The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-27

pie to accept 1t as a legal tender. and is
thus morally bound to maintain it al a
parity with gold. which was then. as now.
the recognized standard. with US. and the
most enlightened nations of the world. The
government having issued and circulated
the silver dollar it must in honor protect
the holder from loss. This obligation fl has
so far, sacredly kept. Not only is there a
moral obligation, but there is legal OBJ
legation, expressed in public statute, to
maintain the parity.
They Could Not Be Kept at Par.-These
dollars, in the particulars 1 have named,
are not the same as the dollars which
would be issued under free coinage They
would be the same in form, but different
in value. The government would have
no part in the transaction, except to coin
the silver bullion into dollars. 1t would
share in no part Of the profits. 1t would
take upon itself no obligation. Ii would
not put the dollars into circulation. 1t
could only get them, as any citizen would
get them, by giving something for them
1t would deliver them to those who de-
posted the silver, and its connection
with the transaction would there end
Such are the silver dollars which would
be issued under the free coinage of silver
at ratio of l6 to l. Who would then
maintain the parity? What would keep
them at par with gold? There would he
no obligation resting upon the govern
ment to do It, and if there were, it would
be poWerless TO do II. The simple truth
is, we would be driven to a silver basis
to silver monometallsm. These dollars
therefore, would stand upon their real
value If the free and unlimited coinage
of silver at a ratio of sixteen ounces Of
silver to one ounce of gold would, as some
of its advocates assert. make So cents II
silver worth 100 cents and the silver dol
lar equal to the gold dollar, then we would
have no cheaper money than now and II
would be no easier to get. But that such
would be the result Is against reason ana
is contradicted by experience in all times
and in all lands. 1t means the debase-
ment of our currency TO the amount Of
the difference between the commercial and
coin value Of the silver dollar, which is
ever changing, and the effect would be to
reduce property values, entail untold
financial loss, destroy confidence, impair
the obligations of existing contracts. fur
ther impoverish the laborers and produe>
ers of the country, create a panic of un-
paralleled severity, and infiict upon trade
and commerce deadly blow. Against
any such policy am unalterably opposed.
metallism.-Bimetallism cannot be Sc
cured by independent action on our part.
1t cannot be obtained by opening our mints
to the unlimited coinage of the silver of
the world, at a ratio Of sixteen ounces of
silver to one ounce of gold, when the COM
uleIeldl IduO Is more LAill lnlEAg OhuCtS
Of silver to one ounce Of gold. Mexico and
China have tried the experiment. Mexico
has free coinage of silver and gold at
ratio slightly in excess of sixteen and
half ounces of silver to one ounce of gold
and while her MINIS are freely open to
both metals at that ratio not a single
dollar in gold bullion is coined and circu-
lated as money. Gold has been driven out
of circulation in these countries and they
are on a silver basis alone. Until inter-
national agreement is had it is the plain
duty of the United States to maintain the
gold standard. It is the recognized and
sole standard of the great commercial ma
tions of the world, with which we trade
more largely than any other. Eighty-four
per cent. of our foreign trade for the fiscal
year 1895 was with gold standard countries
and our trade with other countries was
settled on a gold basis.
We now have more silver than gold.
Chiefly by means of legislation during and
since 1879 there has been put in circulation
more than 1924, 100000 of silver. or Its rep
resentative. This has been done in the
honest effort to give to silver, if possible,
the same bullion and coinage value, and
encourage the concurrent use of both gold
and silver as money Prior to that time
there had been less than 100000 of
silver dollars coined in the entire history
of the United States, period of eighty
nine years. InlS leSlSldllOu ScCuiC9 tAS
largest use of silver consistent with imam
cial safety, and the pledge to maintain
its parity with gold. We have to-day more
silver than gold. This has been accom-
plished at times with grave peril to the
public credit. The so-Called Sherman law
sought to use all the silver product OF the
United States for money at Its market
value. From 1890 to 1898 the government
purchased 4,5OO,0OO ounces of silver
month, or H,0O0, 900 ounces a year. rms
was one-third of the product of the world
and practically all of this countrys prod
uct. 1t was believed by those who then,
and now favor free coinage that such use
Of silver would advance its bullion value
to its coinage value, but this expectation
was not realized. In a few months, not
withstanding the unprecedented market
for the silver produced in the United
States the price of silver went down very
rapidly, reaching a lower point than ever
before Then, upon the recommendation
of President Cleveland, both political par
ties united in the repeal of the purchasing
clause Of the Sherman law. we cannot
with safety engage in further experiments
in this direction.
The Double Standard-On the @nd OF
August, 1891, in a public address, l sad;
If we could have an international ratio,
which all the leading nations of the world
would adopt, and the true relation be fix
upon the quantity of silver which should
constitute dollar, then silver would be
as free and unlimited in its privileges OF
coinage as gold is to-day But that we
have not been able to secure, and with
the free and unlimited coinage Of silver
adopted in the United States, at the pres
ent ratio, we would be stiH further re-
moved from any international agreement.
We may never be able to secure it If we
enter upon the isolated coinage of silver.
The double standard implies equality at
a ratio, and that equality can only be
established by the concurrent law Of ma
tons 1t was the concurrent law Of na-
tions that made the double standard. II
will require the concurrent law of nations
to reinstate and sustain IT,
1t favors the use of silver money. The
republican party has not been and IS not
now opposed to the use of silver money,
as its records abundantly shows. 1t has
done all that could be done for its In
creased use, with safety and honor, by
the United States acting apart from other
governments. There are those who think
that it has already gone beyond the limit
frr.Hvs tFn ca n