People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1896-07-02
metals IL kept the market price Of silver sp.
proximately steady at the ratio fixed by law
between them-namely, l51f toll.


should have been capable Of keeping the mar.
ket price Of silver steady at approximately
that ratio.
The view that 1t could only affect the mar
ket price to the extent to which there was a
demand for 1t for currency purposes il the
Latin union, or TO which it was actually taken
to the minis Of those countries is We think.
fallacious.
The fact that the owner Of silver could in
the last resort take 1t to those mints and have
1t converted into coin which would purchas,
commodities at the ratio Of 49, Of silver TO
OF gold would, in our opinion, be likely To a.
feet the price Of silver in the market general
~, whoever the purchaser and for whatever
country II was destined. II would enable The
seller to stand out for a price auproximatinp
10 tne legal ratio and would tend to keep tie
market steady at about that point.
The situation in France and the mature
and theory Of the bimetalic adjustment
are admirably set forth In the following
eloquent words Of Cernuschi in the mons.
tary conference Of 1881:
Until 1874 clear and sonorous voice
was always heard resounding from the
banks OF the Seine. Il said: 4 am
France, rich In gold and rich in silver.
can arrange that in the entire world the two
metals form but one money. Peoples and
nations, bring to Paris all the gold and
silver you like. l take it all Fora hun.
dredweight Of gold, or for 1511 hundred.
weights OF silver, will always give YOU
the same quantity OF francs. Let the pro.
duction OF one metal or the other be more
or less abundant, more or less costly. 1,
Will be immaterial to me- Peoples and
nations, do you want goldi Bring silver
Do you want silverS Bring gold. As bi.
metallists the French have no preference
for one metal or the other. They will al.
ways make exchange for you, If you know
how to ask 1t, Of one metal for the othei
on the basis of l5l1, and in the two hem.
ispheres the relative value of the two
metals will always and everywhere he the
same"
A Question Of Judgment.
The reason why France was able to d
this was that her commerce was great
enough and varied enough to give employ
ment and exchange to all the metals Of
either kind that were offered for coinage
As have before said, the test of ability tt
maintain parity between the metals i:
the power, founded on extent and variety
of uses for money, to absorb them In com
merce. Whether the United States could
Independently achieve this result is not,
perhaps, absolutely demonstrable. 1t is E
question of Judgment. My own opinion
Is that the task is not beyond US, and that
though some international concert Is pref
cradle, independent action Is much to BE-
preferred to the indefinite continuance OF
the present system. In this connection
wish merely to call attention, in passing
to the fact that 1t was the powerful inAu
ence OF the French mint that caused, first
the gold (when our mint ratio was Is tc
l and Frances 15]1 to y and then the sill
yer when We had changed to l6 to y tC
leave the United States and go to France
1t was exactly as if commodity were tc
seek the highest market. But il she took
our gold she sent Us her silver and vice
versa. The process was natural and not
harmful Both metals were somewhere
performing full money functions for all
the world.
When asked whether England could sue
cessfully alone undertake the maintenance
OF the parity Of gold and silver with open
minis, Sir Henry Huoks Gibbs said, "AnJ
great commercial nation can do it."
We do not sufficiently realize what 9
powerful nation we are and what we car
do II we set about 1t. We need little oil
the spirit Of l77e. Why, we are NOR,
afraid Of England now, after we have
grown big enough to whip all creation,
than our fathers were when they could
count no more population than the state
OF Ohio has now. So long as we want hel
TO do 1t England will manage our money
system for us, and we may depend on hei
having an eye on England interests while
she Is at it
/ make the assertion that In nearly ev.
cry respect the conditions enabling a ma
ton to support o system Of bimetallism
are today more favorable to the United
States than they were TO France from 1906
to 1878.
To begin with (see chart D), from 1905
to 1870 the average number Of ounces OF
silver In the world In coin and available
for coming was 30 times as great as the
number Of ounces Of gold. Yet she made
1t possible during all that time to 20 into
the market and buy as much with 15H
ounces Of silver as could be bought With
one ounce Of gold. Today thers are only
l6 times as many ounces Of silver in the
worlds stock as Of gold. Our ratio Of
coinage, 10 to I, would, to commence with,
almost exactly correspond to the natural
ratio BY weight Ought 1t not to be very
much easier to float two metals at IS to /
when the relative amounts Of them are
practically Just that than to do it when
there were twice 40 many ounces Of silver
10 one Of gold as the ratio called forY
Again, II the demand for the use Of a
metal is the test Of ability to maintain Il
at parity, the case % still stronger. In sx-
tent and variety Of power to give employ
ment to money the United States today is
immeasurably greater In respect to the
general capacity Of the world than was
France 30 and more years ago. Says Null
hall, the worlds greatest statistician, IN
North American Review, June, 1895:
IF We take 0 survey Of mankind in an
oient or modern times as regards the phys
ical, mechanical and intellectual force Of
nations we find nothing to compare With
the United States In this present year Of
1895. The physical and mechanical pow
er which has enabled a community Of
woodcutters and farmers to become In less
than 100 years the greatest nation in the
world is the aggregate Of the strong arms
Of men and women, aided by horsepower,
machinery and steam power applied TO the
useful arts and sciences Of everyday life"
The relative extent TO which a nation
uses steam power illustrates perhaps as
well as any one thing can the degree 10