The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1896-10-28

and misery would fall upon the laborer,
and those in debt. that is upon the
mass Of our people. and make the rich
richer, and the poor poorer.
Crime and lawlessness would neces-
sarily increase, and driven by hunger
and despair, become rampant
Instead OF more money which bIr.
Bryan promised US. we have seen that
his election means a money famine for
year or more. and instead Of prosper
ity for the producers Of wealth" there
would be but losses, hardships and suf-
fering.
In view OF these Inevitable, and many
OF them conceded consequences Of Mr..
Bryan's election. is IT wise 10 put him
in?
BRYAN'S PROMISES.
In conclusion. let US examine some Of
Mr.. Bryan's other promises and argu-
ments and compare them with their un-
avoldable results.
Mr.. Bryan promises that his election
will give US the benefits OF bimetallisn.
In his speech accepting the nomination.
he said, 'If, in November, the people
by their ballots, declare themselves in
favor of the immediate restoration Of
blmetallism. the system can be inaugu-
rated within a few months"
What is bimetallism Cbi meaning two.
and metaD II not two metals in use in
the currency Of a country apart from
debased subsidiary coin)7
II a country has gold alone in It's
currency clearly that would not be BIZ
metallism. but gold monometallism.
SO. II country had silver alone. and
no gold in use in its currency. clearly
it would not have blmetallism, but sill
yer monometaIlism.
II. on the other hand. country had
silver and gold both in use in les cur
rency. that country would certainly
have practical bimetallism-
This is what Mr.. Bryan promises us
gold and silver both in use in our cur
rency.
But we have seen that II the mints
are opened to the free coinage Of silver.
it, being the cheaper metal, would drive
out the gold, and we should be left with
only silver for currency. This, as we
have seen, would not be bimetailism,
but silver monometallism.
Therefore. although Mr.. Bryan prom
ises bimetallism, that is not what he
would give us. but monometallism-a -and
silver monOmetallism at that.
One must not allow oneself to be-
come confused by names or phrases, or
even by beliefs or promises. One must
go by the true inwardness Of things.
1t win not do to believe that some
thing is bimetallism because somebody
says it is, when in reality it is silver
monometallism.
Calling silver monometalIism bimet-
allism does not make it so.
On the other hand. what have we in
this country today?
TRUE BIMETALLISM
The United States treasury statement
of October 1st. 1896. shows that we have
in circulation exclusive of treasury
holdings) s517,OOO,OOO of gold and gold
coin certificates, about s4l1 ,OOO,O 900 Of sill
yer dollars and silver certificates quite
apart from 100000, 900 Of subsidiary sill
yer COIN. Is not this practical bimet-
allism?
How much more bimetallic would we
be after we had driven out all the gold,
and left only silver?
In point of fact then it is apparent
that we already have practical bimetaI-
lism Though not free silver coinage),
and that If we have free silver coinage
we shall only get silver monometaIlism.
Although we already have bimetal-
lism, our measure of value is the gold
dollar, that is to say no matter which
kind Of currency is used in paying a
debt, whether a gold dollar. or silver
dollar, or a greenback, or a treasury
note, or silver certificate, they are all
by the gold dollar, which is
our unit or standard Of value. and at
the present time all these five different
kinds of currency are equal in purchas-
ing power to the gold dollar. And so
when any exchanges take place in this
country in which no money is paid. as
where payment is made by note, or by
the exchange of other property, the
are reckoned in dollars, and
the dollar in mind is, at the present
time, always equivalent in value to the
gold dollar. Thus the gold dollar is the
Tor Standard of value to which
all values of property and money are
referred in this country at the present
time, and by which they are measured.
ONE MEASURE OF VALUE.
This property of being the measure
or standarO of value. it will be OBJ
served. is quite distinct from the prop
erty Of being a medium of exchange.
Thus where one or more gold dollars
ire given in exchange for property.
hey not only serve as a measure (or
Of value but also as a medi-
I'm of exchange for that value; whereas
lad silver certificates been used, the
gold dollar would still have been the
Measure Tor standard of value of the
article purchased, while the silver certi-
Continued on Third Page)