Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1896-06-11
SOME HARD FACTS.
They Hit Telling Blows Against Ere.
Coinage at Sixteen to one.

1
terror, delivered a speech in New York
on May 1o on the currency question
| II is a speech that should be read by all
who buy and sell or who vote or have
influence with voters. Its as follows:
The people of this country make their
contracts payable in dollars Uncer-
tainty as to the meaning Of the word
dollar must create doubta tatee effect
OF contracts and general distrust IN BUSH
ness.
The dollar Of the United States at the
| present time has distinct meaning.
1t is equivalent to 1922 grains OF pure
gold. Paper dollars are mere promises
10 pay in coin. Silver dollars, while they
contain bullion worth only about 80
cents each, have been surrounded 81
, safeguards Of legislation limiting the
number coined and supporting them by
the credit Of the government, 50 that
they have been kept on a parity with
gold dollars. Twenty three-twenty-tW
| one-hundredths grains Of gold therefore
measure the value Of what is meant bv
dollar. when the term is used for
trade here, and this has been true for
about 50 years. with the exception of
the period during which paper dollars
were deprecated.
Upon the floor Of the house of repre-
sentatiyes in 1853, when the bill was
pending which made fractional cur
rency subsidiary, Cyrus L. Dnnham Of
Indiana, who had cha re Of the bill,
said:
An objection urged against this pro-
oh ie, l,a4 -
standard only. = Gentlemen talk
about double standard Of gold and sill
yer as a thing that exists, and that we
propose to change. We have had but a
single standard for the last three or four
years; this has been and now is gold; we
propose TO let it remain so and adapt sill
yer TO and regulate it by gold"
After this long experience in the use
Of dollars based upon 1922 grains Of
gold the advocates Of silver demand its
free, unlimited and independent coinage
At the present ratio.
his is really a proposition to remove
from silver dollars The safeguards Of leg
islation which surround them. to with
draw the limit and to take from them
the support Of the government. Itisan
the free and unlimited coinage Of two
metals at a fixed ratio which places 100
cents worth Of billion in the gold dol
lar and SO cents worth Of bullion in
the silver dollar
.TbeeNpegience Of every country which
has attempted The free and unlimited
coinage Of the two metals at a ratio dis
regarding the commercial value Of the
bullion OF each metal put into dollar
has been the coinage and use of the
cheaper metal and the loss as money of
the more valuable metal The prin-
eiple is thus expressed by Sir Isaee
Gresham:
IF dehased coin is attempted to be
circulated with fun value coin, all of
the latter viii disappear from cireula-
ton, and the overva1ued and debased
coin will clone remain, to the ruin of
our commerce and business"
This indisputable doctrine was taught
in the 18th century by Nicholas Ores
me and again in the 10th century by
Nicholas Copernicus. Coming down to
1T1T, Sir Isaac Newton, at that time
director of the mint of England. de-
clared:
If silver leaves the shores of Eng
land in crowns or in ingots, the produce
Of coins remelted, and gives place To
gold, it is because the value which the
monetary legislation assigns to ii, in re-
lation to gold, is not correct"
Apply the lesson practically TO our
own money With free and unlimited
coinage of gold and silver at the ratio OF
sixteen to one silver recommendation
would result, and the measure of the
value of our dollar would be 371H grains
Of silver, worth about 10 grains of gold.
But the advocates Of silver coinage
insist that with 37l4 grains of silver
admitted in unlimited quantities to the
minis for coinage. free of charge, the
bullion value of this number of grains
would necessarily be equal, before coin
age, to the coined dollar. This is true.
and it would be equally true of 100
grains, or OF one grain, if admitted free
and in unlimited quantities to coinage.
Indeed. If chips were admitted free an1
in unlimited quantities to the privilege
if being stamped into dollars, the chips.
before they were stamped, would be
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 10 the experience
OF France, and they have claimed all
over the country that France, igc-, sos
70 1874, by fixing legal ratio for tine
coinage of silver and gold TAT fifteen
and one-half to onel, kept the CONNER.
cial ratio between the two metals ut the
same figures. This inaccurate state
uent has been one Of their principal
arguments. Ii they viii really examine
the history of France, they win find that
before 1870 the difference between the
commercial value of gold and silver ex-
eteded fifteen and one halt to one, and /
IrMnnn hanana sllA-a- n1anu.1.oaa.a liz I