The herald., 1896-08-30

ver coin will produce a disparity be-
tween gold and silver and drive the lat
ter out of the country? The correctness
of his past propheciesD
Without attempting anything in the
nature of a full review of the recent
Columbus speech of the Hon. JohnSher-
man-the great apostle of gold mono
metallism-I wish to call the attention
of the readers of the Herald to two
or three pertinent admissions and state
ments of fact, and to several bold pro-
phecies of disaster contained thereln' ;
and then inquire whether there is any
thing in the situation to justify these
gloomy forebodings of evil to follow
free coinage?
After enumerating the different KINDS
and amounts of money we now nave IN
circulation in this country, 1ncludins
gold and silver coin, silver and gold
certificates, treasury notes, greenpacks
and national bank notes, amounting III
the aggregate to 81. 509 725. 200, he says:
.All these forms of money have been
maintained by the government on a
par with gold, and they travel the circuit
of the world without diminution OF the
purchasing power. Though silver pul-
lion has fallen to nearly one-half OF Its
former value, yet we have USED II ana
maintained silver coin made from II
at a parity with gold at the ratio or 10
to l." Again he says: 'The oniteu
States has thus far maintained its silver
coins at parity with gold coins, only by
its exclusive monopoly of coinage, and
by limiting the amount; but with free
coinage there would be no limitation
silver bullion in every form VIII De
nressed upon the mints, and, win the
mandatory duty of free coinage, SILVER
dollars will soon fill the channels of cir
culation, and the gold dollar Will De
boarded, or quoted and sold as COM
modify at about 1874 cents of the silver
coin the inevitable result OF free
coinage of silver would be to violate
every contract for the payment OF mon-
ey made since January 1st, 1879. :
Although silver bullion has declined IN
market value the coins maze from IL
have been kept at par with gold COINS
at the legal ratio of is to l. But II the
free coinage of silver is autnorizeu
then the market value of silver oullloN
becomes the standard for the payments
on all contracts made in the past, the
present or the future; 41212 grains OF
standard silver bullion, worth now %
cents, can with free coinage be colhec
irto a dollar upon the demand OF any
holder of such bullion. This dollar
is delivered to the owner of the bullion
and is not supported by the nat OF the
government, The government does not
undertake to maintain its relative Vaiue
with gold. The government stamps IL
This is q dollar its purchasing power
fs 53 cents, but its debt paying power
is S10O of debt. but in the purchase
of any article it is worth SO cents
If the foregoing statements and pro-
phecies can be established as true, then
Mr.. Sherman has laid substantial foun-
dation for many of his other arguments
but if these statements and prophecles
fail him the entire structure Whch ne
builds upon them falls to the ground
and his whole argument is oVerthfoWh.
The foregoing extracts from his speech
involve admissions which in my opinion
destroy and refute his prophecies or dis
aster and his entire argument.
In view of the fact that we have IN cir
culation nearly four hundred ana
twenty three millions of silver dollars,
which we maintain at parity with gold
at the ratio of l6 to l. although the pres
ent bullion value of the silver in the sill
yer dollar is only So cents, it is conclu-
siyely demonstrated that the bullion
value of silver has not affected and does
not affect or control the coin value OF
this four numbered and twenty-three
millions of silver dollars. In accounting
for this fact, so in conflict with all the
thories of the gold mcnometallists, Sen
ator Sherman does not resort to that alb
surd and false reason frequently given
by shallower exponents of his financial
tenets, viz, that the parity is main
tanned because there is a gold dollar
back of each of these silver dollars, and
that the government stands ready to.
and does redeem them upon demand III
gold: for he knows, and so does every
Well-informed student of our monetary
system, that the silver dollar is money
of ultimate redemption and that there
is no redemption money back OF it, ana
that the United States is under no OBJ =.
legation, either legal or moral, to re-
deem, and does not redeem silver dol
lars in any other kind of coin. But some
satisfactory explanation of this contin-
ued parity between our silver and gold
coins at the ratio of 16 to ] (notWith-
standing the great disparity between
the bullion value of the metals) has TO
be given, otherwise the disastrous pre-
dictions of the future disparity between
the coins under free silver coinage are
without force. Senator Sherman says
that the United States has maintained
the parity up to the present time only
by its exclusive monopoly of coinage,
and by limiting the amount, but with
free coinage there would be no limiie F.
tion' Let us examine this argume mt.
So far as the "eXclusiVe monopoly OF
coinage" is concerned the free coinage
OIL silver at 10 TO uOeS HOl lii any way
contemplate the United States surrend-
ering it's exclusive monopoly of the
coinage, so in this respect there can be
no difference between the limited or re-
stricted coinage under the Bland
Allison bill and the free coinage now
proposed by the Democratic platform,
as under both systems the government
mints do all the coming, and there is no
competitor in that line; so the argument
must rest solely upon the fact that un-
der the Bland Allison bill ard the Sher-
man purchasing act the amount of silver
coined under the bland act was limited
whereas under free coinage it would be
unlimited. Since the passage of the
Bland Allison bill in 1878 the United
States has coined and maintained t a
parity with gold at the ratio of 1Gla 10
nearly six hundred millions of standard
silver dollars, Notwithstanding the fact
that the bullion value of silver a COM
pared with gold has been speedily de-
clining during such period until it has
now reached only SO cents on the dollar
If there is any man in America whose
actual experiences and observations in
matters of finance are more to be relied
upon than his prophesies, that man is
Senator Sherman. While sevretaly of
the treasury in 1878, a few months after
the coinage of silver began under the
Bland act, he believed that the coinage
of more than fifty millions of silver dol
lars under that act would cause gold tc
go to premium, and in his annual re-
port of that year as secretary of the
treasury he recommended that he be
authorized TO discontinue the coinage OF
the silver dollar when the amount out
standing shall exceed fifty million dol.
lars" How he arrived at his conclusion
that it would be safe to coin inst fifty