The herald., 1896-09-27
MORNING. sEpTEaBER 81.
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OBJECTIONS TO FREE COINAGE ANSWERED
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One Of the objections urged by the gold
standard men against the free and un-
limited coinage Of silver is that If the
United States should restore silver tc
its ancient right Of free and unlimited
coinage this country would become the
dumping ground for all the cheap silver
in the world. II the United States should
restore silver to its ancient right Of free
and unlimited coinage. there would be
no cheap silver in the world. The rea-
son why silver is worth less today
measured by gold-it is not worth less
measured by anything else An ounce
Of uncoined silver will buy as much
wheat. as much pork. as much Of any
of the things that are usually bought
and sold for money, as 1t would in 1873,
and an ounce Of uncoined gold will buy
twice as much as 1t would in 1S73-thc
reason why silver Is worth less measured
by gold than It was in 1873 Is because,
and only because, of adverse silver leg
islation; and when that legislation is
repealed silver will resume its ancient
place at the ratio previously existing.
II the legislative demand Is for the to-
tai available supply. and II the legisla-
tive demand fixes price at which the
total available supply will be received,
then 1t is impossible for the value Of the
thing SO fixed to fall below the legisla-
tive limit. Not only can legislation
do this, but an Individual can do It. For
illustration: Suppose capitalist should
agree to purchase all the wheat offered
for sale in this city between this date
and the first day Of next January. and
would agree to pay one dollar . bushel
for 1t, without regard to who offered
the wheat or where the wheat was pro-
duced. Suppose he had money enough
to carry out his proposition, and that
he put his agents upon the streets with
instructions to receive and pay for all
wheat offered at the rate Of one dollar
per bushel, would It not be absolutely
impossible for wheat to fall below q
dollar bushel in this city so long as
that offer was outstanding and kept
good? 1t might 60 above that price:
other men might bid against him and
raise the price; but It couldn't by any
| possibility fall below a dollar q busfel
so long as that offer was outstanding and
| kept good
II the United States should restore sill
YER to free and unlimited coinage at the
ratio Of 18 to 1, then silver would be
worth in the United States $1.29 per
ounce. No one disputes this What
| would It be worth in London, Paris or
| Berlin? If there were silver bullion in
any Of those cities and there was no
| demand for 1t in Europe or Asia, and
coinage were free and unlimited in the
| United States at $1.29 per ounce, then
silver bullion in Europe would be worth
$1.29 per ounce, less cost Of transporta-
tion to the United States. There can
be no question about this.
II the United States should restore
| silver to free and unlimited coinage at
| the ratio of 16 to l. 1t could maintain the
ed the United States was able to receive
and consume all the silver bullion that
| could by any possibility be offered at the
mint. Can 1T do this?
The amount of silver coin In the world,
as shown by the report of the director Of
the mint is $4,042, 900, 000 If we had all
| Of 1t, 1t would make for the people Of
this country $58 per capita, and that is
not too much money for this country. In
| 1865 and '66 we had in circulation In this
country including the 7-30 notes and
| other Of our treasury certificates which
| were legal tender in the payment Of
debt, over $50 per capita; and anyone
who can remember back to 1865 and '66
will testify that we then had the most
| prosperous times that we ever had in
this country. Every factory was run
ming to its utmost capacity. There was
not an unemployed man in the United
States. that desired work; and the peo-
pie were prosperous and happy and
comparatively free from debt.
But what is the probability Of our get
ting all the silver in the world? About
one-half Of the silver in the world is In
/ Asia. There is not an ounce of silver in
Asia that has not cost the Asiatio people
$1.S7 per ounce paid for in the commodi-
ties produced by them. The ratio in
Asia is is to l, and an ounce of silver at
that ratio will coin out $1.37. This, GER
tainly. is not Cheap silver" No silver
| could be shipped to this country from
Asia without a loss of at least per cent
to the shipper, besides cost of transpor-
tation; and they have no silver to spare.
| The demand In Asia Is for more silver.
Their annual consumption of silver for
the last ten years has averaged over
$75,o00,000 No silver would come to this
country from Asia.
There is 81 1,4oo, 900, 900 in Europe. all Of
which is coined into money, mono at a
higher ratio than 1914 to 1, and most of
the subsidiary coin at much lower ra-
ito. None of the European silver could
be shipped to this country without loss
of at least per cent to the shipper be-
sides cost of transportation; and none
| OL IL CeiH Oc SpdTcu lTOII1 II6 C1rCulaClnS
medium Of the various countries where
it is now discharging the money func-
tion at its face value. The demand in
Europe is for moro silver The annual
coinage of Europe for the past ten years
has exceeded $32, 900 900. We would get
no silver from Europe.
But the gold standard men say we
would be flooded with cheap silver from
Mexico. How much silver have they
In Mexico? The report Of the director of
the mint shows that the total amount of
Mexican silver coined is $55, 600, 900 Sup
pose it all came to this country and was
coined into our money,it would make but
70 cents apiece for us. There is no dam
ger Of our being flooded with silver from
| Mexico.
But suppose that q consid era BILE quan-
tity of silver should come to this country
from foreign countries-would 1t hurt
US? Under free coinage tho government
would not buy It, Under free coinage
the government would buy no silver bull
MARK dANNA'e MAN AT CANTON.