Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1896-03-29
THE STANDARD.
Many Kinds of Money. Bat Only One
 Init of Halne.

IS RFElE EeH or AEitst- R4fN4A
 Belief in q double standard is a de- fusion. There may be equivalent stand ards. alternative standards. two or more ] variant standards, but not one double standard. One might fabricate yard sticks of gold and silver, but so long as both were 36 inches long they would constitute a single standard of length. The Troy pound and the pound ef weight are differently nibdivided, but as each is equal to 5,760 grains Troy. they do not constitute double. but a single standard of weight. On the other hand the Troy pound can not form a double standard of weight with the pound avoirdupofs, which is equal to 7.0o0 grains Troy. Nobody. 5E he knows it. will take g pound TroF when be has contracted for 8 pound ayoirdupois. The two do not constitute a double standard. but two single stand ards of widely different Talne-
 Men who talk of the single gold standaras are suffering from confusion Of thought themselves or trying to 8n- duce it In others The standard must rot be confounded with different kinds of money. There are many kinds ae money. with but one standard Na have in circulation gold and gold eer- tiilcafes. silver and silver certificates. United States notes. treasury notes ot 1se0 and national bank uo1es-seVeR kinds of money, not to mention some Of less importance. But fife or ten dol lars in one kind of money has the same purchasing power al home as a cor responding amountof any other. What is that purchasing pozyer2 The pur- chasing power of a dollar is the same as the purchasing power Of 25.s grains of gold bullion. g-1O fine. or 23.22 grains of pure gold. This is the actual stand ard, as determined by the purchasing power, the real test of the value Of money at any particular time and place. Every dollar of our money will at pres cnt buy as much as 23.22 grains of fine gold bullion. Thus with all these seven kinds Of money, and some others Of minor consequence, We have but one standard, which is the gold standard IL is not new. Since January 1, 1879, every dollar of United States money has been equal to a gold dollar, or the amount Of bullion necessary to make 8. gold dollar The standard Is the buI- lion value of the coin Of the standard metal.
 Now, the silver dollar contains 371I grains of pure silver, or 4125a of stand ard silver, which means nine-tenths fine. Coins, however, are rated by the quantity of pure metal and not by the alloy. Now, 3711l grains of pure silver have within two or three years been down to 45 710 cents. The same quan- tity is now worth considerably more, but no one can foreteII future fuctua- tions. 1t is very plain that dollar can not be at the same time worth 45 7-I0 cents. in terms of gold. and 100 cents. We may have one standard or the other. but not both at once. Law can no more make 4 q hundred than 1t can make black white. It may call 47 hundred. but it cannot make it so.
 The reason why five silver dollars buy as much as a half eagle is to be found in the policy of the government. which aims to keep every kind of dollar at parity. that is, of equal purchasing power. Silver is not forced on any one by the government if he does not want to take it. The same is true generally, though perhaps not universally, in pri- vate transactions. The policy of the government takes away the motive for individuals to force silver on reluctant creditors.
 There has nsver been any substantial change in the standard. When the change in the ratio was made from tif- teen to one to sixteen to one, though both gold and silver were the legal standards, silver was the actual stand are, tha real measure of values, and therefore the quantity Of pure silver in the dollar was not changed. The value of the gold dollar was reduced. This has induced some people to say why not reduce the value of the gold dollar againI For the very reason that the value of the silver dollar was not changed in 1884; that is, silver was then the actual standard, while gold is the standard now. The sound-money men stand against change of the standa d as they did in 1884. Itis the silverites who ask change, the degradation sf the dollar to one-half it's present value, or eabouts.-Louisville Courier Journal.
 GOLD GALORE.
 An Empty Argument of Cheap Money
 EanatIcs.