Mexico weekly ledger., 1895-10-17

bousa' and deducted s.. ao, 600 to be used for
the Industrial arts, which Is far TOO NJ
tie. The secretary ssnme that every aoI-
lar coined since 1872 Is stu in existenee.
and that uons has been lost or destroyed
by fire, shipwreck OF otherwise. l don't De-
|ueve that there is any such amouHl %
gold in circulation as sosa.oe1uo ! o9ns
audience. This same statement can De
made anywhere In this country. IL the
treasury report is correct u Is sau
commentary upon the patriotlsna OF s,1ss
US who see the government paying
an enormous bonus to the hothscni!ds
syndicate to obtain gold, In order TO mann
tain its reserve. II would be eorrect. IN
my opinion, to deduct at least szsV.vvv.vo
from the estimate of the treasury OF the
amount of gold In circulation. This would
leave the total amount OF money IN cir
eulation 1881, 255. 1867.
The total population of the United States
nv the census of 1880 was G., &C.. $50. If we
add 10 per cent increase for the five years
| which nave elapsed since lsS, our popula-
ton il now at least g. 1884. 475, making the
per capita circulation S3.s4, instead OF Ssaot;
rs claimed by the single gold standard
advocates. The result. l think, Is not
oyerdrawn. 1t In startling. ] believe that
to-day, instead of S26.07 in circulation for
nearly every man, woman CHILD IN the
United States, there Is IN reaIity S.oA IN
| circulation among the people.
If this calculation be thought inaccurate.
let us fix the per capita clrcuiataon at 20.
and we ave then q contraction since 1S6o
of 500. AZ, the per capita circulation in that
| year being S67. %. France, with not one-tentn
the resources, and about oHe-hal1 our pop
| ulation, a finished country, with a stoiid,
non-progressive peasantfy. has a per cap
tia circulation of $3.50, and is the most
| prosperous country In Europe. When Eng
land-goid standard E~ngland-was on the
| verge of bankruptcy in 1850, France. with
$50. oo0,oo of legal tender silver in cirouia-
ton. loaned the Ban of England Slo,00o,O0o
of gold to sustain its credit
This is an Official statement, but 1t diff
fers SO much from our condition at the
| present time that 1t sounds like a story
| Of Arabia. This. it must be remembered,
| is a description of that era OF imitation, 80
| much denounced by the money lenders,
| and of which they speak as the darkest
era of our financial history. The people
| were prosperous, out of debt and press
| ing forward in material Improvement. II
was necessary 10 curtain the volume OF
money, or the meney-ienders vocation
| could be found, 1t was declared that the
abundant circulation caused immortality.
In the same report the secretary said!
1The expansion has now reached such o
point as to be absolutely oppressive to q
large portion of the people. while at the
same time 1t is diminishing labor, and is
There Is no fact more manifest than that
the plethora of money Is undermining the
morals of the people, encouraging waste
and extravaganza"
In the interest of morality, the party ir
power then entered upon that drastic and
depressing contraction which eliminated
in the panic of 1878 and the demonetizatior
of silver. To-day, according to the bank
ers' theory, with about s. per capita cir.
oulation and the gold standard, 1t should
be the most moral ard economical people
in the world. but I am afraid the truth Is
far different.
Decentralization Act.
We are told by Secretaries Smith and
Carlisle that the act Of 1878, which de-
monetized the silver dollar, was elaborate,
ly discussed and that it was simply passed
because no silver dollars had been coined
for years and the provisions for theiI
coinage were unnecessary. Both these
statements are incorrect. Senator Allison
a gold STANDARD advocate and a prominen,
candidate for the republican presidential
nomination. said in the Forty-hfth con
gress:
When the secret history of the act OF
1873 comes to be told, it Will disclose tbs
fact that the house of in.
tended to coin both gold and silver ane
intended to place both metals on thu
French relation instead of our own, which
was the true scientific position with ref
erence to this subject In 1873. But the bill
was doctored-if l may use the expression
and / use 1t in no offensive sense, o.
course. 1t was changed after the discus
sion and the dollar of 100 grains substt
tuted for it,"
If the act of 1873 was not slipped
through congress with the intention tina
I kIc INSTRUMENTATION VI LDt SiANSA ootl1
should not be known, 1T was the mos
unnatural and extraordinary Legislative
proceeding ever known. Nearly all TIT
leading members of both houses were ig
norant of the fact that the bill demone
tiZed the silver dollar.
