Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-09-03


suit Is against reason, and Is contradicted
by experience In all times and in all lands.
| means the debasement OF our currency
| to the amount of the difference between
| tie commercial and coin value of the ST.
yer dollar which is ever changing, and
the effect would be to reduce property
values. entail untold financial loss, destroy
confidence. impair the obligations Of ex-
listing contracts. further impoverish the
laborers and producers Of the country.
| create a panic of unparalleled severity
deadly blow. Against and such policy l
am unalterably opposed
Bimetailism.
Bimetallism cannot be secured by inde-
| pendent action on our part. 1t cannot
| - obtained by opening our mints to the
unlimited coinage of the silver of the
world at a ratio of sixteen ounces of sill
| yer to one ounce of gold, when the com
lmerciaI ratio is more than thirty ounces
Of silvertto one ounce Of gold. Mexico
and China have tried the. experiment.
| Mexico has free coinage Of silver and gold
| at q, ratio slightly In excess of sixteen and
ore-half ounces of silver to one ounce OF
gold and while her minis are freely open
| 10 both metals at that ratio not single
dollar in gold bullion is coined and circu-
lated M money. Gold has been driven
out of circulation in these countries and
| they are on silver basis alone. Until
international agreement is had It is the
plain duty of the United States to main
tain the gold standard. 1t is the recog
nized and sole standard of the great COM
mercial nations of the world with which
we trade more largely than any other.
Eighty-four per cent of our foreign trade
| TOR the fiscal year 1895 was with gold
standard countries and our trade with
other countries was settled on gold
basis.
We Have More Silver than Gold.
Chiefly by means of legislation during
md since 1878 there has been put in cir
culation more than 1924. 900, 900 of silver,
or it's Representative. This has been done
in the honest effort to give to silver, If
possible. the same bullion and coinage
value, and encourage the concurrent use
of both gold and silver as money. Prior
to that time there had been less than
100000 of silver dollars coined in the
entire history of the United States-a
period OF eighty-nine years. This legis-
latiOn secures the largest use of silver
consistent with financial safety and the
pledge to maintain its parity with gold.
We have to-day more silver than gold.
This has been accomplished at times with
grave peril to the public credit. The So
called Sherman law sought to use all the
silvc. product of the United States for
money at it's market value. From 1890 to
1893 the Government purchased 4,5OO,O00
ounces of silver a month, or 54,OOO,OO0
ounces year. This was one-third of the
product of the world and practically all
this country's product. 1t was believed
| by those who then and now favor free
coinage that such use of silver would
advance its bullion value to its coinage
value, but this expectation was not real
| lied. In few months Notwithstanding
the unprecedented market for the silver
produced in the United States, the price
of silver went down very rapidly, reach
I.ing a lower point than ever before. Then,
upon the recommendation of President
Cleveland. both political parties united
in the repeal Of the purchasing clause of
the Sherman law. We cannot with safety
engage in further experiments in this di-
rection.
The Double Standard.
On Aug. %, 1891, in public address,
said: IF we could have an international
ratio. which all the leading nations of the
| world would adopt, and the true relation
be fixed between the two metals, and all
aoree upon the quantity of silver which
should constitute dollar, then silver
would be as free and unlimited in its priv
, ileges of coinage as gold is to-day. But
that we have not been able to secure. and
| with the free and unlimited coinage of
silver adopted in the United States, ut the
present ratio, we would be still further
removed from any international agree
ment. We may never be able to secure it
| if we enter upon the isolated coinage of
| silver. The double standard implies
equality at a ratio, and that equality can
only be established by the concurrent law
of nations. 1t was the concurrent law of
nations that made the double standard;
| II will require the concurrent law of ma
| tons to reinstate and sustain it,"
| The Republican party has not been. and
| /; not now opposed to the use of silver
= : money. as its record nbundantly shows.
IL has done all that could be done for
| rs increased use, with safety and honor,
Dy the United States acting apart from
other governments. There are those who
think that it has already gone beyond the
| limit of financial prudence. Surely we
can go no further, and we must not per-
NIT false lights to lure us across the dan
ger line.
We have much more silver in use than
any country in the world except India or
| China-S5OO, 100000 more than Great
Britain, $150,000,O0O more than France
500 100000 more than Germany, S325.-
100000 less than India and $125,000,0O0
less than China. The Republican party
has declared in favor of international
agreement, and if elected President it
will be my duty to employ all proper
means to promote ii. The free coinage of
silver in this country would defer, if not
defeat. international bimetalism. and un-
! til an international agreement can be had
|
present standard. Independent free coin
age of silver at a ratio of sixteen ounces
of silver to one ounce of gold would in
sure the speedy contraction of the volume
| of our currency. ltwoud drive Mt least
-DO, 900, 600 of gold dollars. which we now
have. permanently from the trade of the
country. and greatly decrease our per
CAPITA circulation. 1t is not proposed by
! the Republican party TO take from the cir
culating medium of the country any of the
| silver we now have. On the contrary.
! il Is proposed to keep ali of the silver
| money now in circulation on a parity with
gold by maintaining the pledge of the
Government that all of 1t shall be equal
TO gold This has been the, ,tpbroker,
policy of the Republican party since 1878
| It has inaugurated no new policy. Ii will
keep in circulation and rs good ms gold
f1ll of the silver and paper money which
are now included in the currency of the
country. 1t will maintain their parity
1t will preserve their equality in the fu-
tLre as Il has always done I'm the past.
1t will not consent to put this country ON
silver basis, which would inevitably
follow independent free coinage at ratio
of 16 to /. 1t will oppose the expulsion
of gold from our circulation. "n az
| Farmers and Laborcrs su@er!n'
If there is4any one thing, which shoiiid
be free from speculation and ductuntion
it is the money of country. 1t ought
never to be the subject Of mere partisan
| contention. When we part with our la
Dor. our products or our property W.
should receive in return money which is
as stable and unchanging In value as the
ingenuity of honest men can make 1t. De
II