The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-05-27
tCoDtioDed from. lSeeo,,j paoe


I. In Che arts. The use OF silver In the arts
has Increased In the last quarter of q century
several hundred Per cent.
Z. A. money. There has boon added e. the
full tender silver money OF the world in the
last x years AN amount equal 20 the accumu.
iations Of all the ages up to that time.
with words % say that silver has been de
monetized and 10 say that "half our money
has been struck down" Is, plainly, To tell an
unmitigated falsehood.
Production and Coinage Of silver In This
Country.
Our annual production OF silver Is now and
has been for years more than a thousand times
as great a. II was before the war and yet
there are leaders among the silverites who
md 10 necessary TO malign human nature and
explain why an ounce OF silver is not worth "A
much now as then.
Our total coinage Of silver since 1873. up "a
and including 1894. has been S5tS. 444, 467. This
Is an average of almost t25.0OO.oO0 year on
ten times the highest average annual coinage
before 1873. And Of this coinage the vast sum
or $43l 53O. 45I Is In the form Of dollars. every
one of which Is full legal tender. Such an
enormous coinage Of silver was never dreamed
OF In the world before.
The Great Increase In Gold Production.
But some one might properly ask in this
cpsassa Tho not the output q gold In
mously."
Up TO 1913 the worlds annual production Of
BOid never Dut once reached tl4UU,UUU, while
In this last half century ID never but once fell
below Sl00, 0OO, 900, and In 1895 IL was over $500
00O0O0. The world now produces more gold
every month than II did In year half a cen
fury ago. In other words. sir, the worlds pro
duction OF gold In these last 80 years exceeds
by far Its entire production for the preceding
400 years. This Is the fact limited at In my col
leagues chart. but not clearly brought out
And the annual production Of gold alone II
now more than four times as great as was the
production Of both gold and silver mp. to 1870
n fa0f atr xxht h.a 1.A n.
deathknell OF the free coinage Of silver.
Theoretical Versus Practical Bimetallism
The advocates Of the unlimited coinage OF
silver say: "Open the mints to the free coin
age Of both metals. Then they will both be
coined, and both will circulate az money. But
though every country In Europe and Americs
has tried this experiment, though some are
still trying II. the advocates OF this method
cannot point to a single instance in which Their
method has ever succeeded. As we have al
ready seen, France had. with her mints open u
both metals. first q circulation Of silver up u
about 1850, and then reversed to gold only
has been the same. Our coinage ratio OF 10 e
l, from 1902 TO 1884, overvalued silver and un
deryalued gold. so during those years, at leas
the last 20 Of them, our circulation consisted
of silver and no gold. The change Of ratio II
1884 and 1887 to 1898 to commonly spoken o
as 'l6 to ~ overvalued gold and undervalueC
silver. and silver gradually retired from cir
culation as money. No one would part will
B7l. 25 grains Of silver (tlie amount OF pure sill
yer In a dollar) Tor lOO cents a. money wheI
he could sell It for 1903 cents as bullion.
And this has been the experience OF every
nation that has ever tried the experiment. A
double standard IL, therefore, an alternating
standard. 1t is not bimetallism, but one-at-a
time metallism.
What the people want is the use Of both met
ais, each in the way that will best serve theil
purposes. They want the actual circulation o
both not simply the promise Of 1t. You FIRE,
silverites offer them method that has AWAY,
failed and in the nature of things always will
We offer q method that has never failed under
normal conditions, and that Is why II has beer
adopted by all the leading nations of the world
You offer a law permitting both TO be coined
hoping that both will be. We offer plaI
whereby the desired result Is secured with Ger
tainty. Yours Is the bimetallism OF the statute
book. Ours Is the bimetallism Of the counting
room. Yours is theoretical bimetallism. Ours
Is practical bimetallism.