The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-07-18

We receive many communications from
different parts of this state and Florida
asking the meaning Of free silver coin
age at the ratio Of 16 to 1. These COM
municauons show very clearly that the
great issue now before the country is but
imperfectly understood The following
letter received yesterday. from Cairo, Ca,
is a pretty fair sample Of them.
PLEASE give me the complete meaning
Of the free and unlimited coinage of
both silver and gold at the present legal
ratio of l6 10 l. as IL appears in the dem
ocratic platform adopted al Chicago.
want as simple a definition as you can
give, so that a man OF ordinary intelli-
gence can understand It, / hear so much
talk about this financial plank, and so
many different opinions as 10 its mean
ing, that l am anxious to get at the
truth"
a short answer TO the foregoing ques-
ton is that anybody having either gold
or silver bullion can take it to the mlnts
and have 1t coined into money practi-
cally free OF expense, on the following
terms. namely that IS ounces of silver
shall have the same coinage value as one
ounce of gold-that is. just as many legal
tender dollars, receivable for all public
and private debts. shall be made aout of
sixteen ounces of silver as out of one
ounce OF gold-and that there shall be no
limit to the amount Of gold or silver
coined.
Our correspondent may ask, what OBJ
lection there is to the unlimited coinage Of
silver and gold upon the foregoing terms
The objection is this: Sixteen ounces of
silver are not equal in value to one
ounce Of gold In the markets of the
world it requires about thirty-one ounces
of silver to equal in value one ounce of
gold
Our correspondent may ask what the
effect of the free and unlimited coinage
of silver and gold at the ratio of 16 to
would be. We can only judge by what
the effect is in other countries where
there is unlimited coinage Of silver. Gold
would leave the country or be- boarded
and a silver dollar would have the value
Of about SO cents-that is, it would
have the purchasing power Of SO cents.
provided the price of silver remained what
IT is now.
But would the price of silver remain
stable? 1t is quite certain it would not.
1t would rise and fall in accordance with
the supply of it and demand for it. There
fore the value of the silver dollar would
have a constantly changing value-that is
a constantly changing purchasing power.
1t may be asked if the credit of the
government would not keep the silver dol
lar on a parity with the gold dollar as it
does now. 1t would not. The government
would not undertake to keep it on par
ity with a gold dollar. 1t is able TO do it
now, because it coins only a limited num-
Der of silver dollars, but if the coinage
of silver dollars was made unlimited the
silver dollar would circulate at the exact
market value of the silver it contains
that is, about So cents.
But do the silverites admit that if free
and unlimited coinage were adopted the
silver dollar would have a value of only
SO cents? They do not They say the
commercial price of silver would rise I'M
til the silver in a dollar would be as val
that therefore a silver dollar would be
worth one hundred cents, and would cir
culate on a parity with a gold dollar
That is their theory, but there are no
facts to sustain it. DO many of them be-
lieve in that theory? 1t is difficult to
understand how they can, because they
contend that if we have free silver coin
age prices will rise but they do not ex-
plain how prices could rise if the price
Of silver advanced so much that a silver
dollar would, on its merits. circulate on
parity with a gold dollar. Higher
prices would result only from a debased
currency. the debasing Of the silver dol
lar, but the higher prices would be in the
DECEASED currency.