Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1896-06-04
~. .-.m.u,er,, also tina. the cost Of

From this remembering also that the Cost OF
production has greatly decreased) we see lnao
the fan in the price OF silver has not been as
great a. we would naturally expect. how y
this accounted fort This wonderfully sustalnSN
price of silver can be accounted Tor N ohly
way-narnely b. an enormous increase IN me
use of silver. This has taken place In TWO u
rections:
has increased in the last quarter OF a century
several hundred per cent, - .ro
2. As money. There has been addeo 20 ~
full tender silver money OF the wGfld IN eno
last % years an amount equal TO the aceuM"
lations Of all the ages mp 20 thas time. .s,ur
In view Of these facts IL is simply trinlng
with words to say that silver mas been ~
r.rnetiZed. and to say that mar our m1hey
has been struck down is, plainly, TO tel al
unmitigated falsehood.
Production and Coinage of Silver In THIS
Country
Our annual production of silver is now ana
has been for years more than a thousand !lllts
as great az it was before the war. ana yet
there are leaders among the sllverites Hh9
find il necessary TO malign human nalure anu
attack the memory of good men III orner 20
explain why an ounce Of silver Is not worth as
much now as then.
Our total coinage Of silver since 1874 mp, TO
and including 1894, has been S5Ss. Al, 46V. rms
is an average of almost s20,UOO,VU a year, OF
ten times the highest average annual coihase
before 1873. And OF this coinage the vast sum
Of 2xsl, 80. 457 is In the form OF dollars, every
one Of which il full legal tender. such an
enormous coinage of silver was never dreamed
OF In the world before.
The Great Increase In Gold Production.
But some one might properly ask in this
connection. Has not the output 4I soia IN
creased also2'' The answer is, eyes, enor'
IN 20 1919 the worlds annual production Of
gold never but once reached tl4.VOo,Wo. WITS
In this last half century 10 never but once ieli
below 500, 600, 600, and in 1895 II was over wv,
100000. The world now produces more goIu
every month than 1T did IN a Sear nald q c cen.
duction of gold in these last 90 years exceeds
by far Its entire production for the preceding
400 years. This is the fact limited at in my col
leagues chart, but not clearly brought out.
And the annual production OF gold alone Is
now more than four times as great as was the
production of both gold and silver mp to 1870
This Is the fact, sir, which has sounded tho
deathknell Of the free coinage OF silver.
Theoretical Versus Practical Bimetallism.
The advocates Of the unlimited coinage OF
silver say ''Open the mints TO the free com
age of both metals. Then they VIII both De
coined, and both will circulate as money" But
though every country in Europe and America
has tried this experiment. though some are
still trying II. the advocates OF this method
cannot point TO q single instance In which their
method has ever succeeded. As we have al
ready seen. France had. with her minis open to
both metals. first a circulation OF silver up TO
about 1850, and then a reversal 10 gold only
Our own experience here in the United states
has been the same. Our coinage ratio OF 10 10
], from lT92 TO 1884. oyervaluod silver and un-
dsrvalued gold. 80 during those years. at least
the last 20 Of them. our circulation consisted
OF silver and no gold. The change Of ratio In
1884 and 1881 to 1888 TO commonly spoken Of
"a "ls TO ~ overvalued gold and undervalued
silver. and silver gradually retired from cir
4 culation a. money. No one would part with
3d. % grains Of silver 1.-THE amount Of pure sii-
yer In = dollar) for lD cents as money when
he could sell 10 for 1903 cents as bullion.
And this has been the experience OF every
nation that has ever tried the experiment: A
4 Hns,hl afnpdart IA tharafnra an alsarnAtsnu
standard. II Is not binetallism. but one-at-a'
time metallism.
,whas the people want Is the use Of both met.
ais. each In the way that viii best serve their
purposes. They want tho actual circulation Of
both. not simply the promise OF IT,. You free
.iiverites Offer them a method that has always
failed and In the nature of things always will.
We offer u method that has never failed under
normal conditions. and that IL why 10 has been
adopted by all the leading nations OF the world.
You offer q law permitting both TO be coined.
hoping that both will be. We offer a plan
| whereby the desired result Is secured with Ger.
tainty. Yours Is tho bimetallism OF the statute
! book. Ours IL tho bimetallisn Of the counting
room. Yours Is theoretical bimetallism. Ours
y practical bimetallism.
A Short History Of Coinage.
In the evolution Of money the metals gradu.
ally superseded all other commodities Us the
medium OF exchange. Iron and copper came TO
be produced In such quantities that they ceased
TO be precious metals" and gave way to sill
yer. In the course OF time. AS civilization and
tue mum " tTnic TtQulTtu u kolu WuS III
reduced into one country after another. In
this evolution q nations needs and progress
can be pretty accurately determined by noting
ths kind OF money used by II.
At first the metals passed by weight. To save
the trouble OF carrying scales and the danger
OF being cheated by means Of alloys the custoia
gradually grew mp OF having the ruling prince
cut the metals into pieces Of convenient size
and shape and stamp on one side Of the piece
Its weight and tneness land later on its WORTH
and on the other side the features of the prince
ms the author of the stamp. This was the origin
Of coinage.
But princes were sometimes tempted by
their greed or their need to put into the coins
less OF the metal than they should. Then, In
order TO compel people TO accept these dehased
coins In pay ment OF obligations, the princes de-
creed that the coins must be accepted. This
was the origin of what are known as illegal
tender" laws.
For hundreds Of years the money Of Rome
In our English word estimate" The Latin
for copper Is 'aes, and TO estimate literally
means TO give the value in copper. About 80
u. q. copper was dethroned and silver became
the standard money. About $50 Is. G. gold be-
gan to be used in Rome as money. With the
fall OF Rome Europe was for about five cen.
turies almost entirely without gold MONEY,
the currencies of medieval Europe being OF
silver and copper. The reintroduction Of gold
coinage began At Florence, Italy, IL 1852 With
the coinage Of the form.
As q result of the Crusades the OF
Florence, Genoa, Venice and other states lying
along the Mediterranean had so increased as
TO demand the use OF a more convenient money
than silver. Gradually other nations, as their
commerce became great enough, introduced
the use OF gold money with silver money. The
Crusades not only enlarged trade along the
Mediterranean, but they also opened up "a
Europe the then only gold yielding districts
the Crimea-so that the demand for gold money
and the source Of supply came together. The
use OF gold ms money was thereby both neces-
STATED and made possible.
Then began the coinage of both metals. Then
began, too, as u consequence, the monetary
troubles with which the history Of the next
nye centuries abounds-the alienation of sill.
yer money and gold money, the frequent
changes in the ratio in the vain attempt Ia
keep both. the edicts against shipping out
either kind of coin. the execution OF promi.
nent merchants and others for seeking gain
by exporting the metal undervalued in the
mtnts of one country and overvalued in the
minis Of another. These ''open minis for both
metals were not in consequence Of any theory
OF "bimetallism, y but Of what Leon Say, quot
ed before. so aptly characterize as 'the prim.
tive inability Of the Legislators TO combine to.
gether the two precious metals otherwise"
Oresme. Copernicus, Gresham and others
had at different times and in different coun.
tries pointed out the source of the trouble, but
the primitive inability OF the legislators left
the countries without a remedy. And the
supply OF gold and silver was SO small las will
be seen by reference TO the table showing their
annual production) that the nations kent on,
hoping against hope (as we are ant TO do when
NUa A0n 40 As--N a.