The herald., 1896-08-02
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!: POLITICAL
!: PARADOXES
BY N. L. RldBY

| extreme tariff for the protection Of oul
industries, and at the same time say 4
is also for purposes of revenue. One Of
the other of these positions must bt
false. For it is, of course. only such ar
extreme tariff as will cut off the impor.
tation of foreign goods that will protec
our industries. but there can surely bt
no revenue where there are no imports
On the other hand to give us revenue
we must have such a reasonable tariff
as will still encourage foreign manufac.
turers to place their goods upon oul
markets and compete with our manu-
facturers, but this, you will see, fails
entirely to give US protection. Free
trade, which nobody really advocates
for this country. will give us neither
protection nor revenue, but the ques-
ton has been raised whether, in the
long run, it might not bringus greater
benefits than either. At any rate we
shall find 1t safe to say less about tariff
and seek more to develop markets in
all the world for our productions. 1t is
only a temporary benefit to run our
mills under the protection Of a tariff,
and in one or two years shut them down
for want of markets for our goods,
which must inevitably be the case so
long as we sit down and pirate about
| nothing but tariff.
2. 1t is a political parodox to claim
| that gold has an intrinsic value, and to
say at the same time that the govern
| ment buys it at a specified price. For if
that supposed intrinsic value should
| chance to be more than the government
price, 1t is not reasonable to suppose
| that the government would buy 1t. And
/ II. on the other hand thR S1nnnSa6 va I a
| should chance to be less then surely the
| owner of the gold would not sell it to
| the government. But the fact is there
| is no such thing as fixed intrinsic value
| IN gold, or any other material product.
AS an article OF commerce strictly and
purely. its value depends wholly and
always upon the supply and demand.
But rs a metal admitted to the mint by
an act of congress for free coinage, its
value is, necessarily. what it becomes
when coined, less the alloy used in max
ing ii into money. And the same will be
the case with silver when admitted to
the mint on the same terms. And as the
government determines the value of
gold, it may also determine the value of
silver by the price it will pay for it for
free coinage. and the ratio of value be-
tween the two metals. They are, there
fore, both fiat money. that is money
whose value is determined by law, and
if both are thus treated our financial
system will stand on two legs instead
of one, each ready to relieve the other
in case of any special strain upon it,
3. 1t is a political paradox TO assert
that the free coinage of silver at the
ratio of 16 to / will destroy the indus
tries and commerce of our country, but
to say at the same time that we need
more money in circulation to build them
up. We cannot understand this, for
surely the free coinage of silver will
give the inst q SllrnlV the
free coinage of gold now gives it, and
worth as much, dollar for dollar, upon
the government valuation; but how this
money, just because of the way it is
coined, can destroy our industries. we
cannot see unless it be the great in
dustry of the present administration of
selling our bonds in foreign countries
for the liquidation of our domestic debts.
It Sr9Ilx G9pldd net e5Id deT5r Cns} yhs @
has already destroyed. We have. more
over. had the free coinage of silver in
this country during two-thirds OF our
national history without destroying a
single honest American industry. II
is not destroying the industries OF ia
nan or of the Argentine Republic, or OF
our neighbor, Mexico; but. on the con-
trary, these countries are prospering as
never before And this being the inva-
riable result, the London Commerce, a
strictly gold standard advocate. is com
PEELED to say: THE effect of coming
silver at the proposed ratio would, in all
probability. bring great boom IN
American manufactures of all kinds
4. 1t is a political paradox 10 claim
that the free coinage of silver will flood
our country with the silver of other
countries. notwithstanding the fact that
silver is higher in some other countries
than in our own. This would be an
anomaly indeed. and such display OF
| international charity as the world has
| never known. Just think of England and
! France pouring their silver in upon US
| at a sacrifice of thousands of dollars
J year, and poor India, too, at sacrihce
! vet greater. 1t makes me think the
millennium is near. Imagine, too, the
| silver of Mexico and South America
flooding our markets and our minis at
| : price less by one and two per cent
than othercountries are now giving them
for it. But. O, my countrymen, this is
too good to be true With silver in other
countries at IA and - to l, we can never
hope. however much we may pray that
it will ever flood our markets with our
ratio at 16 to /. We know, at any rate,
that during eighty-one years of free
coinage in this country we were never
flooded with foreign silver, but that on
| the contrary, our silver was at pre-
MUM of from one to three per cent in
European markets. But suppose the
| world. from some unearthly and unSelf-
! ish motive, should food us with its sill
Yer; it wouldn't be such frightful del
uge. after all. A the highest annual
production ever reached, of $1G0, 900, 900
and if all this were coined at our minis
and distributed equally among our TO-
600 600 people. we should have only a tri-
ile over 50 apiece. Such a flood would
never hurt this country, but it woulc
bring US business activity and prosper
ity, which we can never have while the
rich have the gold locked up in theil
vaults and the government has the sill
Yer locked up in the treasury in Wash
ington.
.. II is a political paradox to claim
that single gold standard will give u
the only honest money" but to advo
} cate also dual standard of gold aud sill
l Yer, if other countries will agree t.
adopt it. Now, the truth of this, if 1t b.
true, contradicts its honesty, and it
: honesty. if honest. denies its truthful
l ness. For if it be true it must meal
q that honest money is best only unit
i other countries agree that dishones
e money is better. But if it be honest
5 then it is not true that we are the indie
u pendent and leading nation we clair
: to be, but a nation that follows an
u fawns. Its honesty and integrity ma
therefore be questioned. And it prob
n ably means that all this talk abou
e honest money" is itself dishonest, an
u that it is mere political sop to speak {
e fav0ring a dual standard. 1t is the par
! adoX of a party made presumably t
+rl, I,AtI, It'd 30 fLn