Evening journal., 1896-10-19


Standard silver dollars. .......... 2iS259. 76i
subsidiary silver coin.............. 75O3i,1li
Total ........,,.... ...............S .SSi7 104 020
THE GOLD AND SILVER DOLLAR
ARE EQUIVALENTS
The gold and silver dollar have been
and still are interchangeable one with
the other. They have been and now
are or exactly equal legal value, and Of
precisely the same purchasing power.
Everywhere in the United States the
silver dollar will buy Just the same
quantity Of the necessaries Of life as the
gold dollar. AS measures Of value and
equivalents of exchange they mutually
support and equalize each other. and
have so uniformly and benefcially
acted in all our history. Gold and sill
yer constitute the basis OF our financial
system. They are the two massive pill
lars upon which our country has rested
the vast mechanism of her material
prosperity, and upon which she has
builded a structure OF such wondrous
financial proportions.
OUR MONETARY SYSTEM HAS
BEEN AND NOW is BIAiETALLIC.
Whatever, therefore, may be said OF
the fact that at certain periods gold has
been the cheaper and more commonly
used metal; that at other periods silver
has superseded it for a series of years,
or Of the fact that at times they both
have disappeared practically from cir
culation, and have given place to paper
and other currency, still gold and silver
fnUpfhars "a
to be the duplex basis OF our past and
present national finances. If one was
more abundant in use, the other was
ready at hand to meet emergencies and
spring up like the invisible warriors OF
Roderick Dhu to meet every crisis.
The system comes to us tested by the
experience Of nearly one hundred years
of grand national success. IL is com
mended by the teachings OF the wisest
of our political economists.
The single gold-standard system pre-
vailed in our country only from 1878
to 1S7S-fve years. They were five OF
the most disastrous years OF our his
tory.
In the light OF past experience we are
called upon to-day to decide practically
whether we shall become a monome-
whether our coins shall be gold only
or gold and silver
No thoughtful person will deny that
the establishment by law OF the golC
/ dollar as the sole unit and standard Of
value must necessarily demonetize sill
yer and make it merely a matter o.
merchandise. All property, including
silver, would then be measured by th'
J ~ ~ fr
| proposition now before us.
There is a class OF men who asser
that II we stop the coinage OF silve
!, dollars that alone will enhance it
/, value, keep il on a par with gold. an
thus establish bimetallism. In othe
words, the best way to insure its use i
not to use it at all. For this is tn
I logic OF the reasoning.
MEASURES OF VALUE.
The advocates Of gold as the stan
dard of value assert that gold is a NOR
stable and uniform measure of valu
than silver, and, as the precious metal
is more convenient for use in larg
quantities.
1t is conceded to be more convenien
for use in large coins, but Il must als'
be conceded that for coins OF smalle
denomination IL is so minute as to b.
Of no service. The gold dollar coil
could not be kept in circulation and m
attempt has ever been made to use
in smaller denominations. For sue
smaller coins, silver has been in con
stant use. 1t is equally true that il
, large quantities neither gold nor silve
is delivered, or actually passes fror
hand to hand. This is usually effecte
by check, draft, or other commercia
device.
AS a measure of value, gold is nc
fixed nor can il be. In the past It ha
constantly fluctuated. Silver has bee
the more stable of the two, measure
, by labor. In the nature of things ther
can be no absolutely fixed measure {
value; such measures are relative bs
cause of dual function Of being at th
same time a measure of value and a
equivalent OF exchange, the latter fun'
. ton removing it from fixed measur,
/ as a yard stick and the like, whic
measure quantity only, not quality.
Adam Smith says:
Human labor is a more correct meal
ure of intrinsic value than either 81
yer or gold.
q The multiple standard, or the ave
age price of a number OF the necessa,
q les of life for a specific time, is anoth,
n method of expressing the same thougl
and is advocated by many. The.
have the merit of making labo
8 the creator Of capital, measure the crei
o ture and not the creature measure u
n creator.
n The gold measure, the ideal yari
! stick of speculative statesmen, is ther
;. fore a variable quantity in proportiC
! to its scarcity and other conditions, an
/, II left alone would be an arbitrary al
"A capricious master. All property ar
n values would expand or shrink wit
= its abundance or scarcity, either nat
9 raj or artificial.
1t is estimated that all the gold in Il
world could be compressed In a cube
q twenty-nine feet square Small in bul
70 usually controlled by a few. we shou
n on the gold basis be at the mercy
w the great money-kings and Of financi
In centres. This would consummate Il
IA idea lately announced on this foe
with an 40 triomphe" air that gold
king"
We need the corrective and modif
,e inc fnf1uancp Of silver the other mOnl