Birmingham age-herald., 1895-05-24

abandon the effort and adopt the single standard France in her efforts to keep the coins of the two metals in circulation at the same time, changed the legal ratio between them more than 150 times in single century, and finally, in 1876, find- ing that gold was leaving her and that in ten years her net imports of silver had amounetd to S280,000000, stopped the coinage of legal-tender silver, and Tor nineteen years the attempt has been abandoned in that country. Many other nations in Europe and other parts Of tha world have subjected their people to great loss and expense by their adher- ence to monetary systems based upon the theory that double standard could be maintained, but in no case have they succeeded in keeping the coins of the two metals in use at the same time, except for very short periods. Our own country is not without experience upon this sub- feet, and the results here were just the same as they have been everywhere else. By the act of 1792, which was our first coinage law, the legal ratio between gold and silver was fixed at 15 to l. when in fact the true commercial ratio was or soon became about 151a to l. and the re- suit of this very small over valuation of silver in the coinage was that gold went out of circulation and we had practically silver monometallism until after the passage of the act of 1884. For the pur- pose of restoring gold to the circulation, congress III 1oof CildIReu liiG IdllD lIOf1 15 to l, to 16 to l. and as this was an oveF valuation of gold in the coinage. silver left the counry, and from that time on until 1878 we had practically gold mono metallism. whenever we had any metallic basis at all for our currency.
 It would be a useless consumption of time to go into detailed account of the monetary legislation of this and oth- CT countries, or to show at length how it affected the movements and use of the two metals by it's repeated failures to conform the legal ratio to the actual commercial ratio between them. The great and important fact conclusively established by the history of that legis- lation and it's effect upon the circulation of the coins of the two metals is, that whenever one of them is oVer-valued relatively to the other in the coinage laws, with free coinage or coinage upon equal terms. and both are made legal tender, the coins of the under-valued metal will be driven out of circulation and out of use as money in the country where the unequal valuation is made. The reasons for this are perfectly plain. Both being legal tender, the least val uable coins will always be used in mak- ing payments, and will become the measures of value in the exchange of commodities. and consequently the more valuable coins will be hoarded or sent out of the country into market where luGlI Itdl NdluS VIII Ue ItIOB IlAZGd. NON, as this is just what has always occurred at least In modern times, when com mercial relations between different coun- tries are so intimate and the means of transportation are so rapid and cheap even when the under-valuation or over valuation amounted to only l or per cent I think we are fully justified in concluding that if the United States alone should adopt the policy of free and unlimited coinage of legal tender silver at the ratio of IS to l. which would be an over-valqation of that metal to the amount of 100 per cent, all the gold in the country would be immediately hoard ed or exported or be held as a commod- ity by speculators engaged in the bus mess of buying and selling it at a pre- mium. If this should be the result the free coinage of silver would not for long time add anything whatever, even nominally, to our stock of money; on the contrary, the immediate effect of such a policy would be a contraction to the extent of fully one-third of our pres- ent volume of currency by the expul- sion of about $625, 900 in gold, and it would require more than fifteen years to supply it's place with silver dollars, even if our hints coined nothing else.
 They Will Be Greatly Disappointed.
 All who have been or may be induced to give their support to this revolution ary policy, upon the assurance that it will give the country more money for use in the transaction of business, will be greatly disappointed, for they will find, when it is too late, that instead of having more money they will have less, and that it will be Appreciated in value besides. The introduction into the currency of country of any kind of money about which there is the least doubt will al- ways operate to drive out the same amount, or about the same amount of better money and thus leave the people with substantially the same volume of currency they had at the beginning The act providing for the purchase of silver bullion and the issue of legal tender treasury notes in payment for it was passed on the 14th day of July. 1890, and the purchasing clause of that act was repealed November l, 1893. While it re- mained in force, United States treasury notes were issued to the amount of S155,- 931 COP, and there were many people who believed that this was making a mate- rial and permanent addition to the volume of our currency; but the official records show that during the same time the net exports of gold from this country amounted to S103, ,419, ,491, so that the real addition to our circulation accomplished by the issue of nearly $156000000 of new notes was about $52,500000 during period of more than three years. The mere apprehension that the government would not be able to maintain the parity of the two metals under the policy in- augurated by that act, not only discred- tied the new treasury notes themselves
 but the whole volume of our currency, and gold went out about as fast as the new notes came in. While, therefore, it is not at all certain that free coinage would ultimately make any considerable addition to our circulation, it is absolute ly certain that it would give us a depre- cfated and fuctuating currency, and the question is whether the producers of cotton, wheat. corn, beef, pork, oil. lard, cheese and other exportable articles will be benefited or injured by such result
 It is an axiom in trade that the prices of exportable products are fixed1in the for l eign market where the surplus is sold