtors
by bankrupt law, but the adoption
of the silver standard now would dis
charge all solvent debtors from one
half the obligation of their contracts,
even though as a class they might be
the weather. part of the community
"I object to the silver standard
again, because it is not the standard
of the country with which we conduct
our largest commerce. Mr.. Jefferson
says, TO trade on equal terms the
common measure of value should be
as nearly as possible on a par with
that of its corresponding Nation,
whose medium is in a sound state. ,
The reason tor it is, as he says, being
of universal value, it will keep itself
on general level, flowing out from
where it is too high into parts where
it is lower Gold is the common
measure of value of the people with
whom we carry on nine-tenths of our
foreign trade, and, according to the
principles enunciated by him, gold
should be our standard, as 1t has been
since the days of Jackson, Van Buren,.
Polk, Pierce and Buchanan, except
during the war period from 1861 to
1879, when paper was the standard.
If we supplant gold with silver, then
we have two standards Of value for all
the articles that we export. Cotton
and wheat will be bought in this
country by the silver standard and
sold in Europe by the gold standard.
There must be between these standards
constant fluctuations. Two-thirds of
all our cotton must be exported and
sold by gold value. The price of the
whole crop at home and abroad will
be fixed by the gold standard, but
every pound OF 1t will be sold by
American farmers by the silver
standard. When the American far
mer sees cotton quoted at so many
cents or pence per pound IN Liver
pool, he knows that it Is so much IN
gold, but he does not know how much
the silver will be worth with which he
will be paid for his cotton. Instead
of legitimate business exchange, where
every one knows with what value he
parts aud what he receives, our prod
ucts will be sold by a system of COM
mercial gambling with a fuctuating
standard by which the producer must
in every instance be delrau1ed.
believing that the silver standard
would prove injurious to the people
of the United States, aud especially to
that part Of them engaged in growing
cotton, I am unwilling to take any
steps in legislation calculated to i'm
peril that great industry upon which
the welfare of my constituency so
greatly depends.
"The vast army OF wage-workers will
Il