The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-08-05

United States contains 3714 grains of
pure silver; the gold dollar, 20 %
grains of pure gold. That is to say
1898 grains of silver $50 near sixteen
grains that it is taken to be sixteen in
all discussions of the subjecD are made
by law the equivalent of one grain of
gold in the coins of the United States. |
An ounce (4S0 grains) of silver sells
for less than 70 cents. The value of
the silver in standard dollar GID |
grains is therefore about 50 cents.
Suppose that the populists prevail
and the free coinage of silver in the
ratio of 16 to l is adopted, and that all
debts, public and private-as they pro-
pose--are made payable in standard
silver dollars. Suppose the value of a
pound of cotton at the fountain-head,
on the plantation of the southern
farmer, is six cents in gold. What
will happen if the planter is compelled
by law to take for his cotton silver dol
lars that are worth but SO cents? AS
matter of convenience in reckoning
the fiction of real dollar would be
maintained, but the difference between
its fictitious and it's commercial value
would be shifted to the price of the
cotton. The value of cotton at six
cents per pound in gold would become
10 In ilxrar ranarHinn Othpr
conditions. With this change in the
measure of its value, the cotton would
90 to the mill to be made into goods.
The goods would go to the wholesale
merchant and from the latter to the re-
taller. The individual buyer, the
farmer, the mechanic, the common
laborer, who had been paying ten cents
a yard for cotton cloth under the gold
standard would pay 10 cents for the
same goods under the silver stand
ard, all other conditions remaining the
same. A similar thing would happen
in the case of wool, wheat, corn and
every other staple article of food or
clothing. Practically prices would be
doubled, the cost of living immensely
increased.
Would wages and salaries also be
doubled, or correspondingly advanced?
Not by any means. That has never
been the experience of mankind in
financial and business changes or dis
turbances. Wages might advance
somewhat, but there would remain, af
ter the highest attainable increase, a
yawning chasm between the price of
labor and the increased cost of the
necessaries of life. This would be the
most palpable effect of the change upon
the great iaboring and industrial
classes. Gold would disappear from
circulation at home. 1t would be re-
quired for the purchase of goods in
foreign nations. AT the present value
of silver, an importer would pay about
$3.50 in silver to settle an account of
500 in England, or any foreign
country. The price of imported goods
tea, coffee, sugar, etc., etc., would
therefore be doubled.
Why, then, are so many people in
favor of the free coinage of silver, and
of making standard silver dollars re-
ceivable for all debts, public and pri.
vate? The reasons are as many as the
springs of human action, or the sources
of human discomfort. The "craze'
had its origin in the West and South
Many farmers in the West are in debt
They have borrowed money to buy
their farms, or for other purposes, and
given mortgages as security. Like
other commodities the price of farm
products has been greatly reduced in
recent years. The farmer finds it diff
ficult to pay his debts. He thinks he
sees relief in free silver coinage. II
wheat is worth on the farm fifty cents
in gold, it would be worth 100 cents in
silver. The populists propose to coir
all the silver that may be carried to the
mint, and to make silver dollars re-
ceivable for all debts. $780," reasons
the farmer in debt, 81 will get twice az
much money for my grain and will be
able to pay the mortgage on my farm.
Captivated by the populistic vision, he
loses sight of many things, the moral
ity of the proposition among others
Having borrowed money worth 10(
cents on the dollar, he jumps at prop
osition to pay the debt in money wortt
so cents on the dollar. He is oblivioui
TO the fact that the price of everything
he would buy, domestic supplies, farm
machinery, etc., would be doubled
He loses sight of the manifold othe
ills that would come in the train of tn,
currency of barbarism. The owners o
silver mines in the West, the politician
seeking a ladder to climb into the seats