The herald., 1896-02-02
FREE COINAGE OR FREE 1RADE
BY THOIAS q. SIBERIAN

Although do not mean to disguise my
opinion upon the silver coinage question,
nor indeed upon any other question, it is
not my intention to enter now upon dis
cussion of the abstra 1t question of silver
coinage generally. It will be necessary to
deal with that subject in part; but shall
seek to do 50 in a spirit which is not out of
harmony with that of any intelligent and
reasonable man whose mind is open TO
conviction. decline in advance TO argyle
the abstract qYes ion of free silver coinage
with anybody, at present.
Let 1t be assumed that the free coinage
of siluer would expand the currency of this
country, by the whole amount of silver
supposed to be lying idle in Europe, and
by all the production of this and other
countries. That could not happen without
our parting with most OF our ocE of gold,
in exchange for European silver; and, as
gold would certainly rise to premium,
cannot see how it would be possible for
our currency to be increased very largely.
On the contrary, it seems to me that we
should have a contraction rather than ex-
pansion. But suppose that there Is a large
expansion, who will get the benefit of it?
WudI VIII IL uO W Teilouy ttlo OWLS W
which all social reformers complain? 1t is
expected that prices will rise; but If they
do, prices of all goods will rise; and as we
are all buyers, we shall have 20 pay as
many extra dollars for what we buy as we
receive for what we sell. The only people
who can profit by the imitation of prices are
those who are shrewd enough to foresee it
skillful enough to buy goods on long credit
in advance of the rise, in short specula-
tors. But how many of our people are or
ever can be successful spectators? 1t is
impossible that SO many as one in hun
dred can be.
What is the evil, of which farmers al
liances and all the masses complain? Is
1t not the unequal distribution of wealth?
How is that to be cured by the free coinage
OF silver? Suppose the currency were
doubled by that means; who would get the
benefit of the increase? The man who
had nothing before the increased coinage
would have nothing after it. If it were
distributed by natural methods, with per.
feet equality, the man who was worth
$l,OOO,O00 would get one hundred times
as much OF the benefit as the man who
was worth 5 0,O0O, and q thousand times
as much as the man who had only $1,000.
The utmost which a farmer can hope for
would be that his little wealth would in
crease in the same proportion as the Van
derbil g or the Astors'; and this would
only further increase the enormous gap
between him and them. But the laborer,
having no property except his clothes and
scanty furniture. would not even get this
small benefit. He would find the prices of
all his food and clothing increased: while
his wages would not rise. until his savings
had been exhausted in strikes and lockouts.
Even then. his wages would lag for years
below the rise in prices, as they did be.
tween 1861 and 1870.
But there would be nothing like equality
in the distribution of the increased cur
rency. Most of the benefit, whatever it
might be, would inevitably go to shrewd
and watchful capitalists. We do not need
to theorize about this. Any man who
lived through recent periods of initiation
knows that this is true
The country has gone through periods OF
imitation and contraction, over and over
again; and yet. through all alike, the con.
centration Of wealth has gone on without
>a~~ins. II may be. - u generally b.