, 1896-09-26

the value of gold would rapidly fall. The
purchaser g p Uer Of a sovereign would become
much less. This uouDd be good for people
who owed money and h@d for those VINO
had len. it; b. tie Governments would have
no powsi 10 interfere, any more lhan lley
could interfere with q fdl IN Wheat, II
cotton or a ' Other article. lfthfn Govern
ment's ran OF fix sthe valur II one thlhg.
how can they fix tie value Il tW0? me
snppoSitiou that th,1 can do 50 IS abSuld;aho
yet there are very many thousands. perhaps
a few millions even, Of people III the IlIitsd
States who are now clam 1url5g Tor lhl0 y DC
doup, and ale Tying to secure at TUE Iofth-
coming elections IA Government pledged
to DO This impossible thing. The new
GOVERNMENT they say, must allo" every
man VINO lus silver to take II to the
minf and have it coined at 3 relative
valnc to gold OF sixteen to one. Nor do they
stop here. for they know thnt at the present
moment there is silver IN the vaults OF Che
United States Treasury IN millions "h'ch
aanuot BE- used, brcaure the pubic doesn
want il These people Woald therefore au@
\ law making silvrr legal tendeI equally WIN
gold At sixteen to one. Nor Ito they step
even here, for, forescelng that people ,F"uIo
make private contracts to eNade such an
absurd law, some Of them PROPOSE t. make u
punishable to inter- Into such private cor.
tracts.
Suppose these people t. succeed at the
election and 10 get the proposed laws passed.
what would I've the results? Firstly, an In6
gold would leave the country, or be hidden
away in hope Of a rational reaction some gay
and silver would becoRle The only standard
Secondly, everything wonld be nomlll"lIy
doubled in price, labourers would receive
double wages and would pay double tor
everything. So far it wonId seem that listls
harm would be done. there would De "
change in the standard and nothing more
barring the confusion and consequent loss
caused d,uing the change, there W"uld 10 no
lose, Just AS there would be no gam. bu',
thirdly all debts contracted before the
change would be pnid in silver instead OF
gold, whick means for example mat a loan
Of $1,000 would be repaid by $500, IT Is true
that there are men nov III the Silver party
who hold that All debts contri cted 10 be Pa'u
III gold should be actually paid III gold; but
there are others who are not ashamed pun
liclv to advocate til, y stem OF robbery
above indicated and oyel 10 urge that me
national debt itself should be paId on IN IKE
manner.
The "silyer" party is supported IN the
West and South, not only because the SllVeT
mines are in The West, but because the egPl'al
used in the various enterprises Of the " est
and South mainly cones from the East. 10
repay tile Yankee" only half Of what he has
lent, and to do the same with the "bloated
English capitalist may lie = bright idea,
but it would ruia tie United Suites II 1t
oould be calied out. Fortunately there IS
good reason to think that common sense vail
get the victory and even should the Silver
ties triumph. (Which is extremely mpro,
bable), their leaders would ind themselves
face to face with such serious problems a'
would most likely force them 10 dlsappomt
their more sauguine followers by adopting
4 more moderate and theletolc less injurious
course.