The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-09-24
Is HE A BIMETALLIST OR SILVER
MONOMETALLIST?
POPOCRAT NOT CLEAN CUT
Does He Not Know that His Statements
sible? Arrangement by Democrat.
Mr.. W. j. BrNan:

SOlu ana SILVER, III concurrent circula-
tlon as money, of equal purchasing
power and eXchangeable one for the
other at the face value OF the coins?
Second-WOuld you call it bimet-
allism if the free and unlimited coin
age of silver at 1G to / by the United
States resulted il driving gold out of
circulation and reduced our monetary
system to silver mOnOmetallism?
Third-Unless the intrinsic value of
the silver dollar was equal to the in
trinsic value of the gold dollar, do you
think the gold dollar would exchange
for silver dollar after your free-coin-
age scheme was established?
FOurth-Do you think your free
coinage silver dollar would exchange
at par with the gold dollar in the ex-
changes of the world? Unless it
would, do you think we could engage
in the commerce of the world unless
we paid the difference between gold
value and silver value?
Fifth-lf the gold dollar Of standard
weight and fineness would purchase
7423 grains Of pure silver in every
other country in the world, do YOU
think any of those countries would
accept our Is to 1 free-silver dollar (0f
31lt grains) i'll settlement OF gold
dollars worth of trade balance?
SiXth-lf we open our mints to sill
YER and make the free-coinage silver
dollar legal tender in the payment
of debts in the United States, do YOU
think these silver dollars would be a
legal tender in payment of debt out
side of the United States without the
consent and agreement of other ma
tiOns?
Seventh-Whent the American mer-
chant buys bill of goods abroad he
buys at the gold standard prices, and
when your free-coinage scheme is es-
tabHshed in the United States our
merchants will continue to pay foreign
bills i'll the money of the world. which
in gold. If your free-coinage scheme
depriVeS the American merchant of
gold and gives him only deprecated
silver dollar, will he not be compelled
to pay the intrinsic value of two silver
dollars for every gold dollars worth
of goods purchased?
Eighth-Do you think that goods
purchased with gold Tor in full equiva-
LENT could be sold to the American
consumer for less than their equiva-
lent in gold?
puts a 50-cent silver dollar into circu-
latiOn and the merchant is compelled
to accept such money for the goods he
sells, will it not be necessary to estab-
llsh what are known as silver prices?''
as follows:
Sugar per pound lin gold)~................... OF
Sugar per pound Gn silver .................. .OS
Flour. per barrel lin gold so
Flour, per barrel dn silver)................7 100
n in trF1A1
Tea. per pound dn silver .................... 90
Tenth-You have promised the peo-
pie all sorts of things, and if you be-
heve half of your statements to be
true you ought to be able to give a
good reason for the faith within you.
This free-cOinage scheme is too Sc
riOus a matter to be accepted by the
American people on the mere faith of
an inexperienced young man, who
sets up a new theory of finance at
variance with the judgment of the
nations of the earth, and who, further
more, is suspected of being engaged
i'll revolution that would set in mo-
ton forces beyond human control. |
am a DemOcrat-but | believe YOU to
be in error and refuse to follow YOU.
L regard your scheme of finance as a
Vagary, born OF a perverted conception
and fraught with evils destructive
of our national life. Your statements
do not analyze well. You have said:
First-That free silver would re-
duce the purchasing value of our gold
dollar.
Secondhand free silver would
raise prices.
Third-That free silver by the
United States would make a silver
dollar equal, in intrinsic value, to a
gold dollar in all the markets of the
world.
Fourth-That free silver would give
us a cheaper dollar with which to pay
our debts.
Now let us analyze these state
ments:
First-lf you succeed in reducing
the purchasing power or value of our
gold dollar in this country and at the
same time raise the intrinsic value or
purchasing power of the silver dollar
TO equality with gold in other coun-
tries, will you kindly inform us how
the gold dollar and silver dollar could
be of equal value in this country?
SecOnd-The value of gold will re
main the same as it is now in other
countries; so, therefore, if you reduce
its purchasing value here it would be
worth less here than in Europe. If
while reducing the value of gold in
this country you raise the value of
silver dollars to par with gold in Eu
rope, silver will be above par with
gold in the United States
Is this the way you are going to
make the silver a cheaper dollar to
pay debts with?
You have told the people that they
will be required to pay their honest
debts in dollars of full value as meas
ured by the worlds gold standard.
You have promised TO give the people
a cheaper (silver) dollar if they will
elect you President of the United
States. According to your New York
speech in Madison Square Garden you
will give them this cheaper dollar in
the form of silver COINED at 16 to y
equal in intrinsic value to 100 cents in
gold in all the markets of the world by
the present gold standard. Evidently
you have got miXeda little. Your
statements do not harmonic. A
sense of pity for you suggests that
somebody state your case for you in
order that the people may distinguish
Mr. Bryan, the silver monometallist,