Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1895-06-09
CARLISLE ON FINANCE.
The Secretary's Speech at the Recent Memphis Convention.
THE EXISTING SYSTEM.

~. astrOasiy-Intrlnsic Value of Metals Nos
 Determined by Legislation - Present Money System Practically BimetaIlisn.
 Failures of Other Nations to Maintain
 Double Standard.
 MT. President and Gentlemen of the Con- ~ yention:
 l congratulate myself upon my good for tune in having the opportunity to appear before this large assemblage of southern Hsbusiness men, and congratulate the peo- pie of the south upon their good fortune in being able to send here so many real repre- h sentatives of their great industrial and Commercial interests.
 Mir. President do not think the tmpor- tanee of the questions you are called to consider can be oyerestimated or that the r gravity of the situation con be overstated The proposition to reyolutionize our mone- tary system and thus destroy the credit of the government and the people at homo and abroad, violate the obligations of all contracts unsettle all exchangeable values reduce the wages of labor, expel capital from our country and seriously obstruct the trade of our people among themselves and with tho peoples of other countries is | one which challenges the intelligent patri- otism and commercial honor of every man to whom 1t Is addressed. No matter what may be the real purposes and motives of those who make the proposition to legalize the free and unlimited coinage of silver at tho ratio of 16 to l, these arc the eense- quences involved In their scheme, and, in my opinion, they cannot be avoided if 1t should be adopted In no part of the eoun- try will the Consequences of such policy prove more Injurious to the material inter ests of the people than in the undeveloped and progressive south.
 The world has never witnessed grander exhibition of courage and fortitude than was presented here when a defeated and impoverished people, without money OF credit and almost destitute of the tools and implements necessary to the perform anee of manual labor, went uneemplain- ingly to work to re-establish their social order, renew their commercial relations and reeonstriet their industrial system, and am unwilling to believe that the same people can now-be so discouraged by Q temporary business depression, or so moved by appeals to their preiudices, that they will hastily resort to new and hazard ous experiments with the currency in which all their transactions must Do con- ducted
 do not charge that our fellow citizens who propose to revolutioni2e our monetary system by sudden change in the stand ard of value really desire to see the busi- ness of the country ruined or even injured or that they believe any injurious conse- quences would follow the adoption of their policy; but, in my judgment, the results would be most disastrous to the material interests of all the people in every part of the country, and therefore shall appeal to To tbo which their opinions have been formed be- fore 1t is too late to correct 6 possible mis- take upon a subject of such supreme tm- portance to themselves and to their poster tty
 Some Historical Facts.
 Before proceeding to the discussion of the main question presented 1t may be adyan- tageous to state as briefly as possible few admitted or well established facts having an important bearing upon it. From the earliest times gold and silver have been used as money, not because there was at the beginning any law declaring them to be money, but because, by reason of thelr limited and regular supply their greet value as compared with other things ip proportion to weight and bulk and thetR durability they were more stable and con- venient than any other commodity as meas ures of value in making exchanges. Con- sequently these metals were used as money by common consent of the people for cen turies before there was any law upon the subject or any coins in existence. They passed by weight, and their values in ef fecting exchanges were determined by the quantity of pure metal contained in each piece Each metal had a distinct value ox its own, and when 1t was used in trade neither the buyer nor seller troubled him. self about the ratio between it and the oth- CT metal
 The laws of trade fixed and regulated the actual and relative values of both metals in the purchase and sale of othef commodities, just as they do now. They had been used as money several centuries before any government undertook, by roy al proclamation or statute law, to establish a ratio between them, and when this char acter of Legislation was first begun the public authorities did not attempt to es- tablish new values or new ratios, but &C., cepted those already fixed by the laws of trade and the custom of merchants. Coins were made, not for the purpose of attempt ing to add anything to the intrinsic or ex- changeable value of the metal contained in them, but for the purpose of attesting, bypublic authority, it's weight and purity, thus avoiding the delay and uncertainty resulting from the practice of weighing each piece as it passed from one to another.
 That the coinage of the metals docs not now add anything to their actual value in the commercial world Is conclusively proved by the facts that in all the great transactions between the people of differ- ent countries, the coins are accepted only at their bullion value, determined by their actual weight and flneness, and that bull lion itself Is still used in making pay nents, just as 1t was thousands of years ago. Whatever effest legislation upon the ratios, in connection with legal tendes laws, may have had upon the use of the two metals In the payment of antecedent debts, 1t has never had the slightest effect supon the actual or relative values of the two metals in national or international trade. For many centuries even after ths commerce of the world had grown to enox-. nous proportions, the propfiety of making If hF.ll