The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1896-07-25


to 1895 is more than one billion of dollars.
70 be exact, that excess is Sl,2l6, 354, 800.
Ii is a common error to think that IN late
years silver has been discovered in fabulous
quantities, but the Director of our Mint esti-
mates that the commercial value of the gold
product of the world since 1873 up to 1895
exceeds that of the silver products in that
period by S375, 1860, 300.
With these facts in mind, let us look little
closer into the question whether We can now
safely open our mints to silver.
The underlying economic laws are these ::
(1) Supply and demand ultimately regulate
prices.
(2) An unlimited demand for an article
limited in quantity at an arbitrary price es-
tahlishes its minimum price. 1t may rise
above that figure. but cannot tall below it.
What then would be the probable demand
for silver under free coinage by the United
States. and what the probable supply2
First-As to the demand The total in
debtedness of the United States, public and
private, is estimatud at more than twenty
billions of dollars, and the annual interest
npon it, at more than one billion of dollars,
the greater part of which is legally payable in
silver.
The annual taxation for city, county, State
and Federal purposes exceeds $500, 600, 600.
The aggregate sum Of the United States
money. all told, is less than the sum required
each year to pay interest and taxes. The
total value of gold product of our mines last
year was $39, 100000, large part of which is
needed for the arts, while 500, 600, 900 are
required to pay interest ON what we owe
abroad. and SIS, 900, 600 are needed for re.
mittances TO travellers and absentees, and
S75, 200, 900 more for foreign ship owners
Hhpca 81
the enormous demand for money to pay debts.
But money is not only solvent of debts; It
is medium of exchange, and large sums are
needed to move our crops, to effect exchanges
of products between our people and to con-
duet our commerce. Our wealth is one-third
in excess of that of Great Britain, and equal
to that of Germany, Austria and Spain put
together.
Onr manufactures are nearly double those
of England. In agriculture we surpass Rus
sia. including Poland. Our railroads carry
more tons of freight than all the railroads and
ships of the rest of the world. According to
Mulhall, the productive power of the United
States has trebled since 1860 and is now far
the greatest in the world. 1t has been shown
that we produce and consume, of all commo
dities taken together, more thanalf has much
as all the balance of the world.
money What power to assimilate increas-
ino amounts with future growth With such
demand for money to liquidate debts, to de-
velop our dormant resources and to carry on
our marvellous trade, who is wise enough TO
set bounds to the amount of money aud credit
needed by our giant young Republic?
Second.-As to the supply. The silver
coin of Europe minted at a ratio of l54 to
or less. and at par with gold, and the silver
money of Asia and Mexico being only about
50. so per capita, and the only money in use
there. we cannot get. There is no accumu-
lation of silver bullion in the world except
that in our own Treasury, most of which is
held for redemption of Treasury notes. What
silver we coin then must come from the future
outDut of the mines. What thai output will
be can best be estimated from past exper-
fence.
The largest amount ever taken from the
mines in any one year was l61, I52, ,o6i
ounces, of which the commercial value is, ac-
cording to our Director Of the Mint, SlO6,
522, 900, and the coin value, SIG, ,S92, 200.
European nations took last year for subsidiary
coinage, $50, 900, 600; and the United States
50. 900, 900. The arts consumed 50.OOO,OOO
India. China, Japan and other silver coun-
tries used $40. 900, 900. 1t will thus be seen
amount probably available wonld be less than
S6O. OO0. 600 per annum. This sum would be
about $50 per capita for our increase of pop
ulation. But the volume Of our money is
contracting under the present standard, and
the reduction last year in the United States
was S4 per capita; so that if we had coined
$3.50. .OO0. 900 more than the worlds product
we would only have maintained the previous
per capita.
The enormous amount of money necessary
70 nav debts and taxes, to develop our re-
sources to carry on our astonishing trade and
10 supply the wants of our progressive people,
and the utter inadequacy of our present de.
creasing currency, all considered, the demand
for silver dollars as the basis of a greater cir
culation is practically unlimited, while the
quantity of available silver is restricted within
narrow bounds. So that under the operation
of the economic laws above stated, the United
States should be able to maintain the value Of
silver on the ratio of l6 to l, at par with gold,
not only at home, but in the markets OF the
world.
II is well understood that England will be
forced TO restore full coinage to India when
ever our mints are opened to siver, and there
is every reason to believe that Russia, France
and perhaps Germany are ready 10 follow ouI
tied beyond all peradventure.
The reason that the coinage ratio, which
has obtained for more than century last pas
is l5l to /, or 16 to |, is that the relative
quantities of silver and gold existing today il
the world, the accumulation of past ages, i:
approximately in that proportion The guam
titles oftons or ounces of these precious met
ais put into the bowels of the earth for man $
use by the Creator, so far as experience
teaches, is in that proportion. About l6 tc
Is. therefore, the natural coinage ratio-the
ration ordained by Nature itself.
When it is remembered that England at
tempted in 1916 to force the rest of the worlC
to the gold standard, and that France was
able nevertheless to maintain the parity at
151 to l, as she did up to 1874, it is not in
credible that the United States can do.in 1896
what France did, and continued to do for
nearly a century.
WHY can we not? An answer in the mega
tive must rest upon something else than dog
matte assertion or mere dire predictions o.
disaster, or "Chambers Of Commerce Hor
rors.''
Ii has been shown that oar increasing pop
ulation. productiveness, business and wealth
require the balance Of our currency TO be IN
creased by at least $4,000 600 each year.
W e are now pat at a ldtio VI
16 to ], soc, 900, 900 of silver; while France,
with one-third of our population and wealth,
is so maintaining 00,000, 900 on ratio Of
l5B to l. Why can we not maintain next
year what France maintains today. und there
after in proportion to our increase of wealth,
business. and population?
The difficulty apprehend is not our want
of ability to absorb the surplus silver of the
future output of the mines, but whether the
rest Of the world will permit us to have what
we need. Can we maintain the par of ex-
change with free coinage? The foregoing
argument tends to show that we can.
St. John, of New York, who has given
wears of study to the subject, says We can.
Men like Grenfell, Frewen and Gibbs. from
other parts OF the world, say we can. The
great Chicago Convention has answered by a
two thirds vote in the affirmative; and mil
lions of common-sense, conservative men
throughout the land say Amen The feeling
is intense, growing, spreading everywhere,
that the times are ripe for the change; that il
is only needed to turn the wheel, to start the
machinery. The new French Prime Minister,
NJ. Meline, declares that what alone is now
wanted is the Electric Spark 1t looks as
if we are to have what is wanted, if, indeed
the great Democratic convention does not
prove to be that spark