Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1896-08-20
NUMBER 2



v Ism as well as y theoretical defense of it.
I During the last l3 years legislation hls
VI been creating an additional demand for
v gold ana this laW created demand has re-
Y suited in Increasing Tile purchasing power
V ~ each ounce of gold. Ihe restoration of
Y bimetallisn IT'D Ihe United states Will take
away from GOA just ao much 0f its pur-
Y chasing power as was added t0 iii by the
demonstration of silver hy the United
\ States Ihe silver dollar i7 HOW held up t0
The gold dollar by Legal tcnder Laws and
not Ply redemption in goId, because the
\ standard silver dollars are nyt now re-
\ deernable in EOld either in luw or by ad-
ministratiye policy
II we contend that free and unlimited coin
\ age Fly the United States alone win raise
the bullion value of silver to it, coinage
7 value, ana thus make silver bullion worth
\ $l29 per ounce in gold throughout the
world This proposition is il keeping with
natural laws, not in defiance of them. The
/ best known Law of commerce is the law of
\ supply and demand we recognize thig
law and build our argument upon iii. we
apply this Law to money when W. say that
q reduction iii the volume of money will
raise tile purchasing power Of THE dollar.
we alsO apply rhe law Of supply and de-
2
demand for silver created by law will raise
the price of silver bullion Gold and silver
are different from other commodities i'll
that they are limited in quantity. Corn,
wheat manufactured products, etc., can be
produced almlrt without limit, provided
they can Tx Ola AIT u price sufficient to
stimulate production, butt gold and silver
are called precious metals because they are
found, not produced These metals have
been Tic objects of anxious search as far
back as history runzi vet, according t0 Mr.
Harvey calculation all tile gold coin of
the world cam he melted into a 22 foot cube
and all tile silver coin I'D the world into u
66 foot cube. Because guld and silver arp
limited, both IT'D the quantity now in hand
and I'D annual production, id follows that
legislation earn fix tile ratio LetWeen them.
Any purchaser WHO Stands ready To take
the entire supply of amy given article NJ
certain price can prevent THAT article from
falling below THAT price. S0 thH govern
ment can fix price for gold and silver by
creating a demand greater than the SUP
DIV. international binetallists believe that
several nations, by entering into an agree
ment to coin lit fixed ratio all the gold
and silver presented, can maintain the
bullion value of tile metals at the minB
ratio. When q mint price is thus estab-
lishcd, it regulates the bullion price. be-
cause amy person desiring r1in may have
the bullion converted into coin VT that
price, and any person desiring bullion CAN
secure it by melting the coin. Tile only
question upon which international bimetai
lists and independent bimetallists differ Ls.
Can the United States by THE free ana TIM
limited coinage of silver at the present
{ %4.
which, taken in connection with the de-
mand already ia existence, will he suf-
flcient to utilize all tile silver that will be
presented AT tile mintss They agree in their
defense of the bimetallic principle and
they agree in unalterable opposition To the
gold standard International himetaIlists
cannot complain that free coinage gives "a
benefit I'd the mine owner, because inter
national bimetallism gives I'd The owner of
silver all the advantages offered by indie
pendent bimetalism ut the same ratio. In
ternational bimerallists cannot accuse THE
advocates of free silver 0f being n bullion
owners who desire to raise the value III
their bullion, or debtors who desire t0
pay their debts in cheap dollars, w
tsdemagpgues who desire tr s-,s-l7 sf5aiallr
with thu people" They must ret their
that the supply Of silver available for coin
\ age IL too large to be utilized by the Unit
ed States.
Our Capacity to Cse silver.
In discussing Till question We must
consider the capacity of our people to IT,
silver ana the quantity of silver which can
come To our mints. lit must be renem-
bered that N.Y. hive in a country only par
a4-Tr- -r-
surpass any equal number XII people in the
world lip their power to consume and pro-
duce. Our extensive railroad development
and enormous internal commerce must
also be taken into consideration. Now.
how much -ar can come here Not the
coined silyeE of The world because almost
all of it is more valuable at this time in
other lands than III viii be at our mints
under free coinage. If QUE mints are
opened to free and unlimited coinage at
the present ratio, merchandise silver can
not come here, because the labor applied To
it has made it worth more in the form of
merchandise than it viii he worth at our
mints. we cannot even expect all Of the
annual product uf silver because India,
China, Japan. Mexico and all the other
silver using countries must satisfy their
annual needs from The annual product.
The art Will require large amount, and
the gold standard countries viii need
/ considerable quantity fcr subsidiary coin
age We will be required t0 coin only that
which l. not needed elsewhere, but if w.
stand ready to tie and utilize all of it
other nations viii be compelled To buy ar
the price which We fx. Many fear THAT
the opening of 0ur mints win fe followed
by the enormous increase in thn annual
production of silver This is conjecture.
Silver has been used Ell money for thou
sands of years, ana during all Df that time
the world h. never suffered from an over
production If for AMY reason the supply
of gold IVY silver in the future ever exceeds
the requirements of The arts anna the needs
of commerce, we confidently hope that the
intelligence of the people win be sufficient
to devise ANA enact any legislation neces-
sary for the protection of THE public Tx
j. folly to refuse t0 the people the money
which they now need fur fear They may
hereafter have more tnan They need am
firmly convinced that by opening our mints
/ to free ana unlimited coinage at The pres
ent ratio We can create " demand for silver
which Will keep THO price XXX silver bullion
at S1. .1g Der ounce. measured ilv cold
Some VT our opponents attribute the fall
in the value of silver, when measured bv
gold, t0 the fact that during the last guar
ter uf d century THE world s supply yof silver
has increased more rapidly than the world n
supply vi gold. This argument is entirely
answered by The fart that during the Last
five years the annual production of gold
has increased more rapidly than the an-
nual production of silver. Since the gold
price " silver I'D fnll 'n more during The
last five years than iii ever fGll in anT pre-
vious five years I'LL thc history of tile world
it IL evident Tint THE fau is net due tU in-
creased production. Prices can he lowered
as effectually nv decreasing the demand
for an article IL hy increasing the supply
Of lit, and it seems certain that the fall in
the gold price of silver III due to hostile
legislation and not To natural laws
Our opponents cannot ignore the fact
that gold il now going abroad in spite Of
all legislation intended to prevent it, and
no silver il being coined to take it, place
Not only j. gold going abroad now, but it
must continue ro ID abroad ~ long as the
present financial policy ~ adhered to nm
less We continue to borrow from across the
ocean, and even then we simply postpone
the evil, because Tho amount borrowed, TO-
/ gether with interest upon lit. must be re-
paid in approaching dollars The Ameri-
can people now owe u lar-e sum to Euro
pean creditors. ana falling prices have left
a larger and larger margin between our
net national income and our annual inter
U sml-. RI .Ta-