The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-10-23
AS A COMPROMISE.

Driven away from the advocacy OF
the first proposition in many parts of
the country by reason of it's manifest
and gross injustice to the laboring
man, to depositors in savings banks
and other institutions, and the creditors
Generally, and forced by the unanswer-
able arguments of their opponents in
other parts of the country to abandon
the second on account of it's demon
strated absurdity, they have resorted
to the third as a compromise between
the advocates of absolute fiatism and
the advocates of partial or modified
fiatism; but. the contention that the
United States alone can, by the free
coinage of silver increase the value of
that metal and also reduce the value
of gold simply doubles the difficulties
which our opponents have encountered
in this discussion. To believe that
free coinage by the United States alone
would accomplish either of these re-
suits requires a faith in fiatism which
would remove mountains. but to be-
lieve that it would accomplish both
exhibits a degree of creduiity unparal-
Ieled in the annals of human affairs.
IN DETAIL.
Taking up in detail each of these
three propositions Mr.. Carlisle went on
TO show, as he viewed it. how the law
of supply and demand and the recorded
experience of the world for at least SIX
centuries refuted each of them The
natural law on the subject. he said.
which we could neither repeal nor alter,
seemed to be that when the production
and coinage of either gold or silver
into legal tender money were increased
in proportion to the production and
coinage of the other metal, the reia-
tive value of the coins thus disDropor-
tionately added to the circulation de-
creases and the rule was the same
whether the increase consisted of gold
coins or silver coins.
BUT WHY?
.To protect themselves against the
evil effects of a threatened depreeia-
| ton of their money, and to enable
them to maintain the parity of their
silver and gold coins already in use.
! Holland. France Belgium. Italy.
Switzerland, Greece and Venezuela
! have all been compelled, since the
year 1875, to suspend the coinage of
legal tender silver Spain was forced,
also. to stop the coinage in 1879, except
on government account and in 1898 the
government of British India. silver
monometallic country, after an ex-
| haustive examination of the subject
in all it's aspects suspended the COIN
age on individual account for the
avowed purpose of preventing the
| further fall of the silver rupee and
established a fixed par of exchange
with London and other financial cen
tres in Europe But. according to the
free silver advocates, the statesmen
and financiers of all these countries
moved in exactly the wrong direction,
and if they had wanted to maintain
parity or to establish parity. they
ought TO have opened their minis to
| the free coinage of all the silver in the
world instead of closing them.
| 1.-THE increased coinage of legal ten
der silver at a ratio which over-valued
! that metal relatively to gold would not
| diminish the demand for gold any
where, or terminate the struggle for
| its possession. but would greatly in
| crease the demand and intensity the
struggle, because If two kinds of money
] of the same denomination but of I'M
equal value were in existence, every
fConffo.,ad ~, Pays 81