Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1896-06-19
some HARD eAcrs.
They mt r-iilag Biows Against Free
Coinage At sixteen to OnS,

Hon. lloke Smith. secretary of the in
terlor. delivered speech in New York
on May 10 on the currency question.
IL IL speech that should be read by all
who buy aud sell or whu vote or have
influence with voters. II is as follows;
The people or this cotsniry make their
contracts payable In dollars. Unccr-
tainty as 20 the meaning of the word
dollar must create doubt as 90 the effect
al contracts and geOeral distrUst In busi-
ness,
The dollar OF the upitsd states az the
present time has n distinct meaning
II is equivalent 20 23.$e grains ot pure
gold. Paper dollars are merc PROMISES
To pay IN coin. Silver dollars. while they
contain bullion worth only about 80
cents each. have hccG surroupdvd nv
safeguards OF legislation limiting tho
number coined and supporting thcui oy
the credit Of thc government. 50 that
they have been kept on n parity with
gold dollars. Twcpty-thrce-tNc
one-hundredths grains of gold therefore
measure the value OF what ~ meant hv
dollar when the term is usod for
trade here. and this has been true for
about 90 years. with the exception Of
the period during which paper dollars
were deprecated.
Upon the door Of the house OF repre-
scntatiNes In 1889, when the hill was
pending which made fractional cur
rrncy subsidiary. Cyrus l.. Durham, Of
Indiana. who had charge OF the bill,
said:
IAN objection urged against THIS pro.
posed change is that H. gives ms gold
standard only. Gentlemen talk
about double standard Of gold and sill
vcr AZ n thing that exists, and that we
propose To- change. We have had but
single standard for the last thrce or four
Years; this has been and NOW IS gold; we
propose to let IL remain 80 and adapt sill
YER TO and regulate il by gold"
After this long experience in the use
Of dollars based upon e3.22 grams Of
gold the advocates of silver dcmnnd It's
flee, unlimited and ind, pendent coinage
oi thc present ratio.
This is really proposition 60 remove
from silver dollars the safeguards Of leg
islation which surround them, 20 with
draw the limit and 20 take from them
the support of the government. It!san
effort 10 reach a himctnlltc currency hy
the free AMI unlimited coinage rf t,vo
metals at fixed ratio which places 700
ccnts' worth of bullion ih the goid dot.
lar aud 90 cents worth OF Lull.pn in
the silver dollar.
Thecxpcrlencc Of cvcry country which
has attempted tLo free and unlimited
coinage Of the two metals nj a ratio aia
regarding the commercial value of Tho
bullion OF zach metal put hton dollar
hns been the coinage nnd use of the
cheaper metal and the loss a.. money of
the more valuable metal The prin-
ciple Is thus expressed by Sir Isaac
Gresham:
"If dcLOsed coin IS attempted 10 bc
circulated with full value coin. all of
the latter vii! disappear from cirouln-
ton, and the overVnlucd and dcbased
coin will alone remain, 90 the ruin OF
our commerce and business"
This Indlsputnblc doctrine was taught
IN the lAtR century Ly Nicholas Ores
me and again IA the 18Th century hy
Nicholns Copcrnicus. Coming down 10
17l7, Sir Isaac Newton, at that time
director OF tho mint OF England, de-
clared
III silver leaves the shores OF Eng
land in crowns or In ingois, the produce
of coins remeltcd. and gives place to
gold, IL Is because tho Waldo which TIC
monetary legislation assigns 10 II. In re-
Iation TO gold. is not c6rrect."o ~.
Apply the lesson practically TO 6Hr
own money. WITH free ahd unlimited
coinage Of gold and silver 10 the rIti6 OF
eiNtccn 10 one silver inonometallisIn
would result. and the measure of the
value OF oiir dollar would be 37iH grains
OF silver, worth about ~ grains of gold.
But tho advocates OF silver coinage
nsist that with 371H Prain5 Of silp6f
admitted i'm unlimited quantities 20 tho
mints for coinage, free OF charge. the
bullion v.-!ue of This number of grains
would necessarily be equal. before cold
Age. to the coined dollar This is true.
and II wonld be equally true OF 100
grains. or OF one grain. II admitted free
aud ti uhlinitcd Quantities 10 coinage.
Indeed. II chips we're admitted free and
In unlimited quaint titles to the privilege
il being stamped into doiiars. the chips,
before they were stamped, would be
worth as much hs The dollars afief they
were stamped. but Unfortunately The
i'ollars would be worth 10 more than
chips.
Another favoritc argument Of the free
silver advocates refers O the experience
Of France. nnd they inve "ir'hed all
over the country that France. Is."- s9I
10 1874, by fiNiag a legal ratio for tne
roipnge Of silver and gold (at fifteen
and onc-half to onel, kept The eomt1er-
cinl ratio between the ty 0 metals At tho
same figures. This naccurate state
inent has i@en one Of their principal
arguments. II they viii really examine d,
the history Of France. they Will fii,d that ,
before 1920 tho difference between the !
commercial value az gold and silicr cx- /
cteded ffireu and one half ia one. and ?
France bccnme silver nlonomctallic. '
Later ON, between 1870 ard $50 the ,
commercial difference was less than fif- '
teen aud one-half TO one. and ~ ance be- |
came gold monometallic.
From 1852 TO 1860 tie subject OF coin |
age OF gold and silver was frequently |
discussed by American statesmen. and |
no suggestion can be found. from any |
OF them. that the goycrpment could |
overcome even n sInali diiIetence i'm the |