The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1896-06-24

the result has been that while we were
purchasing nearly the whole product OF
our mines under the Sherman law sill
YER has gone down and down until 1t has
| now reached the lowest point known in
| the history OF civilization. 1t has dep.e-
| ciated from one dollar and twenty-nine
cents an ounce to slxty-nine cents an
ounce.
Persons who do not understand the
question imagine free silver means that
the people will get more money and that
the per capita circulation of the country
will increase. and that 1t will bring us
back to conditions that existed prior to
1873 They have lost sight Of the fact
that our per capita circulation has in
creased steadily from eighteen dollars in
1871 ito twen:y-three dollars at the pres
emit time, and that we cannot be brought
back under free coinage to where we
were in 1873 unless we limit the produc-
ton of silver. No one can prevent silver
from becoming cheaper and cheaper.
God has held its own. III its produc-
ton had kept pace with silver, the same
argument that applies ITO silver now
would apply to gold but no government
on earth can undo what nature Is doing,
and no power rs strong enough TO keep
up the value of n metal continually de-
preciating by falsely Labelling ii in the
hands of the people. The result of such
a process would eventually be that gold
would entirely leave the channels of cir.
culahion; we would have the same kind
of money tina; all countries now have
that are upon u silver basis, and in each
one of which poverty and destitutior
prevail.
Look at every country to-day that ia
upon n silver basis and you will find la
Dor degraded and the people impoverish-
ed. 1t is impossible TO eXaggcrate the
evil of this movement and the suffering
tt Ii t.. 1>fh,a
us now 10 stamp 1T out and SGT ourselves
as firm as a rock against 1T until the
time shall come when the solvent nations
take up the question and settle 1t upon
the field of honor and determine upon
timetable ratio recognized and not re-
pudiated in every civilized section of the
world
A FAN.ATICAL MOVEMENT.
Mr.. Bland. of Missouri, tine recognized
champion of the silver cause, in all his
Jealous fury never contemplated any
such sanguine fulfillment of his hopes as
has now taken place in the various Dem
ocratic conventions OF tina South and
West. He was perfectly willing, as the
records will show in the discussion in
Congress for the repeal of the Sherman
bill, 10 accept Il ratio of ~ 10 /, instead
of ratio of 16 ITO /, as mas now been
resolved upon by the convention in ques-
| tion. ii my memory serves ME right. he
made the proposition upon the floor Of
the House. starting at the I'spudiated ra-
| Ito of Is ITO 1 and gradually ascending to
| the ratio of 90 to l. OF course all OF his
propositions were rejected by those of us
who took a deep Interest In that discus
| sion and were firmly convinced then, as
we are now, that with free and unlimited
| coinage. there can be no such thing as n
| bkanetalFc standard. that ratios cannot
l. l,,1 L., ,I,,t Il 4
alone, the standard metal of the world,
must and should remain the unit of vail
ue until by the agreement of civilized ma
tons the unit OF value Is changed. The
democratic conventions of the South
| have gone beyond the widest cxpecta-
| t'!ons of the eNtremest advocates of free
silver and with evident determine ion
TO repudiats Vheir debts and ruin the
democracy of the North and East, have
proclaimed that sixteen 10 one is the war
whoop with which they will rally to
arms. and that this is the only adjust
merit they VIII consent to. an adjust
| ment long sincs rejected by every nation
that keeps its fa9th and pays its debts.
A HEADSTRONG PLUNGE.
| l make the assertion-it has been made
befole-that not n legal-,ender silver
dollar has been struck for sixteen years
at q European mint. Every country
In Europe dS either upon q gold basis or
| trying to get upon a gold basis In Eng
| land SILVER is subsidiary. In France,
| Belgium, Switzerland. Italy and Greece
the coinage OF full legal-tender silver
was suspended in 1875 Norway, Swe-
| den. Denmark and Holland have prac-
ticaily taken their stand upon gold
basis, and, as testified Ito by the director
OF the mint before ithe committee on coin
age, weights and measures in the Fifty
third Congress. the only countries to-
| day that maintain the unlimited coinage
of silver are India, Japan, Mexico and
| the South American republics. Now
| Missouri and Mr.. Blackburn, Of Ken
lucky we are TO plunge headlons into
| the society of this bankrupt assemblage
| of semi civilized nations and take our
stand upon financial policy that Win
convulse and wreck every commercial
centre in the Union worse than an earth
quake would wreck the possessions and
! monuments OF industry that lay in hts
path.
WHO IS TO PROFIT BY THE
OPERATION?
I will tell you who Is to profit by the
| operation. The merchant is to be ruined
debts are to be cancelled. investments
are to be struck down, the farmer is to
be deceived and betrayed, but the mine
| owner, he IS to flourish. 1T means $780,
100000 year profit at ltast 20 the men
who have monopolized the bes, silver
producing mines OF Nevada and Colo
RADIO. The Government is no longer TO