Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1895-10-04
DIR. HILLS PAMPHLET
A SUPPOSED sILvERlTE WRITES
 AGAINST FREE COINAGE.

It Would Lower Our Standard of valas
 and Would Not Give Us 16 to l Coinage.
 A Pamphlet Which Has Dumfoundsd
 the Free Silver People.
 Dr. W. F. HslI of St. Louis has iusb written a pamphlet entitled Argument Against Free Silver Coinage at 1G to l, which has dumfounded the free sil- yer people. Dr. Hill is the youngest sen of the late Britton A. Hill, one of the ablest champions of fiat money of tha old Greenback party. Dr. Hill was edu- cated in the best universities in Europe. It has been generally supposed that he would follow in the footsteps of his father and advocate cheap money There is little doubt but that he made 6 special study of finance for the purpose of securing arguments against the gold standard. Study changed his opinions, as is apparent from the following ouo- tation from his excellent pamphlet:
 Many people innocently imagine that the free coinage of silver js simaly proposition to open our hints mora freely to silver and to maintain our money at it's present standard of vg1re on the gold basis, and that by adopting free coinage we are not going to debasa and lower the value of our money, but raise the price of silver all over tbo world to a IS to 1 ratio with gold. There could be no greater mistaka. They fail to see that it also involves change in our unit, standard or meas ure of value
 If the proposition was that the United States should give gold dollar for ev- cry 37i fl grains of pure silver brought to the hints, then that would really bs an attempt on the part of our goveril- ment to raise the price of silver, and how long we could raise it would de- pend on how much silver there was in the world and how much gold we had But this is not the proposition. The fres silver idea is that we must stop insul2 ing tho silver dollar by redeeming is and giving gold dollar for it, and their proposition is simply to stamp as a dollar every 4121s grains of standard silver brought to the mint, and that this piece of silver so stamped shall bs our unit or measure of value.
 Is 1t possible to believe, when the tire new law shall say that 412L grains of standard silver shall constitute the value of our dollar, that the dollar will be worth any more than that? Under the present system we have issued mill lions of silver dollars on the ratio of 16 to 1. The world has steadily refused to accept our dietum as to their value, and we arc compelled to maintain largo gold reserve, and not only stand ready to 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 cur present silver circulation and have difficulty to maintain our gold reserve. Will our load be lighter when we undertake to coin the worlds sur- plus of silver? Will the world accept our dIctum more readily, when, on the one hand, we will loudly assert the IS to 1 ratio, and, on the other hand, reso- lutely give the lie to our own words by refusing to exchange them at the ratio of Is to l, which is the only way we can make our words count for anything?
 The director of the United States mint estimates the coined silver money of the world at $4, 055, TOO, 900, which is about 53 per cent of the total. Of the coined silver money more than $2, 000,- 900, 900 passes current at exactly the same valuo as the silver bullion in the market, ard would flow just like so much bullion to any place where it could obtain higher price. The worlds annual production amounts to $200, GOO, 900; the annual production in this country alone to $84, ,000,000 Our gold reserve amounts to barely $100,- 900, eco.
 Suppose that by free coinage we could possibly raise the price of silver in this country to double what it is now-we need not say double, but even fraction more than now-does any man need to be told that that would start flow of silver to this country, and that our lit tie gold reserve would be completely overwhelmed, and that the mighty stream would never stop flowing until all vestige of higher price had been completely annihilated? And when that had been accomplished, does any man need to be told that our dollar would simply be worth what 4121s grains Of standard silver would be worth in the market as bullion? This fact is unats- swerable-there is no free silver country in the world where the dollar or unit of value is worth one particle more than the silver in it as bullion ill the market.
 Our attempt would be about as rldlc- ulous as if we tried to stop the ebb and flow of the ocean tides by an act of con- gress, or to regulate the movements of the planets.
 ssDefueIizcd" Wood.