The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1896-08-20

coinage of silver in 1878. And Austria sus-
pended free silver coinage in 1879. though
she was then, AMI for nearly half a century
had been, on an exclusive paper basis
like the United States from 1862 till 1879.
Portugal has had the single gold standard
since 1854, and Russia has been on all in
convertible paper basis, without free silver
coinage until quite recent. From this brief
summary you can see that between 1870
and 1877 the free coinage of silver had been
suspended throughout the length and
breadth of Europe, and in the United
States. But silver vs. still largely used
and coined as money-almost quite much
as beforehand it is still being used and
coined in large quantities The aggregate
value Of
The Worlds Product of Silver
from 1871 to 1894, inclusive, was $3.O24.-
100, and the aggregate value of the
worlds silver coinage, from 1873 to 1894,
inclusive, was s., 7J6, 423 61J. If allowance
be made for the use of silver in the arts
1T appears that the worlds minis absorbed
the worlds silver. After this general sus-
pension of free coinage governments no
longer gave fixed and arbitrary price
the coin ratio of an ounce of gold for fif-
teen and one-half or sixteen ounces of sill
ver-but bought the silver bullion at its
commercial and not coin value, and the
seigniorage or difference between the price
paid and the coin value of the silver in
ureu TO the respective governments ana
their people, and not to he owners of
silver mines and silver bullion as before.
Their silver harvest was past The brok-
ers, the money changers, the mine owners
and the bullion dealers no longer reaped
silver harvest. This change in the demand
for silver and in the method Of paying for
the same, of course, tended to reduce the
price. 1t was no longer fixed monopoly.
Then there was also q great increase in
the production of silver. For the fifty
years ending with 1870 the worlds total
production of silver amour ted to 81 ,6H,20),
coo in value, while FOR the twenty-four
years ending with 1894 the total product
amounted to $3,O2l, 400, 100 Could l add
the figures for 1895, which are not at hand,
it would be found that the total production
of silver within the last twenty-five years
is nearly double the product of the fifty
years next preceding. It should also be
noted in this connection that there has been
considerable increase in the worlds pro-
duction of gold within the same period.
The value Of the total product for the fifty
years ending with 1870 was So, 1So, Oh 09
and for the twenty-five years ending with
1895 was $3,O2o, 24S4OO. 1t thus appears
that the worlds production of gold has been
nearly as large in the aggregate within the
last twenty-five years as in the fifty years
next preceding. The value of the average
annual output of both gold and silver COM
bined for the fifty years ending with 1870
was S3OOTt,ttt, ana lllP value VI tHt 'Ntl-
age annual output of gold alone within the
twenty-five years ending with 1873 was
S121 ,160 1885, thus showing that gold alone
has more than occupied the same space
within the last twenty-five years that both
gold and silver together did in the fifty
years next preceding. In fact, the average
annual excess of gold alone. within the
twenty-five year period. over both gold and
silver combined within the fifty year period,
was $24, 52OS76. which was at least sufil-
cient to keep pace with the average IN
crease of population. From this brief sum-
mary of facts, it would appear to the can
did and unbiased thinker that silver has
fallen in price, fallen by its own weight,
and chiefly from two causes. VIZ: III
creased production and the suspension OF
free coinage. But the suspension OF free
coinage has not been a suspension of coin
age. but merely the suspension of paving
a fixed and arbitrary price-the coin ratio
for silver bullion. The coinage of silver
has continued with nearly undated pace.
From 1873 to 1894, inclusive. there was
| coined the value Of 2.756. 42",6lo OF the
! worlds silver as against $3,4Of. 7O3, 46o OF
| the worlds gold. In the face of these facts
| the advocates Of free coiDagc-of silver
| monometallism-have the audacity and as
surance to insist that silver has not fallen
in price; that the divergence in value has
! arisen solely from the appreciation of gold,
anu lac. ~;'-or dnring all these years has,
| at the
| Richest of the Silver MaSnates
of the Rockies. stood still, rs the sun and
| the moon stood still at the request OF
Joshua centuries ago. To make their con-
| tention good they parade before us curious
Nv and ingenously constructed charts, and
index numbers utterly overlooking cur
rent events and their import. Ihey 1ur-
ther contend that the products of home
labor have fallen in price solely because
silver has stood still, and gold has gone up.
Gold. they say. is the only primary money.
and that the price and value Of all things
are fixed and guaged by primary money,
and that there can be no primary money
| without free coinage. Prices, they say,
are low because gold, the primary money,
is high. Higher prices, they tell us, is
the great need of the hour. So say we
| all. But this, they are honest enough to
| fell us. can only be secured by making our
money cheaper-the gold dollar is too dear.
| Make II cheaper. Pull it down to that
rock of fixity silver. or expel it altogether
Give us a cheap silver dollar, such as they
have in Mexico, China and Japan If we
can only cheaper our money, release IL
from the tolls of ever-ascending gold. then
prices will go up, and the demand will
exceed, or at least equal. the supply in all
directions. How single and how simple is this
remedy for hard times and industrial de-
PRESTON Answering all these contentious,
I pause first of all to remark that free
coinage is not an essential element OF
primary money. 1t is the fact that it is
legal tender, and not redeemable in any
other money that makes any kind of money
so-called primary money. Our silver dol
lars are to-day, as between man and man.
in all business transactions, as much prl-
mary money and as much a legal tender as
gold. The only exception is that you may.
If you so choose, stipulate to pay in gold.
In the next place it is not true that prices
and values are fixed and measured by the
| of 1ad urinary in
circulation That may have been approx
imatey or partially true in the early dawn
of our civilization, when gold or silver, or
both combined, were the only currency,
and all traffic, outside of barter. was car
ried on ir no other money, or any substl-
: | ,,,ada dorm S1S-