The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1896-05-22
LIVE ISSUES.
Senator Stewards Reply to Senator
Palmer,

speech in the Senate on Thursday
last he asked the following question
to which Senator Stewart replied:
Senator Palmer. ask, Will free
coinage produce silver dollar
worth so, so, 70. 80, or 80 cents as
compared with the gold dollar ?
Will the Senator from Missouri or
any other Senator tell me? Will
the Senator from Nevada give the
country the benefit of his opinion
upon this most important point ?
Mr.. Stewart. Does the Senator
want an answer now?
Mr.. Palmer. Yes; at this moment.
I should be gratified to have it now.
Mr.. Stewart. The relative COM
mercial value of the two metals, !
think, would be equalized at the
ratio of 16 to 1 by opening the
United States minis. / have sew
eral reasons for that. In the first
place, there are now few BIZ
metallic countries of any impor-
lance, if there are any. France for
several years maintained the equi-
librium of exchange between the
two metals by keeping her minis
open. Not that France was able
to take or that she did take of
either of the metals any consider
able quantity, but the fact that she
was bimetallic country and that
any person in the world could OBJ
tain a given price for his gold or
his silver as fixed by the French
ratio regulated the relative value
of the metals throughout the world.
Now, if the United States, which
relatively is quite as great as
France was during that time,
should undertake to pay given
and fixed price for gold and
another fixed and given price for
silver, it would necessarily fix that
price all over the world, for no one
would sell silver for less than the
United States price. That is the
way it operated before. Knowing
that the United States would be
able to take it all, that would satisfy
everybody and create an equilib-
rum between the two, | have no
doubt. And / have no doubt of
that because the silver is now all
absorbed. There is not so large
quantity to be absorbed by the
United States as many suppose. 1t
is all taken now and used. There
is no silver bullion in the world of
any consequence, and the additional
demand in the United States would
take it to par. When it was
thought the United States was
going to open it's minis silver came
very near going to par. On the
mere idea that we were to open our
minis silver went to $1.21; but
when it was ascertained that our
minis were not to be opened, that
there was to be Limitation upon
silver, and when a combination was
formed between the director of the
mint and foreign bankers that there
should be no purchasers in the
market except the United States
and certain syndicates of foreign
bankers, that fixed the price, and
they put it down where they pleas
ed; but if the price had been fixed
by the opening of our minis silver
would have gone to par, because
nobody would have had any object
in bringing silver here except to
buy our commodities, and silver,
therefore, would have been at the
same price everywhere else as here,
and it would not be brought here.
There is no doubt in my mind but
that the opening of our minis to the
free coinage of silver would create
a parity between the two metals at
the ratio of 16 to 1.
But l will say to my friend while
I am ON the floor that, if it did not,
we have the concurrent opinion of
every bimetallist and economist in
Europe that it would be disastrous
to Europe and to our great advan-
tage. They say that if we should
open our minis before an inter
national agreement is secured
Europe will be more in danger
from that than from anything else.
A German writer, in an article
recently published advocating BIZ
metallism and showing the danger
that Europe was in from the in
vasion of Asia by having the man
ufacturing of the Western world
transferred to the Orient, stated
that he looked upon that as a great
calamity. He says, eff the United