Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1895-09-11
DIR. HILLS PAMPHLET
A SUPPOSED SlLvERiTE WRITES
AGAINST FREE COINAGE.

and Would Not Give Us 16 to Coinage.
Pamphlet which Has Dumfounded
the Free silver People.
DR.. ". p. Hill Of st. Louis has just
written pamphlet entitled Argument
Against Free Silver Coinage at l6 TO
l." which has dumfounded the free sill
yer people. DR.. Hill is the youngest son
Of the late Britton A. Hill, one Of the
ablest champions of fat money Of tho
old Greenback party. DR.. Hill was edu-
Gated in the best universities in Europa
1t 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 a
special study Of finance for the purpose
Of securing arguments against the gold
standard. Study changed his opinions,
us is apparent from the following quo
tation from his excellent pamphlet:
Many people innocently imagine that
the free coinage Of silver is simply
proposition to 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 debase
and lower the value of our money. but
raise the price Of silver all over the
world to a l6 to l ratio with gold.
There could be no greater mistake
They fail TO see that it also involves q
change in our unit, standard or meas
ure of value.
If the proposition was that the United
States should give gold dollar for ey-
cry 37lh grains Of pure silver brought
20 the mints, then that would really be
an attempt on the part Of our govern
ment to raise the price Of silver, and
how long we could raise IL would de-
pend on how much silver there was III
the world and how much gold we had.
But this is not the proposition. The free
silver idea is that we must stop insult
ing the silver dollar by redeeming IT
and giving q gold dollar for 1t, and
their proposition is simply 10 stamp as
dollar every 4l2lS grains of standard
silver brought to the mint, and that
this piece Of silver 80 stamped shall be
our unit or measure Of value.
Is it possible TO believe, when tho
the new law shall say that 4l2l6 grains
Of standard silver shall constitute the
value Of our dollar, that the dollar viii
be worth any more than thatr Under
the present system we have issued mil
lions Of silver dollars on the ratio OF l6
10 /. The world has steadily refused TO
accept our dictum as 10 their value, and
we are compelled 10 maintain large
gold reserve, and not only stand ready
10 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. 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 IL
20 ratio, and, on the other hand, reso-
lutely give the lie to our own words by
refusing to exchange them at the ratio
Of rs TO I, which is the only way we
can make our words count for anythingr
The director Of the United States
mint estimates the coined silver money
Of the world at 81, ,055, ZOO, 900, which
* about 90 per cent Of the total OF the
coined silver money more than 81 2,OOO,-
600. 600 passes current at exactly the
same value as the silver bullion in the
market, and would flow just like so
much bullion TO any place where 1t
could obtain a higher price. The
worlds annual production amounts 70
5000. .OOO, 600; the annual production in
this country alone to $S4. 900, 900. Our
gold reserve amounts 10 barely $780,
600, 900.
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 10 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 annihilatedl Aud when that
had been accomplished, does any man
need 10 be told that our dollar would
simply be worth what 4l2& grains OF
standard silver would be worth in the
market as bullion? This fact is unan-
swerable-there is no free silver country
in the world where the dollar OF unit OF
value is worth one particle more than
the silver in it as bullion in tho market.
Our attempt would be about as ridic-
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.