Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1896-06-17
SOME HARD FACTS.
THEY Hit TELLING BLOWS AGAINST
FRzE c0iNSG= AT t6 70 :.

fecrstaTy itoEo smith EI-i.es Cns of gsls
Pest s7ccch-s- Eiaieries IL Proposed
yrcc coiuar,-Piesures tho A~fai Eor:e
We Must V-aye! 60 Reach = silver Basis.
wou,d E.ua-y u,se q Dollar OF Unca--
taia valas Which vyo..I li=mper no,h
Domestic ead Foreign TT.ar.
The uol. Fl ,c sli,h. secretary Of
tho iutcr;-g. delivered ep-c-i in Kew
York on Hay Is ca tho currency ques-
ton Itisa soccch that e. cl4 be read
by all who h-y AID sell a..d who vote
or have influence with voters It is as
follows:
The people Of this country make their
contracts payable in dollars They do
business in dollars Uncertainty as TO
the meaning cf tho word dollar must
create doubt as to the effect Of con-
tracts ard general dis,rust in business
Tho dollar Of the United State at
present has a distinct meaning Il =
equivalent to %. % grains Of pure goi3.
Paper dollars are mere promises to pay
in coin. Silver dollars while they con-
tain bullion worth only about 90 cents
each, have been surrounded by safe
guards Of legislation limiting the num-
Der coined and supporting them by the
credit Of the government, so that they
have been kept On parity with gold
dollars Twony-three-twenty- -two-one-
hundredths grains Of gold therefore
measure the value of what is meant by
a dollar, when the term is used for
trade here, and this has been true for
about 80 years, with the exception of
tho period during which paper dollars
were deprecated.
Upon the floor Of the house Of repre-
sentatives in 1853, when the bill y~7
pending which made fractional cur
rency subsidiary, Cyrus J.. Dunham of
Indiana, who had charge of the bill,
said:
IAN objection urged against this pro-
posed change is that it gives Us Il gold
standard only. Gentlemen talk
about double standard Of gold and sill
yer as q thing that exists, and that we
propose to change. We have had but a
single standard for the last three or four
years; this las been and now is gold; we
propose to let it remain so and adapt sill
yer to and regulate ii by geld. 90
After this long experience III the use
Of dollars based upon 1922 grains OF
gold tho advocates Of silver demand its
free, unlimited and independent coinage
at the present ratio.
This is really proposition TO remove
from silver dollars the safeguards q leg
islation which surround them, - with
draw tho limit aud to take from them
the support Of the government It IL eu
effort to rcach a bimctallic currency hy
the free ard unlimited coinage of two
metals at @ fSed fdUo which places 700
cent. worth oS bullion in the gold dol
iar and 80 cents worth of bullion IN
the silver dollar
The experience Il every county which
has attempted tho free and unlimited
coinage Os $40 metals at a ratio di-re-
earding the commercial value Of thc
bullion Of each metal put into dollm
has been the coinage and use If tha
cheaper metal and the loss as money Of
the more valuable metal The principle
is thus expressed by Sir Isaac Gresham:
IF dcIascd coin is attcapfcd 10 be
circulated with full yaiaed coin, all oi
the latter wiz disappear from circala-
liop, and the oyervalued mld debascd
coin viii alone remain, TO the ruin OF
our commerce and business
This indiwutable doctrine was taught
in the fourteenth century by Niohola,
Oresme and again in tho sixteenth cen
tury by Nicholas C0pgrnicuS Coming
down ~ ..i5, Sir Isaac Newton, ~ that
,ime director Of the mint Of England,
declared.
IF silver leaves The shores Of England
in crowns or in ingois, the pr duce Of
coins rcmelfod, aud gives place to geld,
it is because he valnc which tho NONE
tary legislation assigns TO it, in relation
to gold, is not correct.
Apply thc lc2-on practically % oal
own money With free AID unlimited
ooiuago Of gold and silver a, thc ratio Of
rs 10 / silver monometallism would re-
suit and the measure Of the value Of
our dollar would be 37li4 grains If sill
vcr, worth about l3 grains Of gold.
But the advocates Of silver coinage
insist that with 3T1l grains If silver
admitted i'm unlimited quantities 20 the
mints for coinage, free # charge the
bullion value Of this number Il grains
would necessarily be equal, before coin
age, to the coined dollar This is true,
and it would be equally true Of iOG
grains, or Of grain, if admitted freo
and in unlimited quantities 10 coinage.
Indeed. if chips were admitted free and
in unlimited quantities to the privilege
Of being stamped into dollars, the chips,
before they were stamped, would b.
worth as much as the dollars after they
were stamped, but unfortunately the
dollars would be worth no more than
chips
Another favorite argument Of the free
silver advocates refers TO the experience
Of France, and they have claimed all
over the country that France, from 1903
to 1874, by fixing a legal ratio for the
coinage Of silver and gold Cat l5l@ to u,
kept the commercial ratio between the
two metals at the same figures This
inaccurate statement has been one Of
their principal arguments. II they will
really examine the history Of France,
they will find that before 1920 the diff
ference between the commercial value
Of gold and silver exceeded 151S 20 l.
and France became silver monometalllc
Later on, between 1910 and 1850 the
commercial difference was less than