The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1896-08-04
SOME ELEMENTARY FACTS.

A Common Sense, Conservative View of the
Money Question.
From Public Ledger. Philadelphia.
Our silver friends are very industrious
letter writer's, and the Ledger is over
whelmed with communications from
them, some of them argumentative and
others containing ingeniously worded
questions, the isolated answers to which
would appear to be in favor Of the silver
ties. The silver advocates greatly object
to any allusion to the bullion value of the
silver in dollar, declaring that it is a 3D.
cent dollar only because the government
refuses to silver the privilege of free coin
age extended to gold. Their argument is
that the bullion value of gold has been
created by legislation; that the bullion
value of silver has been decreased by the
withdrawal of legislative support, and
that all that is necessary to restore silver
to its old relation to gold of 16 to is to
authorize its free coinage. Although the
premises are not altogether true, yet as
Stunning their truth. the conclusion is an
argument for international bimetallism /;
not for the silver monometallism which
would result from the free coinage of sill
yer at l6 to by the United States alone
The silver advoc ates propose that the
United States alone shall by legislation
give to silver standing which is given to
gold (assuming their contention to be true)
by the combined Legislation of all the
great commercial nations
Much confusion also arises in the minds
of those who advocate free coinage from a
failure to discriminate between bullion
value and legal tender value. They con-
tend, with much heat against the declara-
ton that silver dollar is worth only So
cents because they can, in fact, buy as
much with five silver dollars as with a
S. gold piece, and can, In fact, ifthey want
to do so, exchange five silver dollars for a
SIS gold piece. 1t is fact, however, that
there is five dollars worth of gold IN S.
gold piece, but that there is only about
So. IS of silver (bullion) in five silver dol
lars. They say silver is kept on par
with gold by the fiat of the government,
which declares silver dollars to be legal
tender. Fifty-three cents worth of silver
coined and made legal tender for dol
lar becomes within the jurisdiction of this
government the equivalent of dollar in
gold, though there is now no such coin as
/ I1ll mt 1on
ton on this subject is maintained only
with great difficulty with the limited
amount of silver now in use or represent
ed by certificates. It could not be main.
tanned under the food of silver that would
be let loose under a free coinage act.
What all rational men want is the main
tenance of the present standard, with a
free but limited use of silver, under such
conditions that the parity can be main
! tanned. Free coinage of silver would de-
stroy the possibility of maintaining the
parity, as any one should be able to see
without trying the dangerous experiment
1t is not necessary to actually apply
Coins" "hammer test" to see the differ
ence between silver and gold as money
metals. The hammer test" however, il
Illustrates quite forcibly the difference that
exists between silver and gold in our
present money, although they circulate
at par with each other. Take a IS gold
piece, hammer 1t until it has been re-
duced to a shapeless mass of gold. Take
this lump of gold to the Mint and you
can get approximately IS for it. The
stamp of the government does not repre-
sent any increase in the value of the
metal. Now take five silver dollars. Ham,
mer them into shapeless mass of silver
and offer it at the Mint. Its value will
be declared to be about 1895. 1t appears