The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1896-08-20
aold 70. silver.

my metal, % it were, to tell you how /
stand on the silver question p
"Men have studied and discussed f..
nance for hundreds Of years. Books
have been written on the subject, and
still conclusions differ. 1t is too great a
subject to be made plain in a short letter !;
still, few salient points might be treat
ed briefly. Let us admit that money is
a medium Of exchanges commodity.
Although its value is not to be estimated
by its volume, but by it's purchasing
power, which lies either in its intrinsic
value as commodity, or in the security
offered by the individual, nation, or
power issuing it. A gold dollar should
have no greater purchasing power in the
United States than paper dollar issued
by the Government. This would be
true, so long as our people have perfect
confidence in the stability and security
of our government, but as our business
and exchanges bring US into relations
with other nations and peoples, we must
establish the same confidence with them,
and the readiest and most convenient
manner of doing this is to adopt a stand.
ard unit Of value upon some one metal,
the intrinsic value of specific amount
of which would be the recognized value
by all the great powers of the civilized
world.
"Gold for various reasons-its scarcity,
its ductility, its purity, etc.-has held
first place among metals in the history
of the world, so long as we have records
1t is the same today; gold is the stand.
ard unit of value, and no country cult.
waiting reciprocal interchange with others
can afford to attempt to establish any
other. We might adopt a medium Of
exchange among ourselves, something
which would keep our home commerce
and industries in constant motion, pay
ali our local debts and demands, but this
medium should be issued by the Govern.
ment of the United States; in other
words the United States Government
should be our banker, should issue fat
money, the security for which would be
in the hands of the people, so long as
we have "a Government of the people,
for the people, by the people, Our fiat
money would be good at home, and our
exports, and duties on imports, would
bring us all the gold We would need.
We could use silver as medium of ex.
change at home, but the trouble would
lie in maintaining fixed Interchangeable
value upon the bullion. Silver metal
would fluctuate just as wheat and corn
does today, and so would the value of
our silver dollars.
"Silver today is worth 81 cents per
ounce, or 81 cents worth of gold will buy
100 cents in silver. Now, the question
is, will the stamp or seal of the United
States Government affixed to piece of
silver worth intrinsically 81 cents in gold
today exchange it's value to 100 cents in
gold tomorrow answer, No! Such
an act would simply make of the Gov.
ernment an accomplice to a system of
legalized frauds and wholesale robberies.
Let me illustrate case Suppose that I
owe you 100 standard gold dollars today,
l can liquidate my debt tomorrow by the
free silver act by buying 100 silver dol.
lars, worth only 81 of your claim, and
you are bound to accept them, because
they have the government stamp on
them. If I can't buy the dollars, l can
buy sufficient amount of silver bullion,
send it to the mint, and get my dollars
free. You may reply, Yes, that's so;
but can't use my 81 to the same advan.
tage? I say No! Do you not see that
bought my 800 for 81, and it is only
worth 81 measured by the standard unit
of the world, and that if you should
wish to use your money elsewhere than
in America, your legalized dollars (at
home) would only be worth 81 of dol.
lar outside the boundaries of the United
States 2 The act would be good for dis.
honest debtors, but an unholy robbery
OF honest creditors. Do you see it
"Now let US consider another phase.
Would the increased coinage of money
stimulate and increase business ? I say
No! The volume of business is regulat.
cd by supply and demand. In time of
peace labor is in excess of demand, and
labor alone regulates both demand and
supply the volume of business can only
be increased by demand for labor. No
matter how much money lies in the
vaults of either individuals or Govern.
ment, the product of labor only can
bring out it's equivalent in money. We
must judge the future by the past, and
when we refer to good times, when money
was plentiful-say from 1881 to 1866
one must not forget the fact that more
than 1,OOO, 900 of our producers were non.
producers for nearly years. yet at the
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