News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1896-06-04
SILVER.
What We Have Done for 1t, and the
Result.
From the New York World ]

INtsults
from the New York World.
Silver demonetized itself in 1873
1t was left out of the coinage act oil
that year because the silver dollar
was worth more than a dollar. No.
body wanted to waste money by
coming at 16 to l silver which was
worth L for every 1892 as mere
metal.
By 1873 silver had so increased in
production and fallen off in price that
it would have required a ratio oil
1894 to l to make good money OF
it. The friends of silver" called
upon the government to restore the
value of the metal by passing the
Bland-Allison act, and Congress did
so. The government for twelve years
bought and coined $24,O00,OOO
worth of it each year. But so far
from restoring it's value the result
was, that at the end OF twelve years
the ratio between silver and gold was
1876 to 1.
Then came the demand for larger
purchases. The Sherman law was
passed requiring the government to
buy 81, 100000 ounces of silver each
year and put it into circulation in the
form of full legal tender notes. This
the silver leaders declared would at
once put silver back to it's old ratio
With gold by absorbing the whole
American product. But it had pre-
cisely the opposite effect. By 1894
the value OF silver had so declined
that it's ratio to gold was 1886 to
1, and the distrust of our finances
which these concessions to silver had
aroused caused a disastrous panic,
the export of $200,00O,00O of gold,
the enormous return of American Sc
curities and distressing paralysis
of business, from which we have not
yet recovered.
The country is now asked to make
another and still madden experiment
1t is asked to throw it's minis open
to the free and unlimited coinage of
all the silver in the world at 16 to 1
when it is worth about l to 80, with
a prospect of still further decline.
The demand is made upon the plea
that the country should "do some
thing for silver" Yet it has already
done more for silver than any other
country ever did and more than it
could afford to do. 1t has put $780,
100000 of silver into circulation. 1t
has choked the vaults of the treasury
with bullion for which it has neither
use nor a market and which it
could not sell to-day for nearly what
it paid for it. 1t has issued in pay
ment for this metal great and en-
barrassing volume of treasury notes
which it has constantly stood ready
to redeem in gold on demand. In
order to do this it has issued soma
hundreds of millions of bonds on
which it must pay interest.
All this has been done for silver,
with panic and FRUSTRATED industry
for results. The only effect, so far as
silver is concerned, has been to reduce
it's value one-half.
Yet we are now asked to invite
financial chaos by doing more, by
making silver our only money at
fifty cents on the dollar, by repudi-
ating half our indebtedness, national,
state, municipal, corporate and in
dividual. We are asked to drive all
the gold out of the country, to de-
stroy our foreign credit, to endure
such currency contraction as the
world has never known in any coun-
try, and to sink our nation to the
level of South American state, all
for the sake of enabling some silver
miners to enrich themselves and
some dishonest debtors to defraud
their creditors.
The World does not believe that
the American people will listen to
such counsels of the winds. 1t does
not believe that either of the great
parties can win upon such a program.