The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-10-15

sllyer). If silver Is as good as oroId
ior the needs of commerce. il will NOT
need to clamor for its rights" The
cfux or the matter is, it is not nre-
IeTred 70 gold; and all the fuss about
silver arises from an artificial attaront
to put back the discarded and unnre~
ierred metal into the position II once
neIo before gold, as the preferred metal.
uioVe II out. There is nothing Obscure
Al an tne rail- In value of silver. Legisia-
lion mas CHOSEN gold rather than silver.
i'ol because law can make one
VI the other valuable; bur be-
cause law registers the wishes
ana wants Of the people. De-
menehzation of silver is but an ex-
preston In Germany or the limited
states Of the fact that gold is a better
standard from the commercial point of
view OIL the business people Of those
states. NO law would be effective that
was not based on the needs and opin-
ions OF the community: otherwise If
would be a dead letter.
Inc abundance of the new gold
H5, 800. oO0,000) allowed one country
aIter another to aid the evolution Of
the gold from the silver standard
mere enumeration of these events will
De sufhcient for US: the act of 1859 in
Inc United States, virtually accepting
the gold standard followed by the ant
OF l813); adoption Of gold by Germanv
IN 1873; d1scontinuance of silver coin
age by Holland in 1875; cessation of Sill
ootHdge, IN order to preserve the
solo standard, by France. italy. Bel
gum and Switzerland in 1873: stoppage
y, ~ SILVER coinage by Austria Hungary
III 1873 the resumption Of specie paw
nenls IN gold by the United States in
4ots; resumption Of gold payments by
Iraiy In 1882; adoption Of measures to
secure gold standard by Austria
m
age by India in 1893; repeal OF nI,r-
chase clause of Sherman act bv an
uprising or business interests of the
United States in 1893 November n.
measures taken to establish the gold
standard in Russia, 1896.
II mas been claimed that silver and
gold have varied in value ACCORDING
to their respective bulk in existence a+
di11erent periods from 1900 to recent
years. such reasoning is one of the orr
loSltleS OF monetary discussion. The raI-
awe values of two articles have MOTH
ing to do with their respective weight /.
or Dulk, any more than a mans in
Huence and capacity varies according
10 his size and fairness. To argue
moreover. that the value of silver tn
goId Is determined by the relative
amounts in existence at different
PERIODS is an absurdity: because it 1s
an economic folly to speak as if ac-
COuAI ASou De taken only of SuDDlV
and nothing whatever of demand in
determining value. If the world had
81 tons OF silver to one Of gold in 1900
1o2O. and silver stood at 1:15b to gold
that value was fixed not merely by
the supply, but also by the demand
for that supply. And. today, if there
are more tons Of gold relatively to silver
than in 1sOO-1S20, the relative value of
silver to gold depends on a vastly
greater number Of things than mere
tonnage. In fact. the demand for gold
is greater than the demand for silver
exactly because Its bulk is less than
that of silver. AS silver has increased
by unheard-of tons, it has became less
stable in value, for no other reason
than copper or ore would vary in value.
And IN many other respects the de-
mand for gold differs from the demand
for silver. They are not things of the
same kind; demand for money can
not be Unfortunately satisfied either
by gold or silver, any more than de-
mand for food is equally satisfied by
wheat or corn. s...s-ss
j. Laurence Laughlin.