Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1895-09-28
DIR. HILLS PAMPHLET
A SUPPOSED sILvERITe WRITES
AGAINST FREE COINAGE.

II Would Lower Our standard Of Value
and Would rot Give Us fG to Coinage.
A Pamphlet which HAS Duinfounded
the Free silver People.
Dr.. ". P. Hill Of ST. Louis has Just
written apamphlot entitled Argument
Against Free Silver Coinage at 10 to
j.. which has dumfounded the FREQ sill
yer peoplo. DR. Hill is the youngest son
Of the late Britton A. Hin, one of the
ahlest champions of fiat money of the
old Greenback party. DR.. Hill was edu-
Gated in the best universities in Europe.
1t has been generally supposed that he
would follow in the footsteps OF his
father aud advocate cheap money. There
is little doubt but that he made a
special study of finance for the purpose
Of securing arguments against the gold
standard. Study changed his opinions.
as is apparent from the following quo
tation from his excellent pamphlet:
Many people innocently imagine that
the free coinage of silver is simply q
proposition 10 open our mints more
freely to silver and to maintain our
money at its present standard Of value
ON the gold basis, and that by adopting
free coinage we are not going to aebasc
and lower tho value Of our money, but
raise the price Of silver all over tho
world to a l6 to ratio with gold.
There conld be no greater mistake.
They fail to see that II also involves
change in our unit, standard or meas
ure of value
II the proposition was that the United
States should give gold dollar for ey-
cry S7li4 grains Of pnre silver brought
TO the minis, then that would really be
an attempt ON the part of our govern
ment TO raise tho price Of silver, and
how long we could raise itwould de-
pend On how much silver there was in
the world and how much gold we had.
But this is not the proposition. The FREQ
silver idea is that wo must stop insult
ing the silver dollar by redeeming il
and giving gold dollar for it. and
their proposition is simply TO stamp as
a dollar every 4ls = grains Of standard
silver brought 20 the mint, and that
this piece of silver SO stamped shall be
our unit or measure of value
Is it possible to believe, when tho
the new law shall say that AJAX grains
Of standard silver shall constitute tho
valuo Of cur dollar, that the dollar viii
be worth any more than that? Under
tho present system we have issued mil
lions Of silver dollars ON the ratio Of 10
to /. The world has steadily refused 10
accept our dictum as to their value, and
we are compelled to maintain a largo
gold reserve. and not only stand ready
20 redeem all those dollars, but also
constantly to redeem many Of them in
gold to maintain their value.
We are staggering under our load
now with our present silver circulation
and have difficulty to maintain our gold
reserve. viii our load be lighter when
we undertake 60 coin tho worlds sur
plus Of silver? viii tho world accept
our dictum moro readily. whom, ON the
one hand, we will loudly assert the 10
10 ratio, and, on the other hand. reso-
lutely give the lilo 10 orr own words by
refusing to exchange them at tho ratio
Of 10 TO /, which is the only way we
can mako our words count for anythingy
The director of the United States
mint estimates tho coined silver money
Of tho world Mt &i,055. roo. 600, which
is about 90 per cent Of tho total. OF tho
coined silver money more than 81, 000.-
coo, 600 passes current at exactly tho
Same value as the silver bullion In tho
market, and would flow just like 80
much bullion TO any place whore it
could obtain q higher price. The
worlds annual production amounts to
5000, 600, 600; the annual production in
this country alone TO ssh. 900, 900 Our
gold reserve amounts to barely $780,
600, 900.
Suppose that by free coinage we could
possibly raise the price Of silver in this
country TO double what II is now--we
need not say double, but even q fraction
more than now--doos any man need 10
be told thnt that would start flow Of
silver TO this country. and that our lit
tie gold reserve would be completely
overwhelmed, and that tho mighty
stream would mover stop flowing until
all yestige Of higher price had been
completely annihilatedy Aud when that
had been accomplished, does any man
need to be told that our dollar would
simply be worth what 4l2lS grains Of
standard silver would be worth In tho
market as hnllionf This fact is unan-
is 10 free silver country
in tho world where tho dollar on unit Of
value is worth one particle more than
the silver in IL az bullion in tho market.
Oar attempt would be about ns ridic-
ulous ms If we tried 10 stop the ebb and
flow Of tho ocean tides by an act Of con-
gress. or 20 regulate the movements of
tho planets.