Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1896-09-03

But anything less than l00-cent dol
lar would be robbing the creditor,
wage Garner, bank dcpositof and 9th
ers to whom money is due for the ben
eft of the mine owner and debtor.
Whatever the silver dollar might cir
eulate for, whether for So, IS, 70, 80 or
100 cents, we confidently assert that
under free coinage it would buy no
more than the bullion ii contains will
buy at present. And that is the test OF
money-its purchasing power. Why
do we believe this? Because we do
not believe in fiat money. The gov
eminent cannot create value by law
any more than man can lift himself
by his bootstraps. All history shows
that whatever stamp government may
put upon primary money 1t will buy
Just what the value of the metal in il
will buy and no more. Money is used
in two ways, to pay for things that
HAVE BEEN bought and to pay for
things that ARE TO BE bought. The
former, which is debt, can be affected
by law, for the government can compel
the creditor to receiye whateverit shall
designate as legal tender in the dis
charge of debt. But law cannot say
that if boots are now selling at $500 a
pair in 100-cent dollars, they shall not
sell at 5000 a pair in 50-cent dollars
and that is Just what they would sell
for. Inasmuch as few debtors are
blessed with supply of silver that
they could take to the mint for coinage
to pay their debts with. there would
not be q sufficient demand in this di-
rection to add materially to the value
of silver. The legal tender power is Of
very limited effect.
We silver men reserve the right to
legislate against the tricks OF Europe.
II is a question of our own. Silver
will approximate gold in value. The
two metals will measure the wealth of
the country. thus causing the prices OF
commodities to stop falling, save rs in
ventions might affect them. The farm
er would know when he planted what
he would reap and know that if God
favored him he would have profit,
whereas the contrary Is now true be-
cause when he has Il good crop there Is
nothing to measure it, That the farm
er is suffering is too true to need COM
ment. The volume OF money supplied
from two sources will not be affected
by the failure of one rs now. A lake
supplied by water from all directions is
not much affected by a failure of one
or two sources but ii it only has one
and that fails the fall of the lake can at
once be disccrned SO with currency.
This assumes that there is Il money
famine, which is not so. We have more
money than in rs and all we need
when it circrlates with its accustomed
rapidity as it would if confidence were
restored. We have vastly more silver
than we had under free coinage, so
that 'sourcen has not failed
We ask the gold men to cite single
historical instance of panic having
been attributed to silver initiation.
Ours is not theory, it is the experience
of two thousand years.
While we do not recolect an instance
of such silver imitation as is now pro-
posed, there arc plenty of cases on rec
ord Of countries that have debased their
for one cause or another and
always with disastrous results. See
Macaulay's History of England,
Frances experience with assignats,
ours with continental currency and
and the confederate paper
issue.
We ask what have become Of the
predictions made at the time of the re-
peal of the Sherman actp Where is
the prosperity promised2 The gold |
medicine has failed. Its advocates
have no remedy to suggest except the