The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1896-08-05
FINANCIAL CATECHISM.
BY an Old-Time Republican.
|. What is bimetallism ?

l. What is bimetallism
A. The equal legal treatment OF
the two metals, gold and silver, as
money, at given ratio of coinage.
2. What is meant by Is to l?
That in coming the two metals in
to money Is or. of silver are to be
deemed equal to one OF. of gold.
8. What is the present commercial
ratio of silver and gold bullion
It is about 80 to l.
4 What bas caused the divergence
between the coin and bullion value
OF silver?
The demonstration OF silver in
1878 by the country and some of the
nations of Europe.
5. Why was silver demonetized?
It was Gemonetized because OF the
desire to limit the supply OF money,
make money dearer, thus increase its
purchasing power, and therefore to
the advantage of money dealers,
bond-holders, creditor classes and
those having fixed incomes.
6. Was not the demonetization Of
silver in 1878 due to its over pro-
duction as compared with gold?
It was not due to the oyer-produc-
ton of silver, because (a) for many
years prior to 1873 the worlds pro-
duction of gold had been about
three times as great as that of silver,
and (b) in 1878 silver bullion was at
premium of 3 per cent. over gold
7. How does the worlds produc-
ton of gold and silver for the last
100 years compare with each other?
Between the years Of 1892 and
! 1892 the worlds production OF gold
exceeded that of silver about 600 mil
| lion dollars.
S. What is the ratio Of the two
metals as they exist by weight in the
world to-day (available for money?
It is about Is 2-3 to /, which means
that there are only about sixteen
times as many tons Of silver in the
world available for money as there
are tons of gold.
8, What, therefore, is the natural
ratio between silver and gold?
Sixteen to l is the natural ratio be-
tween silver and gold bullion and
would manifestly be the present COM
mercial ratio had not there been
legal interference.
10. To whose advantage is it that
nations have been induced to adopt
the gold standard?
To the advantage of all creditor
nations, especially England. Two
hundred million people now use gold
alone as redenptive money who in
1878 used both gold and silver; hence
the constant rise in the power OF
gold (and money based on gold),
which rise shows itself in the fall OF
prices of commodities.
IL. If we had free coinage of silver
would not this country become the
dumping ground" for silver from all
nations?
There are, it is supposed, about
four billion dollars OF silver coin and
bullion in the world, and if all of this
should come here it would only give
the United States a per capita Of
about s5s, which is only little more
than We had of all kinds Of money in
the North at the close of the war
when times were exceedingly pros
porous. France to-day has nearly
this amount of money per capita, and
is one of the most prosperous coun-
tries in the world.
-. What is there to prevent this
silver from coming to our mints for
coinage?
There are three conclusive reasons:
| (a( Other nations have no more sill
yer than they need; (b) Europe an
nually uses about twice as much sil.
yer as she produces, and (c) the great
bulk of the silver now in existence is
already coined at ratios more favor
able to silver than Is to l, some be-
inc Is to l and some 1912 to l.
is. If silver coin should not come
to our mints for recoinage would
not Europe continue as at present to
depress the price of silver bullion:
North and South America produce
Is per cent OF all the silver now being
produced in the world and ten times
as much as Europe does, so that the
United States and other countries OF
the western continents could easily
control the price Of silver bullion re-
gardless OF other nations.
Il. Why not pat more silver IN
our silver dollar so as to make the
bullion and face value equal?
Because this disagreement is due
to adverse Legislation, which, when
corrected, will restore the parity by
reducing the demand for gold and