Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1896-07-10

tend to say that the intelligence o
mankind may not find a be tier system
than both of them, but We do say tha
to demOnetize either of these metals il
step backward and not step for
ward.
Blmetal!ism is the right to ust
either gold or silver as primary money
Thus, under such law, if our trade re
lations or the laws of other nations
take our gold away, then we have sill
yer, and no serious injury occurs. Ant
the same saving principle applies i
our silver should leave us and gold re
mained.
The vital principle in bimetallism i.
the right to use either metal. ii pro
duction grow less on one, we have the
other, and the two together furnish 9
more stable supply of money than
either alone can furnish. With only
one OF them for money, the contrac.
ton and expansion of the worlds sup.
ply, alternating as they will, makes an
uncertain and unstable supply. Oh
the two metals, dollar for dollar, IG
parts silver to one part of gold, silver
is the most useful of the two, is ap-
piled to the most uses, and is the most
serviceable to mankind of the two
metals.
The principle that it is safer to
rely for money on two metals than on
one is a principle that we carry into
everyday life. We rely on wheat,
corn and rice for bread, on beef, pork
and mutton for meat. If one is
scarce, We use the other.
Under free coinage of both metals,
silver and gold are in competition
with each other to supply the demand
for money. So long as pork and
mutton are in competition with beef,
for meat, beef cannot rise unduly iu
value and threaten the health OF the
nation. And gold could not, as it is
doing now, threaten the credit of this
great nation if silver were in competi.
tion with it as money.
You hear us called "silver men,"
AS il we were opposed to gold? We
are called silver men, because silver
is the metal demonetized, and We are
trying to restore it to equal rights
with gold. We are in favor of putting
the white metal on an equality with
the colored metal. To do this, does
not mean that we put the country
upon silver basis. 1t means the
right TO make primary money from
either metal, and in this way one re-
lieves the strain upon the other.
AS we have two eyes, one to re-
lieve the strain upon the other; two
ears, one to relieve the strain upon
the other, and for the same reason
two openings in the nose; two lobes to
the lungs, and two ventricles to the
heart; so is this great necessity for
money supplied by having two metals,
one to relieve the strain upon the
other. And, having the right to use
the two, does not mean monometal-
lism.
WHAT MONOMETALLISM is.
The right to use only one metal as
primary money, as is the law now, is
monometalism. 1t is like a man
with one arm, one leg, or one lung.
Monometallism is a one-lung none
tary system.
Bimetallism is the right to use
either or both of two metals. Only
one may be in use at time, or par
TALLY one and mostly the other. II
one grows scarce, or is cornered by
speculators, we may use the other.
If under bimetallism, one is in use
more than the other, it is because it is
the most accessible, and this fact may
save our monetary system. If gold
leaves us and goes to Europe, under
bimetallism, it does not hurt us. 1t,
gold, would in such case (with sill
yer taking its place with us), 60 to
swell the supply OF primary money in
Europe and increase the price of pro-
ducts in the worlds markets, and there
by increase the price of our exports to
those same markets. Under bimetal-
lism, the expectation of gold does not
hurt us. Under gold monOmetallism,
its expectation deprives us of the
only primary money metal we have.
Bimetallism is the right to use either
metal as primary money. And that
WAS the law up to 1873.
OPTION OF THE DEBTOR.
Under this bimetallic law, the deb
tor had the option as to which of the
two metals he would pay in. Thus
the demand was regulated by the
debtor. The government exercised
the same option as to its creditors.
The demand was thus applied to the
metal that was most plentiful. If ~.
yer became the cheaper by slight
tluctuation, the demand was thrown
upon it, thus restoring the parity be-
tween the two metals. If gold was
the cheaper, it was used, and the de-
mand brought it back. There is no
better recognized principle than the
law of supply and demand regulating
values. 1t was the law to which BIZ
metallism was adjusted, and to make
it self-operative, the option was given
to the debtor, who would always put
the demand on the more accessible or
cheaper metal, and this prevented any