Blaine, speaker of the house; Kelly
chairman of the coinage committee, Gar
field and Cannon of Illinois declared they
knew nothing of the clause striking tbs
silver dollar from coinage, and Presiden
Grant. who signed the bill, expressed hi:
surprise eight months afterwards tina
silver dollars were not being circulated
When senator Bogy, my predecessor
called attention In the Senate, three year
after the passage of the act, to the de
monetization of the silver dollar, Senate
Conkling and others. who had voted TO
the bill, denied Senator Bogy's statement
and declared their Ignorance of any suci
Legislation.
No newspaper correspondent had notice,
the fact that this extraordinary change II
our coinage laws had taken place, nor hat
any convention, or public man declares
for such action. Why was it done? Silve
was then at a premium Of 3 per cent owe
gold, and as only about 100000 silver dol
lars had then been coined. overproductio
could not have been the legitimate ex
cuse, nor can 1t be truthfully said that n
silver dollars were being coined, for Fl
1872 there were coined 81, 112, 1851, and in tn
months of January and February, 1873
Ss77. $50, the bill being passed February u
1878. There can be no doubt by an intel
ligent and unprejudiced mind that tn
passage of this act was the beginning o
a carefully organized scheme by the cap
italists and money-lerders of this countr
to establish the single gold standard an
thereby double their incomes.
About Gold Disappearfng.
Gold will disappear" both Secretarie
Carlisle and Smith vehemently assert
That if there should be free and unlimite
coinage of silver, gold would disappea
and the United States would be placed uE
on a silver standard. This same predic
| tInr Wac vpnHA uvhnn tho Rio nH-A 1ltGn
law was enacted in 1873. which authorize
the coinage of not less than 100000 no
more than 100000 silver dollars eac
} month. A great deal was said about tn
Gresham rule. which declared that the in
ferior coins will expel the more valuable
} and we hear the same prediction now. tn
record shows that in 1878, when the Bland
Allison law was passed, the United State
treasury had about S140, 0S0, 900 in gold, an
!, In 1890, when the act was repealed, abou
SS40, 600, 900. q quote from memory, but tn
Increase was about $500, 000,000) The treas
ury reports show that from 1878 to 1890 tn
balance of trade was In our favor, excep
for 1885 and 1883, when 1t was slight
} against us, and this demonstrates the far
that when We sell more than we buy, gol
comes in, and when we buy more than W
sell 1t goes out, without regard to gu
!; coinage laws. England buys more of GU
exports than any other country, and buy
only what her people must have. If W
demand gold or silver, or English goods !
/ return for our exports, the demand mus
be complied with. This is the irresistibl
law of and 1t applies to nation
and individuals alike.
1t does not follow, even if S~ecretarie
Carlisle and Smith are right in declarin
silver to be inferior metal, that 1t mus
drive gold from this country. For eight
years we had both gold and silver q
standard money, and there is no reason I
believe that the same conditions may ne
prevail again. We can retain both metal
on q parity without foreign assistance.
AS to Imitation.
Vow give me your attention for a yer
few minutes. If imitation will bring pro:
perity to this country and add to the er
terprise and energy of our people, fc
Gods sake give us a little imitation. (AI
plause.)
If we can bring back again to our dari
ened homes and hearths the signs of pro-
perity and joy let us initiate. and l win ns
sissay a word. am prepared for imitation
Look now al The result Of these two syi
TENS or Conversation In currency now Or,
posed to transact the business Of the be,
r pie. You ask me IL l am In favor of paps
money and more OF less expansion of I'll
!, currency. No; but I would like to see go
and silver one, and btmetaliism on a pa
ity TO meet all the demands of bushes
See how these two systems operate.
l Look at history. England had a gre;
war commencing In 1906, hat lasted abo,
20 years. What did England do for none
; to carry on that war. She issued h,
) bonds in order to support the troops ar
for her own people; she had unredeemab
paper money and she issued 1t by the mi
lions and billions, What was the result
, Look at the figures of history. EnglaI
ever p~rospered and that long war Taste
! as l have said, 20 years, her m e.
panded, her nayies were victorious ar
, her armies fought against the French
ravages and the loss OF men from II
ranks. England was more prOsperol