The herald., 1896-10-06
SOUND MONEY


On the one side stand those who
claim that sound money is, and can
only be. a unit Of measuring value of
1922 grains of gold. All else must be
token and redeemable In this bold
unit. This claim Of what sound money
is sets no limit. Sound money the world
over Is the same. To these claimants
the gold unit alone makes sound money
for any country.
On the other side stand those who
claim that sound money in the United
States is the money Of the constitution.
This instrument provides that no state
shall make anything but gold AND sill
yer legal tender. "And'' is q conjunc-
tion. 1t joins together. There is no
that can make the word
land" exclude instead of unite. Gold
AND silver In tile constitution of the
United States means what?
What can 1t mean? There is but one
answer. 1t means a bimetallic standard
to consist Of a unit Of measure in each
metal. That unit Of metal in gold and
silver was and Is subject to modification
by congress.
Jefferson and Hamilton took the sill
yer dollar then current as basis. Fig
uring from the silver dollar of 371A
grains fine silver, these great represen-
tatives of conflicting theories of gov
ernment fixed the ratio at Is to l, which
made the gold dollar come out with
24.23 grains.
The gold dollar has since then been
changed twice in the amount Of gold
it contained. 1t was lessened in weight
until the ratio was finally 16 to 1. The
silver dollar Of 371A grains Of fine sill
yer has never been changed.
The first ratio prevented the intro
duction Of gold into the currency of the
country. Gold had never been used.
The American republic was founded
without it. The independence of this
nation was achieved without any of
what IAN impertinent self-righteous-
ness" calls the only honest money.
The second ratio and the third and
present legal ratio of 16 to excluded
silver. The silver dollar was the high
priced dollar. No one proposed to over
throw the constitution by degrading
gold and redeeming the inferior gold
dollar in the higher one of silver. No
one seems to have even thought of doing
away with the bimetallic standard, and
this, though it meant. as then arranged,
an alternating standard. Congress had
clearly constitutional authority to
change the amount of metal in either
standard dollar. 1t never had constitu-
tional authority to do away with either
precious metal as money. The consti-
tuition provided two metals for the
standard. In case of a shortage of one
or corner in it, the people had safe
means of escaping just what we are
now suffering from. The constitution
must be changed to authorize congress
to do away with either precious metal.
Gold AND silver" must be changed to
gold alone. Or, If the masquerade Is
still to be kept up by foreign nations
fixing our finances for us, it might be
amended to read gold OR silver" or
we might amend the constitution to
read gold. or bimetallism when Ickel-
heimer, Morgan. Belmont and Roth
schild say so." Even one of the Roth
schilds sees the folly of putting the
cinch on too hard lest excessive greed
defeat itself. Baron Alfred de Roth
schild favors bimetallism because he
does not wish to increase debt to point
where it cannot be borne. This 4, the
folly the ablest money man Of them
all foresees would most likely follow in
creasing debt solely by an increasing
value in things of the unit of measure
in which the debt was expressed. Had
the present policy of our secretaries of
the treasury always prevailed, of re-
deeming the cheaper standard measure
of value in the dearer, the gold dollar
would have occupied the same token or
fiat place from 1884 to 1873 that the sill
yer dollar has been relegated to- The
repeated acts Of congress give no war;
rant for the extraordinary and entirely
secretaries of the treasury against the
people in the payment Of the peoples
debt. If there were such acts they
would be clearly unconstitutional Gold
AND silver can not mean gold or silver
Sound money Is a term that can be
applied with more propriety to the sill
yer dollar that has always contained
the same number of grains of fine sill
yer, and that was the first dollar known
to the American nation, than to the
gold dollar, which has contained dlree
different amounts Of fine gold'and was
for near fifty years, dishonest dol
lar" to the extent Of being worth less
than the silver dollar.
The question Of which of our constitu-
tional metals, in the present weight of
metal congressional act has fixed. comes
nearest representing the things used by
our government, and for which the gov
ernment bonds were issued, is a fair
one for honest inquiry.
The weight OF testimony is decidedly
in favor of the silver dollar as being
the most accurate representation of the
true value in products of the public
debt.
This Is the case. in spite Of the fact
that silver has suffered from law-made
for twenty years. This idea of
a single gold standard is also a new
thing. unprecedented in the whole his
tory of the world, before this century
As far as honesty goes. the public debt
was contracted to be paid in "coin of
the United States" That coin was de-
fined in the statutes Of the United States
as consisting of a dollar OF silver of 371A
grains and q dollar of gold of 23. % grains
Of gold. The contract left the people