The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1896-08-13

great ms we would naturally expect. How is
this accounted fort This wonderfully sustained
price Of silver can lie accounted for in only ore
way-namely. by an enormous increase in the
use Of silver. This has taken place in two di-
rections:
!. In the arts Tho use of silver in tho arts
has increased in the last quarter Of q century
several hundred per cent,
2. AS money. There has been added to the
full tender silver money of the world in the
last % years AN amount equal to the aceumu-
iations of all the ages up TO that time.
In view of these facts il is simply trifiing
with words to say that silver has been de.
monetized, y and TO say that "half our money
has been struck down" is, plainly, to tell an
unmitigated falsehood. nN
Production and Coinage of Silver In This
Country.
Our annual production of silver is now and
has been for years more than thousand times
as great as it was before the war, and yet
there are leaders among the silverites who
find it necessary to malign human nature and
attack the memory Of good men in order to
explain why an ounce of silver Is not worth as
much now as then.
Our total coinage OF silver since 1873, up to
and including 1894. has been $53S, 444, 467 This
is an average of almost $4,000, 0OO year. or
ten times the highest average annual coinage
before 1878. And OF this coinage the vast sum
OF $43l $50, 457 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
connection, "Has not the output of gold in
creased alsof" The answer is ayes. enor'
mously."
Up to 1913 the worlds annual production Of
gold never but once reached $14,000,0O0 while
in this last half century it never but once fell
below 500, 900, and in 1875 1t was over $500,
00O,000 The world now produces more gold
a in, hall
fury ago. In other words, sir, the worlds pro-
duotion of gold in these last SO 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 is
now more than four times as great as was the
production of both gold and silver up to 1870
This is the fact, sir, which has sounded the
deathknell Of the free coinage OF silver,
Theoretical Versus Practical Bimetallism.
The advocates of the unlimited coinage Of
silver say: "Open the minis to the free coin
age of both metals Then they will both DO
coined, and both will circulate as money" But
though every country in Europe and America
has tried this experiment, though some are
still trying 1t. the advocates of this method
cannot point to single instance in which their
method has ever succeeded. As we have al
ready seen, France had, with her mints open to
both metals, first q circulation OF silver up to
about 1850, and then a reversal to gold only
has been the same. Our coinage ratio of 10 to
!, from l792 to 1884. overvalued silver and I'M
dervalued gold SO during those years at least
the last 20 Of them. our circulation consisted
of silver and no gold. The change Of ratio in
1884 and 1887 to 1898 to commonly spoken Of
az "l6 to I'l overvalued gold and undervalued
silver. and silver gradually retired from cir
culation as money. No one would part with
81 % grains of silver 1.-THE amount of pure sill
yer in dollar) for 100 cents as money when
he could sell it for 1903 cents as bullion.
And this has been the experiences Of every
nation that has ever tried the experiment. A
double standard is, 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 WY that will best serve their
purposes. They Wharf.-The actual circulation OF
both. not simply the promise Of it,. You free
silverites offer them q method that has always
failed and in the nature of things always will
We offer method that has never failed under
normal conditions, and that Il why j has been
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 q plan
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 Our:
is practical bimetallism.
Short History OF Coinage.
In the evolution Of money the metals gradu
ally superseded all other commodities as thu
medium Of exchange, Iron and copper came "
be produced in such quantities that they ceaseC
| TO be ''precous metals" and gave way to sill
yer. In the course Of time, as civilization anc
| the demands of trade required it, gold was in
troduced into one country after another. Ii
] this evolution a nations needs and progress
can be pretty accurately determined by notin!
| the kind OF money used by it.
! At first the metals passed by weight. Tosav
| the trouble OF carrying scales and the DANCE
Of being cheated by means of alloys the custom
| gradually grtw up OF having the ruling prime
| cut the metals into pieces OF convenient sig
and shape and stamp on one side Of the piec
| its weight and hneness land later on its worth
and on the other side the features of the prime
as the author Of the stamp. This was the Origin
| Of coinage.
But princes were sometimes tempted b.
their greed or their need to put into the coin
less Of the metal than they should. Then, il
order to compel people to accept these debase
coins in payment of obligations, the princes dc
creed that the coins must be accepted. Thi
was the origin Ut what are known as "lega
tender laws
For hundreds Of years the money Of Rom
in our English word legitimate The Lati
for copper IS "aes, and to estimate LITERAL
means to give the value in copper. About DC
B. G. copper was dethroned and silver becam
the standard money. About loo B. 9. gold be
| gan to be used in Rome as money. With tn
fall of Rome Europe was for about five Ger
turtles almost entirely without gold money
the currencies of medieval Europe being {
silver and copper. The reintroduction of gol
coinage began ut Florence, Italy, in 49, wit
the coinage of the lorin.
As q result of the Crusades the commerce {
Florence, Genoa. Venice and other states lyin
along the Mediterranean had so increased Q
to demand the use of n more convenient none
than silver. Gradually other nations, as thei
commerce became great enough, introduce
the use of gold money with silver money. TIL
Crusades not only enlarged trade along tn
Mediterranean, but they also opened up
Europe the then only gold yielding districts
the Crimea-so that the demand for gold none
and the source of supply came together. III
use Of gold as money was thereby both nece
STATED and made possible.
Then began the coinage OF both metals. The
began, too, as n consequence, the monetar
troubles with which the history of the ne1
five centuries abounds-the alienation of 81
yer money and gold money, the frequel
changes in the ratio in the vain attempt
keep both, the edicts against shipping OF
either kind of coin, the execution of prom
nent merchants and others for seeking gal
by exporting the metal undervalued in Il
minis of one country and overvalued in Il
minis Of another. These "open mints for bot
metals were not in consequence of any theor
of "himetallsm, but of what Leon Say, quo
ed before, so aptly characterized as "the prin
tive inability of the legislators to combine t
gether the two precious metals otherwise.
Oresme, Copernicus, Gresham and othe
had ut different times and in different coul
tries pointed out the source Of the trouble, b'
the primitive inability of the legislators" lie
the countries without a remedy. And IL
supply of gold and silver was so small las wi
be seen by reference to the table showing the
annual production) that the nations kept OF
hoping against hope Gas we are apt to do whe
we see no alternative) that somehow the opt
mint for both metals would give the circul
ton of both. But, as we have seen, these hop
were INDUCED only. to be disappointed. En-
land cut the Gordian knot in 1915 and WI
freed from the financial endorsements {
this score that had afflicted her But other n
tons kept on in their old way. with the o
results Of alternating standards, losing at Oh
time their gold and ut another time their 81
yer.
The flood of gold at the middle Of this ce
fury opened the way for relief. Our own cou
try, as might be expected from the enterpri
and intelligence of our people, was the first
act. AS VIC haYe seen. congress- as early as is
tbefore the birth Of the Republican part
passed an act making silver coins subsidial
lt,.stt f1,s,s,- dor Erap