Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-08-20

or resumption have pursued policy OF re-
deeming in gold or silver, at the option of
the holder of the paper, and If any secre-
tary had afterward attempted to change
that policy and force silver upon man
who wanted gold, or gold upon man who
wanted silver, and especially If he had
made that attempt at such critical period
as we have had in the last two years, my
Judgment is it would have been very disas-
trous
l do not agree with the secretary that it
was wise to follow bad precedent, but
from his answer it will be seen that the
fault does not lie with the greenbacks and
treasury notes, but rather with the execu-
tive officers who have seen fit to surrender
q right which should have been exercised
for the protection of tho interests of the
people This executive actian has already
been made the excuse for the issue of more
than $3.50, 600, 600 in bonds, and it is i'm
possible to estimate the amount of bonds
which may hereafter be issued if this policy
is continued. We are told that any attempt
upon the part of the government at this
time to redeem its obligations in silver
would put premium upon gold, but why
should it9 Tho Bank Of France exercises
the right to redeem all bank paper in
either gold or silver, and yet France main
tains the parity between gold and silver at
the ratio of 151@ to ] and retains in cir
culation more silver per capita than we do
in the United States
1t may be further answered that our op-
ponents have suggested no feasible plan for
avoiding the dangers which they fear The
retirement of the greenbacks and treasury
notes would not protect the treasury, be-
cause the same policy which now leads the
secretary of the treasury to redeem all gov
ernment paper in gold, when gold Is de-
mnnded, will require the redemption of all
silver dollars and silver certificates in gold
If the greenbacks and treasury notes are
withdrawn from circulation. More than
this, if the government should retire it's
paper and throw. upon the banks the me-
cessity of furnishing coin redemption, the
banks would exercise the right to furnish
either gold or silver-in other words, they
would exercise the option, just as the gov
ernment ought to exercise it now. The
government must either exercise the right
to redeem its obligations in silver when
silver is more convenient, or it must retire
all the silver and silver certificates from
circulation and leave nothing but gold as
legal tender money. Are our opponents
willing to outline financial system which
will carry out their policy to it's legitimate
conclusion, or will they continue to cloak
their designs in ambiguous phrasess
Necessity For Bimetaliism.
There is an actual necessity for bimetal-
hs1n as well as q theoretical defense of it,
During the last 28 years legislation has
been creating an additional demand for
gold, and this law created demand has re-
suited in increasing the purchasing power
of each ounce Of gold. The restoration of
! bimetallism in the United States will take
away from gold just SO much of its pur-
chasing power as was added to it by the
demonetization of silver by the United
States. The silver dollar is now held up to
the gold dollar by legal tender laws and
not by redemption in gold, because the
standard silver dollars are not now re-
deemable in gold either in law or by ad-
ministrative policy. ;
We contend that free and unlimited COIN
ago by the United States alone will raise
the bullion value Of silver to its coinage
value, and thus make silver bullion worth
$1.29 per ounce in gold throughout the
world. This proposition is in keeping with
natural laws, not in defiance of them. The
best known law of commerce is the law of
supply and demand We recognize this
law and build our argument upon it We
apply this law to money when we say that
reduction in the volume of money will
raise the purchasing power Of the dollar
We also apply the law Of supply and de-
mand to silver when we say that O new
demand for silver created by law will raise
the price of silver bullion Gold and silver
arc different from other commodities in
that they are limited in quantity. Corn,
wheat, manufactured products, ETC., can be
produced almost without limit, provided
they can be sold ut price sufficient to
stimulate production, but gold and silver
are called precious metals because they are
found not produced These metals have
been the objects of anxious search as far
back as history runs; yet, according to Mr..
Harvcy's calculation, all the gold coin of
the world can be melted into q % foot cube
and all the silver coin in the world into a
GO foot cube. Because gold and silver are
limited, both in the quantity now in hand
and in annual production, it follows that
legislation can fix the ratio between them.
Any purchaser who stands ready to take
the entire supply of any given article at
certain price can prevent that article from
falling below that price So the govern
ment can fix price for gold and silver by
creating q demand greater than the sup
ply. International bimetallists believe that
several nations, by entering into an agree
ment to coin at fixed ratio all the gold
and silver presented, can maintain the
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