The advocate., 1895-07-31

tion."
Harvey then began the discussion of bi.
merallism and said; Scientific bimetal-
ism Is this: II. Free and unlimited coin
age of both gold and silver; these two
metals to constitute the primary or re-
demption money OF the government.
70. That silver dollars of 871H grains Of
pure silver with us) to be the unit Of
value, and gold to be coined into money
at a ratio TO be changed il necessary from
time to timo If the commercial parity to
the legal ratio shall be affected by the &C.
tion OF foreign countries.
'8. The money coined from both metals
to be legal tender in the payment Of all
debts.
a. The option as to which Of the two
moneys 10 TO be paid In the liquidation Of
the debt to rest with the debtor, and the
governments also to exercise that option
when desirable In paying out redemption
money.
'tAll Of these conditions are necessary.
Like any useful mechanical construction
all the parts are necessary. First, as to
unlimited coinage; When the mints are
open to unlimited coinage Of the two
metals an unlimited demand is created
for them. The quantity is limited. When
these two metals seek market they find
q demand for their use In the arts and
manufactures, which Is limited. The
surplus finds ON unlimited market at the
mints to be coined into money, the OBJ
iect for which all other products seek the
market. They thus have an unlimited
market, as the minus are open to all that
comes 1t ls q question Of supply and de-
mand.
with limited supply ana unlimited
demand, what atOps their value risingp
1t is thisi The law says, We coin
871N grains pure silver and 1913
grains pure gold, respec lively, into
dollars, and confer upon these coins
funotions which make for them q
permanent and equal demand When
this is the law people will not take less
for their silver and gold, the quantities
above named, than a dollar in current
money, for they have the right to have Ii
coined into dollars.
This unlimited demand for the two
metals existed in all the world at ratios
one to the other up to 1915, when Eng
land closed her mints to silver The de-
mand thus made fixed the commercial
value Of the two metals at the ratio fixed
by law. England closing her mlnts had
practically no effect. It was designed to
do so and was the beginning OF the move.
ment intended to limit the quantity OF
primary money to one Of the metals and
oorrespondingly decrease the value Of the
other metal.
~ now make part of my remarks an
official table taken from page l08 OF
compiled laws and coinage statistics, an
official document from Washington,
showing the commercial ratio of the two
metals for 300 years, to which have add.
cd the commercial ratio for 1894. From
this table 1t will be seen that under the
effect of unlimited coinage up to 1873 q
parity between the two metals was main
tained at tho legal ratio. Cast your eyes
up and down these columns and see how
evenly the commercial ratio kept pace
with the legal ratio. The ratio of France,
the largest nation commercially during
that period having bimetallio ratio, was
the governing influence which was l5I
to /; ours was Is to till 1884, then l6
to l."
The table showed that from 1887 to 1872,
inclusive, the ratio varied between IA II
and 1898, being 1894 in 1857 and l5.6 In
1872. AS prepared by Harvey the rise to
5.99 In 1873 and up to 1856 in 1894 is
marked characterization.
Horr then took up the argument, say
ing: "All these inquiries about the val
uation In the ratio OF the past are Of little
account in this debate. This one fsob 1
admitted by Coin and disputed by no one
All the civilized nations of the world
have ceased the free coinage of silver
upon any ratio. Silver today has no free
coinage In any country where gold is the
standard, and only In suoh countries as