Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1896-09-03

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would then maintain the parity? What
would keep them at par with gold? There
would he no obligation resting upon the
Government to DO it, and il there were it
would be powerhss to do it. The simple
truth Is we would be driven to a silver
basis-tO silver monometallism. These
dollars, therefore, would stand upon their
real value. If the free and unlimited
coinage OF silver at a ratio of sixteen
ounces Of silver to one ounce of gold
would, as some of It's advocates assert,
make 50 cents in silver worth 100 cents
and the silver dollar equal to the gold
dollar, then we would have no cheaper
money than now and it would be no easier
to get. But that such would be the re-
suit Is against reason and is contradicted
by experience in all times and in all lands.
l. means the debasement of our currency
to the amount of the difference between
TIE commercial and coin value Of the ST.
yer dollar, which is ever changing, and
the effect would be to reduce property
values, entail untold financial loss, destroy
confidence, impair the obligations of ex-
istirg contracts. further impoverish the
laborers and producers of the country,
create a panic of unparalleled severity
and intiict upon trade and omnerc a
deadly blow. Against and such policy l
am unalterably opposed
Bimetallism.
Bimetallism cannot be secured by indie
pendent action on our part. 1t cannot
Dc obtained by opening our mints to the
unlimited coinage of the silver Of the
world at a ratio of sixteen ounces of sill
yer to n ounce of gold, when the com
mercial ratio is more than thirty ounces
of silver to one ounce of gold. Mexico
and China have tried the experiment.
Mexico has free coinage of silver and gold
at a ratio slightly in excess of sixteen and
One-half ounces Of silver to one ounce OF
gold. and while her minis are freely open
TO both metals at that ratio not a single
dollar in gold bullion is coined and circu-
lated as money. Gold has been driven
out of circulation in these countries and
international agreement is had it is the
plain duty of the United States to main
tain the gold standard. 1t is the recog-
niZed and sole standard of the great COM
mercial nations of the world with which
we trade more largely thar any other.
Eighty-four per cent of our foreign trade
tor the fiscal year 1895 was with gold
standard countries and our trade with
other countries was settled on a gold
basis.
We Have More Silver than Gold.
Chiefly by means of legislation during
and since 1878 there has been put in cir
culatlon more than $624, 600. 900 of silver,
or its representative. This has been done
in the honest effort to give to silver. if
possible, the same bullion and coinage
value, and encourage the concurrent use
of both gold and silver as money. Prior
to that time, there had been less than
10000 Of silver dollars coined in the
entire history of the United States-a
period OF eighty-nine years. This legis-
lation secures the largest use Of silver
consistent with financial safety and the
pledge to maintain its parity with gold.
We have to-day more silver than gold.
This has been accomplished at times with
grave peril to the public credit. The So
called Sherman law sought to use all the
silver product of the United States for
money at it's market value. From 1890 to
1893 the Government purchased 1850, 600
ounces of silver a month, or $4,000, 900
ounces a year. This was one-third of the
product Of the world and practically all
this country's product. 1t was believed
by those who then and now favor free
advance it's bullion value to its coinage
+! value, but this expectation was not real
lied. In a few months, notwithstanding
the unprecedented market for the silver
produced in the United States, the price
Of silver went down very rapidly, reach
ing q lower point than ever before. Then,
upon the recommendation Of President
| OISVC1duu, UOtu pOlltlCdl pdTIlSS uOlISQ
in the repeal of the purchasing clause of
the Sherman law. We cannot with safety
engage in further experiments in this d.
rection.
The Double Standard.
On Aug. %, 1891, in a public address,
I said: IF we could have an international
ratio, which all the leading nations of the
world would adopt, and the true relation
be fixed between the two metals, and all
aoree upon the quantity Of silver which
should constitute q dollar, then silver
ileges Of coinage a. gold is to-day. But
that re have not been able to secure, and
with the free and unlimited coinage of
silver adopted in the United States, at the
present ratio, we would be still further
removed from any international agree
ment. We may never be able to secure it
If we enter upon the isolated coinage Of
equality at 9 ratio, and that equality can
only be established by the concurrent law
Of nationa- 1t was the concurrent law of
nations that made the double standard:
Ii will require the concurrent law of ma
tons to reinstate and sustain It,"
The Republican party has not been, and
Is not nov, opposed to the use Of silver
It has done all that could be done for
its increased use, with safety and honor,
BY the United States acting apart from
other governments. There are those who
think that it has already gone beyond the
limit Of financial prudence. Surely we
can 60 no further, and we must not per
NIT false lights to lure US across the dan
ger line.
We have much more silver in use than
any country in the world except India or
China-$5OO, 600, 600 more than Great
Britain, $3.50, 100000 more than France,
|S1OO,00O.O0O more than Germany, $685.
100000 less than India and $125, coo, 900
less than China. The Republican party
has declared in favor Of international
agreement, and if elected President it
will be my duty to employ all proper
means to promote ii. The free coinage of
silver in this country would defer, if not
defeat, international bimetallism, and un-
til an international agreement can be had
every interest requires us to maintain our
present standard. Independent free coin
age of silver at a ratio Of sixteen ounces
of silver to one ounce of gold would in
sure the speedy contraction of the volume
Of our currency. 1t would drive at least
5aO, 900 Of gold dollars, which we now
have, permanently from the trade Of the
country, and greatly decrease our per
capita circulation. It 10 not proposed by
the Republican party to take from the cir
cuiatinR medium of the country any Of the
silver we now have. On the contrary.
1t is proposed to keep ali of the silver
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