Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-05-23


most prosperous part of the continent.
Your magnificent deposits of coal and
iron, your fertile soil, adapted to the growth
or cotton, sugar and many other products
which no other part of the country viii
yield, your unrivaled facilities for the man
ufacture of iron and Steel cotton goods,
lumber, oil. furniture, and almost inru-
merable other articles which can be cheap
ly produced from the raw materials within
your limits. constitute the elements of
marvellous growth and prosperity which
nothing can prevent if the people of the
south VIII continue to exhibit in the future
the same spirit of conServa tiSm and rhe
same devotion to principle that have al
ways characterized them IN the past.
The world has never witnessed a gran1er
exhibition of courage and fortitude than
was presented here when a defeated and
impoverished people, without money or
credit. and almost destitute of the tools
and implements necessary to- the perform
ance of manual labor went unc0mpi9in-
insly to work to re-establish their social
order. renew their commercial relations
and reconstruct their industrial system.
and / am unwilling to believe that the
same people now be 50 discouraged by
a temporary business depression, or 50
moved by appeals to their prejudces, that
they Will hastily resort to new and hazar-
dous experiments with the currency in
which ali their transactions must be con-
Quoted
An Attempt Often Tried.
"The attempt to coin the two metals
sara tHt secretary "ltHoul tic MINT do
to the amount into full legal tender money
and keep both in circulation at the same
time has been made by nearly every civil
lied ma ton and has failed in every one of
them. Our country is not without expe-
rience upon this subject and the results
here just the same everywhere else.
1.-THE act providing for the purchase of
silver bullion and the issue OF legal tender
treasury notes in payment for it was pass
at ha n day rf
purchasing clause of that act was repal-
ed November |. 1893. While it remained IN
force. United States treasury notes were
issued to the amount of Sloo,!3l,oo2, ana
there were many people who believed that
this making material and permanent
addition to the volume OF our currency; put
the official records show that during the
same time the net exports of gold from
this country amounted to siW,il".lol, so
that the real addition to our circulation &C
complished by the issue OF nearly SfooWo-
900 Of new notes was about fifty-two and
half million dollars during period OF
more than three years. The mere appre-
hensioa that the government would not De
able to maintain the parity OF the Two
metals under the policy inaugurated by
that act not only discredited the new
treasury notes themselves, but the whole
volume of Our currency. and gold went out
about as fast as the new notes came IN.
Free coinage would absolutely give us
a deprecated and fiuctuating currency ana
the question is whether the producers OF
exportable articles will be benefited by
such Il result. The character OF value or
the currency in use in the producing coun-
try does not affect the price of the article
abroad to any extent whatever. But II our
monetary system were so changed that IL
would require two dollars to purchase here
what one dollar will purchase now the ex-
change with foreign countries would ne
double. making us pay twice as much IN
our money now. while the foreigner
would pay only half as much in his money
for the same number of dollars as he pays
now. Furthermore. the exchange would be
constantly in a state of iluctuation, Just as
1t has been between Great Britain and India
on account of the changes in the prices of
silver from day to day, and the American
producer would be compelled to pay for
the risk taken on account of the fuctua-
tons by receiving less price for his pro-
ducts.
"The assertion that the fall in prices
since ISL; is due to the appreciation of
gold alone is based upon the assumption
that the relations between supply and de-
mand have net changed. This as
sumption is so inconsistent with we'll
known economic and historic facts that it
seems scarcely worth while 10 give serious
Consideration.
Increase In Wnges.
Tie Secretary then reviewed the re-
searches of the Senate committees in 1891,
1872 and 1S!& on the course of prices and
wages Of labor for as long period as au-
thentic records would embrace. The in
yestigatiou covered a period of fifty-two
years, and embraced all the occupations in
which the American people were engaged,
and TIE fact was unanimously found that,
although eighteen years had elapsed since
the so-caled silver legislation. the wages
of labor were higher than in 1872 or 1913.
Wages were nearly 81 per cent higher than
in 1850 which was thirteen years before
the silver legislation and more than per
cent higher than in 1873, when that legis-
lation was adopted.
The argument that the reduction of prices
is due to the Appreciation of gold and that
the silver legislation has produced scar
city of metallic money, are assumptions
not justified. There is now more gold and
silver in as full legal tender money
than ever before. The gold i'll use amounts
to sH:.oG5,M 0.pO. the full legal tender silver
to s.. $50 S,DWD, and the limited legal ten
der silver to s6l9,9O,0Go.
Money Per Capita.
II attach very little Importance to the
per capita argument. because the amount
OF currency required in a country depends
mainly upon the volume of business to be
transacted and the customs of the people
in conducting their exchanges, and not at
all upon the number of men. women and
children residing in it, but, there are a
great many who believe that the circulation
should be regulated by the census returns.
IL may bc worth while TO state that the
production of gold alone in 1S90-and 1t is
much larger now-was nearly two and a
half times greater than the average annual
the decade which closed with the year
1870.
''Official monetary statistics show that
in the sold-standard countries of the world
the stocks of money are much larger per
capita than in the silver-standard coun
tries. sTaking the large gold-standard
countries and the large silver-standard
countries, 1t appears that IN 1894 the stock
of money in the United States was over
81 per caLita in the United Kingdom near
ly s2o. and in Germany nearly $40. while in
Mexico the per capita was SAL, in Russia
and Finland $50. and in China S'.26 The
gold-standard countries use large amounts
Of silver Money. but the silver-standard
countries use no gold money, and can
not do so for the reasons / have already
eniedvoTed to explain.
The Secretary then reviewed at length
the arguments of his recent Covington
speech the question of national dishon-
csty in attempting to place deprecated
currency. etc. and in conclusion said, so
far as the mere volume of our currency is
concerned. we have an ample supply for
all necessary purposes, but under the ex-
listing systeIa 1t is not properly distributed
and is not sufficiently elastic to meet all