Birmingham state herald., 1896-05-24
A HOME QUESTION: AFTERALL The United States Can and
 Should Stand Alone IN THIS MATTER OF MONEY Our Conditions the Reverse of Those of Great Britan-Ten Stawart Facts That
 Gordon the White Metal.
To the State Herald:

To the State Herald:
 Our consideration of the money ques- ton should not be based on our foreign trade, as is the case with the English With us the maintenance and upbuilding of our internal commerce is of first im- portance, and a system of finance that will accomplish that end is best for us, as 96 per cent of our entire commerce is at home, among ourselves. The Fennsyl- vania Railway company alone hauls more tons of freight per annum than the entire foreign freighting of Great Britain. Why then attempt to adjust our enor- mous local or internal business to the currency requirements of a country whose business is largely with foreign nations, and whose money demand is upon business of One-hftleth part or our commerce?
 The mission of money is to command goods-to purchase commodities. Adam Smith says it is "an order for goods on all tradesmen in the neighborhood." To us this can mean an order on money Of our own parentage, of our own coinage or issue, for truly we are citizens or the United States, rather than of the world. Compared with us, the population of the nations of Europe is stationary. We can not therefore, adjust our requirements to theirs. Why should we insist upon maintaining the gold standard and thus disturb the equities of all values, and through falling prices, which always fol low scarcity of money, relegate to idle. ness as we are doing, hundreds or thousands of our population by paralyz- ing all of our industrial interests in order, per chance, to have international money interchangeable the world over? The money of this country will always buy the money of other countries to the ex- tent of our imports, especially since the balance of trade is most always In our favor A lack of International money can neither act as an obstacle to our foreign trade nor as barrier to our gen. eral prosperity. An eminent American writer on political economy, In luml- nous article on bimetallism, says;
 But the suggestion that this country might have a sole silver currency IS the bogy that frightens many who know httie or nothing of the subject. To have Sole silver currency in their eyes means unparalleled disaster Such people com pletely ignore the fact that during the neriod that we had a sole gold currency no one thought that the country was threatened with ruin because the dearer silver was not coined. Such as gave the subiect a thought at all and had any real knowledge of the difficulty desired that the mistake of underwriting silver might be corrected, but they would nave Judged A man a fit candidate for the lunatic asy- lum had he asserted that disaster wou,a certainly follow the free coinage of gold because 1t was cheaper than silver.
 If a nation has resources and peo- ple capable of developing them 1t will increase it's wealth, no matter what sort of money it employs to circulate values. Between 1860 and 1880 the pre- eous metals, silver and gold, were not used to, circulate values in the United States. Our only currency was the green back-except Tn California. There was no demand for gold except that artih- cially created by promising to pay the in, Of that metal vet during the period in question, in spite of a devastating war, during which pro- duction was interrupted and vast quan- titles of property destroyed, the wealth of the United States increased from $l6,- 16O O0O GOO to $43 GAP 000, 900, or nearly three fold Tn twenty years. If the theory of those who make fetich of gold were sound this could not have happened. Nor while we were increasing our wealth at home did cur foreign trade suffer
 Further I maintained that the Unlted States can and should adopt the free, un- limited and independent coinage of silver, without regard to what other nations do.
 | Because 96 per cent of her commerce Is at home among her own people:
 2. Because she is country or conti- mental proportions. producing cereals Una. other nations are compelled to have and which they cannot and do not produce in sufficient quantities independently of the United States.
 B. Because the United states is great and growing nation. with resources so great that she has almost iimitless power of production and expansion, and can live within herself Because also the level of life of the masses is much higher than that of any other people on the globe, and because the opportunities of her citizen ship are so great that there is little limit to their ability to increase in wealth and independence.
 4. Because where other nations have four, five, twenty and even thlrty-hye millions of inhabitants located in small countries close together, the United States has 70,000,000 people located in a conti- mental country In no way dependent upon other nations for supplying it's wants.
 5. Because the United States was the first great nation, England excepted, to demonetize silver. cutting It from her hints in February 1S73.a when 1t was worth.3 per cent more than gold, and thus eua ahling Germany. France and the Latin