The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1896-08-13

lfcan party demands the use OF both gold
and silver as standard money, with such
restrictions and under. such provisions, to
be determined by legislation. as will secure
the maintenance of the parity of values Of
the two metals so that the purchasing and
debt paying power of the dollar, whether
Of silver, gold. or paper, shall at all times
be equal" Does not this language clearly
imply-can it be tortured into anything
clse-that the silver dollar should at all
times be kept up to the gold standard In
value, and was not that the condition under
which bimetallism was favored? Was not
as d matter of fact, 1.-The gold dollar made
as much Of a standard value in 1892 as in
1896? The parity" was to be maintained
at all hazards. And that implied that silver
the cheaper metal. must be kept up in
value TO gold. the dearer metal. Our plat
form Of 1896 asks for NO more. This Is
the language:
I've are unalterably opposed to every
measure calculated to debase our currency
or impair the credit of our country. We
are, therefore, opposed to the free coin
age of silver except by International agree
ment with the leading commercial nations
of the world. which we pledge ourselves to
promote; and until such an agreement can
be obtained the existing gold standard must
be presel we'd All our silver and paper
currency must be maintained at parity with
gold and we favor ell measures designed
to maintain inyiolably the obligations of the
United States, and all our money, either
coin OF paper, at the present standard
the standard of the most enlightened ma
tions Of the world"
platform of 1892. upon. maintaining our
silver and paper on a parity with gold.
Gold Is no more the standard In one case
than the other. II In one case gold could
be pulled down 10 the level of silver SO 1t
could in the other case. The parity. the
ffrrsf II l. A.
matter In either case. There was no ex-
press demand for the free coinage of silver
in the platform Of 1892. IL 1t be said that
this demand Is implied in the phrase: 1.-THE
Republican party demands the use of both
gold and silver as standard money" 1t
must be noted that this was coupled with
the condition that 1T was to be under "such
restrictions and such provisions as would
maintain the parity in value of the two
metals. This Is precisely the attitude of the
platform of 1896 on this point. 1t is In favor
of free coinage only
By International Agreement.
And every genuine and honest bimetai-
list, who Is not at heart silver mono
metaIlist, knows that there can be no act
ual genuine and substantial bimetallic cir
culat1on except through concurrent agree
ment of at least major number of the
great commercial nations of the world.
Free coinage under present conditions and
with the present great disparity In the
commercial value of the two metals would,
without such an agreement. inevitably lead
to silver monometallism-tO a fuctuating
single silver standard, such as now prevails
in Mexico. China and Japan. This will
try tc make clear as 1 proceed to consider
the free coinage Of silver and its conse-
quences more in detail and at short range.
The phrase, "a ratio of 16 to L." means
that sixteen ounces of silver coined into
mo shall ba Qnua1 n aua Of
coined Into money. This Is the coin or
money ratio fixed by law. But the reia-
tive commercial price or cost of the two
metals may be, and generally Is, entirely
different from the coin or money ratio.
This relative commercial price is called
the commercial ratio to distinguish 1t from
the other. or coin ratio. To Illustrate: The
government declares that sixteen ounces
Of silver. In the shape of silver dollars.
shall be equal 10 one ounce of gold in the
shape of gold dollars, when. ss a matter
OF fact. can to-day purchase. and ever
since 1888 could have purchased, not less
than thirty ounces Of silver for one ounce
of gold. So that to-day, while the coin
ratio Is 16 to 1, the commercial ratio Is
30 to l. The free and unlimited coinage of
silver at the ratio of 16 to 1 means that
the government of the United States shall
receive at Its mints and coin into silver
dollars. without charge, all silver bullion
that may be brought there by any person
or corporation whatsoever from any nook
or corner of the entire world. 1t means,
futher, that. although one ounce OF gold
Will purchase thirty ounces OF silver, yet
the government must take sixteen OF those
thirty ounces and stamp them into silver
dollars and then make them equal, and COM
pei you and ne to take them as equal TO
one ounce Of gold. Or, to put the matter
in another. but equally truthful light, II
means that when the owner Of silver bull
Ion sells his silver to you or me without
the Intervention of government he must
give thirty ounces of silver for one ounce
Of gold, but that when he gets the govern
ment. without charge. to coin and stamp
his silver bullion into silver dollars, then
he need not give sixteen ounces or silver
for one ounce Of gold. 1t means all this,
for gold at the ratio of to 16 Is made
the measure Of the price of silver. II IL
does not mean this. then 1t means silver
monometaIlism-a single silver standard,
pure and simple-for only in this way can
you degrade the silver dollar below me
gold standard. Your silver dollar must OF
necessity be gold standard. or gold pug
dollar. IL you please. or it VIII De nuctu-
ating silver bullion dollar.
1t IL universal and inexorabie rule gov
erning the circulation of money. that the
intrfnsically cheaper money drives the
dearer money out of circulation, unless the
former Is interconverjble at par with the
latter The debtor win always pay with
the cheaper dollar and the buyer always
buy with the cheaper dollar The dearer
dollar will be withdrawn from circulation
and disposed of at its bullion value. The
intrinsic difference may be slight. but still
the rule holds good. This Is the uniyersai
money lesson of the past 1t Is the lesson
taught Us by our own experience In ls1
the commercial ratio Of silver was 13I 10
1. and at that time, at the instance OF HAM
ilton and jefferson. congress enacted our
first coinage law, establishing the ratio AZ
Is to L Unlike the Populist and Tree SUI
yer Democrats of our day. those great
statesmen Of our early days aimed 70 make
The Coin Ratio
almost identical with the commercial ratio
But these two ratios soon parted company.
for the reason to q large extent. that the
coin ratio In France and other large coin-
age centers Of Europe was at this time
15k to l. An ounce Of gold being worth
in the mints of Europe half an ounce OF
silver more than I'm the United states. our
gold went abroad. and silver. the cheaper
metal, remained with rs as our only metal
lie currency till 1884. 1t which date. IN
order TO bring our gold back ana Keep N
at home. the ratio was changed suostan-
tally to 16 to /. although ut that time
and afterwards the ratio In Europe was
still 15k to I. Inasmuch as II TOOK only
ISL ounces OF silver in Europe to buy an
ounce Of gold. while IL took IL ounces OF
silver here, our silver left rs ana went
abroad. and we remained In practlcai
state Of gold monometallism until losS.
except as to spb<idsrx siIxes coin.9e- "
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