Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1896-01-03
FOR SOUND MONEY.
CLEvELAND's STRONG ARGUMENT
FOR 100 CENT DOLLARS.


We Twice Failed 10 Establish Bimetallic
Currency When the Metals Were Near
Each Other In value-Attempt at Free
Coinage Now Would Result In Silver
Monometalllsm and In Great Financial
Distress.
President Cleveland, in his message
to congress-. reviews at considerable
length the history Of our greenbacks,
the great need Of retiring them and the
urgent need Of changes in our banking
aud currency laws to give % a suffi-
cient, safe and elastic currency. His
recommendation agree substantially
not only with those Of Secretary Carlisle
and Comptroller Eckles, but with those
of many eminent authorities on this
subject. They should be, and we hope
have been, read by all good and patri'
otto citizens. We, however, propose now
10 call renewed attention to his excel
lent discussion Of the free coinage ques-
tion. 1t is one Of the most convincing
arguments ever made against cheap sill
yer dollars. We reproduce below the
greater part Of this discussion:
While l have endeavored TO make a
plain statement Of the disordered condi-
ton of our currency and the present
dangers menacing our prosperity, and
TO suggest way which leads to safer
financial system, / have constantly had
in mind the fact that many Of my coun-
trymen, whose sincerity do not doubt,
insist that the cure for the ills now
threatening us may be found in the sim
gle and simple remedy Of the free coin
age of silver.
Were there infinitely stronger reasons
| than can be adduced for hoping that
such action would secure for US bi-
metallic currency moving on lines OF
parity, an experiment so novel and haz-
ardous as that proposed might well stag
ger those who believe that stability is
, an imperative condition Of sound money.
No government. no human contri-
vance or act Of legislation, has ever been
able to hold the two metals together in
free coinage at a ratio appreciably diff
ferent from that which is established IN
the markets Of the world.
Those who believe that our independ-
ent free coinage Of silver at an artifi-
cial ratio with gold Of 10 to would re-
store the parity between the metals, and
consequently between the coins, oppose
an unsupported and improbable theory
to the general belief and practice OF
other nations, and to the teaching OF the
wisest statesmen and economists OF the
world, both in the past and present.
and, what is far more conclusive, they
run counter to our own actual expert
ences
Twice in our earlier history our law
makers in attempting to establish BIZ
metallic currency undertook free coin
age upon a ratio which accidentally va
ried from the actual relative values Of
| the two metals not more than 3 per
cent In both cases, notwithstanding
greater difficulties and cost OF traDspor-
tation than now exist, the coins, whose
intrinsic worth was undervalued in the
ratio, gradually and surely disappeared
from our circulation and went to other
countries where their real value was
better recognized.
Acts Of congress were impotent to
create equality where natural causes de-
creed even slight inequality.
Twice in our recent history we have
signally failed to raise by legislation
the value Of silver. Under an act Of con-
qress passed In 1878 the government
was required for more than 10 years to
expend annually at least $24, 900, 900 in
the purchase Of silver bullion for coin
age. The act Of July IA, 1890, in a still
holder effort increased the amount OF
silver the government was compelled to
purchase, and forced it TO become the
buyer annually of 81, coo. 900 ounces, or
practically the entire product Of our
mines. Under both laws silver rapidly
and steadily declined in value. The
prophecy and the expressed hope and ex-
pectation Of those in the congress who
led in the passage Of the last mentioned
act, that it would re-establish and main
tain the former parity between the two
metals, are still fresh in our memory
In the light of these experiences,
which accord with the experiences Of
other nations, there is certainly no Sc
cure ground for the belief that an act Of
congress could now bridge an inequality
of 90 per cent between gold and silver
at our present ratio, nor is there the
least possibility that our country, which
has less than one-seventh Of the silver
money in the world could by its action
alone raise not only our own but all sill
yer to its lost ratio with gold. Our at
tempt to accomplish this by the free
coinage Of silver at a ratio differing
widely from actual relative values
would be the signal for the complete de-
parture of gold from our circulation, the
immediate and large contraction of our
circulating medium, and shrinkage in
the real value and monetary efficiency
Of all other forms of currency as they
settled to the level of silver monometal-
lism. Every one who receives a fixed
salary and every worker for wages would
find the dollar in his hand ruthlessly
scaled down to the point Of bitter disap-
pointment if not to pinching privation.
A change in our standard to silver
monometallism would also bring on a
collapse Of the entire system Of credit
which, when based on a standard which
is recognized and adopted by the world
Of business, is many times more potent
and useful than the entire volume Of
currency and is safely capable of almost
indefinite expansion to meet the growth
of trade and enterprise.
In self invited struggle through
darkness and uncertainty our hurnilia-
tion would be increased by the con-
seriousness that we had parted company
with all the enlightened and progressive
nations Of the world. and were desper-
ately and hopelessly striving to meet the
stress Of modern commerce and compe-
tition with o debased and unsuitable
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