The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1896-10-08

have never really used but 0ne-golo.
Certainly, since 1884 we have never
measured values with anything but
gold, or paper money redeemable in
gold. The Free Silver men would put
us in the same position as if having
always measured length by foot of II
inches, we should decide that foot
should hereafter be but six inches.
Our correspondent says that the
unit of the United States, under the
Constitution, is neither the gold dollar
nor the silver dollar, but they are, under
the Constitution. standard supports of the
United States unit of value" He is as
ignorant of the Constitution as he is of
the science of money. There IS not one
arord about gold dollars or silver dollars
or units of value" in the Constitu-
ton. He simply echoes some OF the
fallacious stuff that Bryan is peddling
about the country.
"Where does your 53-cent dollar come
in?" The whole world estimates the
value of coin by that of the bullion
in it. That in the silver dollar is worth
to-day but 81 cents The passing value
in the United States of the silver dol
lar is kept at its face, just as that OF the
cents, nickels, dimes, quarters and halves
is kept up, by the limit to the coinage.
Remove the limit to the coinage on the
cents, and their value would at once
sink TO that of the copper in them plus
the cost of coinage. 1t would be pre-
cisely the same with the silver dollar.
The paragraph about the progress OF
silver from the mine to the market has
no pertinence, and is therefore not worth
answering. 1t matters not whether the
miner markets his own silver, or third
or fourth party does it. The principle
is the same.
We have not time to verify our cor
respondents alleged quotation from Maj.
McKinley's speech in 1890. He is so
generally wrong that We regard every
thing with suspicion. But assuming
that be has accidentally quoted correctly,
what does it mean? Simply that as
late as 1890 Maj. Mckinley, in COM
mon with a number of other leading
men, still thought it possible to bring
silver to an equality with gold, and that
he was in favor of another effort in that
direction. He supported the Sherman
Bill. This was heroic effort, one OF
the most stupendous attempts in the
| history of finance. To common-sense
people it had the merit of being a =" set
| tier" for it was so radical and compre-
hensive an experiment that its results
| were an actual demonstration. The
Secretary of the Treasury was com
manded to buy up 54,0O0,0OO ounces
of silver year, which was substantially
the entire product of our mines at that
time. Everybody felt sure that, by thus
Withdrawing the whole of our product
from the markets of the world, the
price of silver would be advanced tc
that of gold. But it had the effect Of
stimulating production, and so defeated
its object. Immediately after the pas
sage of the bill silver advanced to 81 .2l
an ounce, but it soon began to fall; the
average price for 1890 was s1.04 the
next year it fell to 81 cents; in 1892 tc
81 cents, and in 1893 to rs cents. T(
every man of common sense this expert
ence was sufficient Maj. Mckinley
like THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE and othel
friends Of silver, had the conviction forced
upon them by the unanswerabe logic
of practical trial, of the futility of try
ing to maintain silver on an equality
with gold. Every man Of judgmen
saw the silver problem in very differ
ent light after the signal failure of tn
Sherman Law to accomplish its object
Comrade Williamss talk about Car
isles statement is simply wild, Populisti
raving. Every man who really think
must know that the currency value @
the silver dollar, and the silver certif
cate, rests entirely upon the fact tina
they can be converted into gold. Th
) faith of the Government is distinct
=