The herald., 1896-08-27

! munlcatlOnS received lately Dy Inc Herald
! on the currency and other political ques-
! tons. correspondents will understand that
! there may be some delay in the publication
quested to cultivate brevity as far as is
consistent with the proper expression OF
! their viewS.)
Free Silver
! Editor Herald Permit me to reply
| to a speech on the free coinage of silver
by Senator Sherman, and published in
! your valuable daily in last Sundays is
sue.
The senator's logic is faultless but his
false premises and distortion of facts of
history make it necessary that your
readers get the truth in this supreme is
sue
Passing over his confusion of terms,
wherein metal and money are used syn
enormously, come to his claim that gold
too. has fallen in value. He says: The
great law of supply and demand affects
the value of silver and gold as it does
iron. copper and zinc. All have fallen in
value by means of new discoveries and
improved methods of production" The
evidence that gold has risen in value
steadily since 1873 is abundant and con-
elusive.
Sootbeer, the great German statisti-
clan. takes as index numbers, 100 great
staple products and compares them an
nually with gold for a long period of
time. and demonstrates the rise in value
of gold to be almost 80 per cent. Null
hail. the greatest living statistician, ac-
cepts Sootbeer's demonstration as con-
elusive. Prof. Laughlin of Chicago uni
versity comedies that the index numbers
approach a correct standard. Measur-
ed by itself nothing changes in value,
nor can. since value is a related term.
Measured by every other thing gold has
risen in value. to the ruin of all else,
since legislation made it the only pri
mary money of account. Why the
learned senator should hold that gold
has fallen in value when he knows its
purchasing power has almost doubled
is riddle.
In the paragraph above referred to the
senator is in error again when he would
have us believe that silver coinage un
der the acts 1873 and 1890 caused loss
of more than S145.00Q.000. 1t is not true.
No man has had TO discount silver dol
lars one cent from 1878 to this day.
Meantime the government holds today
about "a ,000 600 ounces of seigniorage as
profit on silver purchases. Except this
idle hoard all the balance of the pur
chase aggregating $464 4,2l0, 262. is clrcu-
latng or boarded. and worth its face
value in gold. not because it is redeem
able in gold for it is not, but it circu-
lates a par with gold because it is
clothed with full legal tender power,
except when otherwise stipulated in
the contract"
More important than these errors of
fact by the senator in his claim that
free coinage will bring us to a silver
basis He says: Nothing can be more
certain than the cheaper money only
will circulate" Perhaps a sufficient
answer is that when made a full legal
tender with free coinage, all made equal
by law, all will be at par 1t may be we'll
to call attention to the fact that both
gold and silver do circulate now at par
though the metal in the silver dollar
is worth in gold dollars but 53 cents.
Will it not maintain its parity when the
value of the metal in the silver dollar
is almost double under free coinage?
Doubtless it will.
But even a silver basis is to be pre-
ferred to a gold basis. because we
should probably coin s70,000,00 silver
dollars annually as against about one
half of that amount of gold dollars at
this time. This increased circulation
of primary dollars would raise prices,
and once on rising market every line
of business and production would pros
per.
One more point: The senator is solic-
itous, not for the taxpayer but for the
coupon clipper, and in a delirium of
fear lest the bondholder be paid in si,-
Yer dollars. Gs provided by law, he says.
In the darkest hours of the civil war
we stipulated to pay our bonds, princi-
pal and interest. in gold or its equiva
lent" Neither the bond itself. nor the
acts authorizing their issue made any
such stipulation, as the senator well
knows.
The Hon. Edward Pierrepont. attor-
ney general Of the United States and
minister to England, in an open letter
to the New York Times April is, 1884,
said There is not an outstanding
bond. coupon or greenback issued by
the United States which may not be
lawfully paid in silver. Not one of them
on it's face or back, or in the statute
authorizing it's issue, or in declarat ton,
or in resolution of congress has any pro-
vision that they shall be paid in gold" i"
More conclusive yet is the resolution
of congress, introduced by the late SEN
ator Matthews of Ohio, afterward
member of the United States supreme
court. This resolution. which I quote
1878, by vote of AZ to 20, and passed the
house January 2S, 1878, by vote of 139
to 10. The resolution reads: THAT I'll
the bonds of the United States issued
or authorized to be issued under the
acts of congress hereinbefore recitei
are payable. principal and interest, at
the option of the government of the
United States, in silver dollars of the
coinage of the United States contain
4121a grains of standard silver, and that
to restore to its coinage such silver
coins as legal tender in payment of said
bonds, principal and interest, is not in