Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1896-12-24
TRUTH ABOUT SILVER
GEORGE S. BOWEN ANSWERS
BANKER GEO. B. SLOAN.
How an Act OF Parliament Fixes the
Value of English Redemption Money
The Same Law Would Redeem White
Metal-AR Englishman's Plain Argu-
ment.

|
the late campaign, Mr.. Geo. B. Sloan
Of Oswego, said: Money cannot b.
created by any agency on earth in de
fiance Of laws which nature has de
creed, and any effort to do 1t will brinl
ruin to those who undertake 1t, ant
suffering to all who come under thu
dominion of such attempts"
It Is fact that in 1874 the British
parliament passed an act which pro
Vides that the Bank of England mus
pay to any person presenting for salt
to the bank an ounce Of gold bullion
&3 It's. Cd, and that the coin value O.
the English sovereign should be cur
rent on the basis of f3 It's. 1Ohd. fol
an ounce of gold. 1t occurs to my MIND
that such legislation had the effect Of
making a fixed market price below
which 1t cannot advance
which gold bullion cannot go, as well
as a fixed price beyond which 1t cannot
advance so far as the debt paying
power Of a sovereign can be utilized as
money.
If the debtor owed one hundred
pounds sterling he could discharge that
debt on the payment Of one hundred
soverelgns. If, under any circum-
stances he should be compelled to pay
an advance over the bank rate for his
sovereigns he could not discharge with
them greater debt than one hundred
pounds. Let us suppose that our minis
were opened to the unlimited coinage
of silver dollars at the ratio of 16 to
l, and that the dollars so coined were,
by statute law, made legal tenders in
the payment Of all debts public and
private, and 1t Is certain that the price
Of silver bullion in this country would
advance at once to $1.29 per ounce.
No owner of silver bullion would part
with 1t at less price than its coin
value. l cannot, therefore, conceive of
53-cent dollar under such conditions
that life insurance companies could use
in payment of death claims, or that
savings banks could pay their deposit
ors with as all our silver dollars are
now and would be then 100-cent dol
lars. In order that 4121s grains of
standard silver shall possess the money
function to the extent Of one dollar,
there must bea statute law to that effect
passed by congress, as congress is the
only authority in this country that can
give 1t that function, and is the only
power than can "coi money and regu-
late the value thereof" Let us at once
in our minds, money from
a commodity, as well as the idea of
there being intrinsic value in money
and it will greatly assist us in the dis
cussion of this question.
All money coined in this country
loses its money function the moment
It passes out Of the jurisdiction of this
government, for at that moment it be-
comes a commodity; we all know that
bur gold coins are not counted in Eng
land, but are weighed on the scales
The same as wheat, cotton and pork,
md that we must part with them at
the market price, or at the rate of
g It's. Cd. for each ounce of gold bull
lion, which market price is made in
England by compulsory statute law.
Let us suppose further that our
hints were open to the unlimited coin
lge Of silver; is 1t not a logical con-
,lusion that silver bullion would COM
nand the same price in London, Paris
,r Berlin, that it would in New York,
ess the freight and shipping charges?
We have exported so far this year
lbove $29, 100000 of silver bullion. Can
you doubt that we should continue to
export our surplus silver bullion under
he new conditions? Four hundred and
Yighty-seven million nine hundred thou
and dollars coined silver is now cir
3ulating in France at par with $780, !
100, 900 gold and $32, 100000 uncovered
)aper, and is worth 3 per cent more
here than 1t is in the United States
o-day. Their ratio being 151s to 1
while ours is 16 to 1; their per capita |
circulation being $S5.77 almost entirely
'oin. Now il France, with a popula-
ion Of 100000, can float a silver
coinage of nearly 100000 900 at par !
With gold and do so Independently, why i
hould not the United States with her
z, 900, 900 population not only float the |
anne amount or even its pro rata per
apita which would be above 5000, !
l00 In India coined silver is worth |
1871 per ounce and the government |
las purchased over ten million ounces
" silver bullion this year, the par
'alue Of the rupee being $0.4737.
Why should foreign holders ship
heir bullion to us when It is worth
more at home when coined than 1t is
lere? They need all they have and
must continue to import bullion for
heir own consumption in the arts as
veil as for coin. There is no avoiding
he conclusion that under the free coin
lge Of silver by the United States
,rices Of all kinds of property and
will advance, labor will
ind opportunity for full employment at
increased wages, real estate would be
n demand, new buildings would be
the manufacturers Of the
country would find quick market for
heir productions, our expectations
you'd increase immensely, and Il Is
liar IN nv mind that the manufacture