Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1895-04-25
HE TALKS OF SILVER.
SENATOR ALLISON ON THE
CAUSE OF DEPRECIATION,
Believes the Action 1873 Was a Mi.-
take Eek plains why, II Was Taken.
Money Legislation Abroad-Amount
Of silver In ClrculatiOuss~ss~2

00Ac-A1 UAol0o WY ~ vac A0kcn--
Money Legislation Advertisements
Of silver In Clrculati0Mss4esSea
Wee Net Denaoue1ize6
Senator Allison vas abanquetSd by The
Travelling Mems Republican Clab of Mar
shalltown, and spoke at length upon the
silver question. 81
In opening his address Senator Allison,
said: Aa
II have nc. doubt that finance is a IA
miliar topic to you, and IL cert1iply is to
me. have seen more bills. received
more pamphlets, and readmQre Upon this
subject during the last year than ever be-
fore You can all see that-to use u
familiar expression-there is 10 screw
loose somewhere, for we have seen our
country pass ia two or two and half
years from Il condition of prosperity to
one of panic and distress. Wesare told
we have come to this situation solely be-
cause of the condition Of one Of the pre-
cious metals. and realize that there is
no more important question than tina, of
the money we use" a..
He added that gold and silver were pre-
NAO0s HCtuAo uCNAuSS VI thSlI WpAlSluttIy
and their non-destructibility. Hefefc-red
to the fact that gold and silverfwcrc for
thousands of. years the money Of the
world, and rapidly sketched tn history
of the mining of these precious metals
and the effect Of their output as i6fuebsed
by wars upon the stock of gold and silver
in the world. He continued:
ut is said that In 1870 there swas less
than $1.OOO,OOO, 600 Of gold in the world.
From 1880 to 1876 there was produced in
the world of gold within about S1OO.MN,.-
coo of the amount produced from 14!st to
1850. During the 800 years prior to 1850
there was produced about 81 ,OOO,O0O. COO
of silver. but during the twenty We years
ending 1875 there was produced nearly
three times as much gold as silver.
1T is claimed that in 1873 silver began
its downward course, and that itswas due
to the action of %he people by their repre-
sentatives in Congress. 1t wassbelievpsi
by many that this enormous increase in
gold would 60 on from year to Year. For
fourteen years. during the enormous in
fux of gold, the gold only passed through
our country to those lands WHARF gold
and silver were the measure Of value.
We had then suspended specie payments,
and for these fourteen years we were On
a paper basis, and therefore it,was that il
was claimed on account of the enormous
production of gold that gold and silver
could never again be measure of value.
However. during this time silver And gold
marched side by side at ratio or about
151a to L.
The speaker then referred to the position
OF the German States. They adopted the
silver standard. France had the double
standard. In 1866 the States surround
ing France agreed upon a doHbse stand
ard. Thus there were in Europe two
international agreements. The FIRST in
ternational monetary conferences held in
Paris after the Paris Exposition WAS re-
ferred to and its final decision on an in
ternational gold coin. They recommended
to all the countries that that con- If the
value of - should be adopted nail conn
tries. That proposition was prcsen.e.l to
Congress. but was never acted anon by
either house
After this came the FrancoPrus>ian
war The unihcation of the German EN-
pire and the reformation and uniti.a,i"n
OF the coin of that empire folloMe,i. and
1t was decreed that the German t,,npjrc
should have common coin andaiha. it
should be gold. 1t has been claimed That
we were the first to deal with sii.cr, hut
Germany adopted n single gold standard
IN 1911. The reason that the nsen.y cf
the Bank of France fell but htfie over
per cent. discount while France was
covered by desolation was because ,hrir
paper money was limited"
Cessation of Free Coinatsc.
me speaker then referred to tit. ccssa-
ton of free coinage of silver inTtbt yari-
Gus mIhtS OF Europe, and said itawas the
diiuslon of both metals through l.urope
that Kept them at parity 49, /
1T is said in 1873 I'VE slerno nssfy.d sill
YER. 1t is true that at that time we chang
ed the laws of our mints and Established
gold as standard Of value. believe
now that 1t was a mistake for Euro,.,
ana Tor us to have changed thee stand
arus' but for twelve years prior 10 1873
we were on paper basis and it was not
looked upon by our people as IN important
feature. No action Of ours in 1873 af-
ie..eo tne price OF silver or affected the
ae.ion OF Europe in dealing with silver.
he effect Of our action is claimed TO
nave been to reduce the price of all COM
modities and appreciate gold in the same
measure that silver was deprecated
don't believe it. Since 1873 some pr;ce.
nave been reduced and some advanced.
uo'd ana silver until put in shape Of
money were commodities and are gov
erned by the laws of supply and demand.
ana Just that thing happened Is silver
ana gold ms happened under these laws
to other commodities. In every. country
OF Europe in 1873 the mint was omen ~
silver, and in 1877 not single mini In
Europe was open to silver except for
fractional coins. We were then mon =
paper basis, and could exert no influence
upon supply and demands From that
tlme the supply Of silver increased and
with an increased supply and no demand
IN Europe it was the most natural th;ng
IN the world that silver should deprec;.
ate.
The amount Of silver ii circnya tio, =,
1874 IN Europe. where a gold stond.rd
nus taken the place of a double standard
Is 1850 millions, and there ore nan, ~
circulation in the United STATES COX III ="
mons, while in 1873 we had not .nn.
And still they claim we 'demonot;zod -,
yer. HoW can we demonetize s;lvar 49,.
we put y IN circulation to that extent IN
.wsn.y-tWo years, and this silver nasse.
current with gold?" p""ses