Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1896-03-05
FACTS ABOUT SILVER
FREE COINAGE ~ IS TO I MEANS
1oSCvETaLLgsN.

Purchasing Power the True Test Of Actual
AID Relative yAlues-D1sy Of the Gov.
ernnent Ia Maintaining Parity Of
Gold and sLTer.
Secretary Il the Treasury Carlisle, IN
his Co7ington Epeech "a Mag %, STATED
plainly and corcise!y the e1sc. meaning
. Ct BCs1 -Blzcd-Ha-Tey free co:nase.
he said:
Free and uaIi1i,ed coinage Of full Ie-
gal reods, silver dollars q. the ratio of
l6 20 / means that oU Law shall Re so
changed tina. any owner q Eiive, b1l-
lion may send j, 81 the nints and have
il coined, z. the public e1pense, into
dollars each containing 4i2H grains Of
standard silve-, the dollars WHEN coiued
10 Be delivered 70 the owner q the bal
lon, and all the people Il the United
States 20 be compelled By Law 10 receivs
them az dollars IN the payment Of debts,
although NJ. intrins;caIiy worth mere
than 50 cents each TIE % $40 raina
of standard gold contained in gold dol
lar is worth 100 cents, CT the equivalent
q 100 cents, all over the wor.d, in sil.
ver standard countries a. well az IN gold
standard countries, and i. is worth Just
as much befose it is coined a. afterwa-d,
but the sl2;z grains of standard silver
contained in silver dollar are nos
worth anywhere IN the world more than
about 50 cents- On. TO put the statement
In different form, 1e pounds q silver
cannot be exchanged fo, pound Of gold
anywhere in the world, but it requires
about 80 pounds Of silver TO procure
+ pound Of gold everywhere. But Some
One may say that this is not a fair state.
nent, because it measures the value II
silver By gold The answer 20 this OBJ
1ect;on il that the statement does not at
tempt 70 measure the value of either q
the metals, bu. simply 70 compare them.
enc with the other, and that fox the pur.
p1se Of making the comparison the value
If gold is determined by its purchasing
power in the markets Of the world, and
I the value Of zilver Is determined in the
saue way. Sixteen pounds of silver bul.
lion will purchase only about one-hah
the quantity Of commodities anywhere
tina. che pound Of gold bullion will pur.
chase, and this purchasing power is the
values
In the United States 10 pounds Of sd.
yer, coined int dollars, will now pr-
chase as much as pound Of gold coins,
but this would not be the case under .
system Of free and unlimited coinage On
individual account. The coinage Of sill
yer dollars here has been limited By law
for the purpose Of preventing an excess
i've issue, and they have been coined BY
the government On its own account and
paid cut Tor public purposes aAdollars
Of full value, and consequently the gov.
eminent is bound by every consideration
! Of good faith, TO say nothing Of the posi-
tive declarations contained in the
statutes, to keep them as good as gold,
Or, in other words, TO maintain the par.
ity of the two metals, and this it has
done and will continue TO do as long -
the present system exists But IL the
present system is to be abolished. and
new one established, so that private in.
dividuals and corporations can have their
own bullion coined at the public expense
and have the coins delivered 70 them fox
their private use, the government would
be under no obligation whatever, legal
Or equitable, 70 keep them as good as
gold, and, in fact, it would be impossi.
bic for it to do 50, because the coinage
would be unlimited, and the volume Of
silver in circulation would become 90
great in proportion 10 the gold the gov.
eminent could procure that the attempt
would necessarily fail The most ex.
treme advocates Of free coinage have not
yet ventured 10 suggest that the govern
ment would be under any obligation to
! guarantee or maintain the value of sill
yer dollars coined without charge for
private parties, and without such guar.
antee it Is clear the dollar would be
worth no more than the commercial val
ne Of the bullion contained in it, just a.
the Mexican dollar Is now. admit that
{ II the United States could coin without
charge to the owners all thu silver In
the world availabl, for coinage purposes,
412X grains Of standard silver, in bull
lion, would be worth as much in this
country as silver dollar, but the real
question Is, What would the silver dol
Lar itself be worth: That it will not b
equal TO our present unit and standard
Of value is not only admitted, bat open
" urged az one Of the chief arguments
In favor Of its free coinage.
Everywhere the people are being told
that under free coinage 1t will require
twice as many dollars to procure any
given quantity Of commodities as are re-
Quired now, and this means, Of course,
that the money will be only one-haH a.
valuable as 1t ia now. When the public
Judgment is finally passed upon this
subject, think it will be found that
the people Of the United States are de-
termined not to have deprecated dol
lar, whether it be gold, silver or paper.
They are undoubtedly entitled TO have
for use in their business just as good
money as any other people in the world
have, and no political party that at
tempts to deprive them Of it will ever
enjoy their confidence or receive their
sufRrages-
Metal Has No "Rights."
The rights Of silver" I'VE demand
the right TO have our silver coined into
legal tender dollars" are samples Of the
way in which silverites regard the white
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