The record-union., 1896-08-20

not have to be filed to be Of the same
weight The British sovereign and
United States five dollars will be made
in the same mold and weight and fine
ness.
1 have spoken Of the universal use Of
gold and silver as money. But the
fineness of these, as well as the weight,
are not alike in any two commercial
countries. The spread Of civilization
and the conveniences and fairness Of
commerce require now and will more
require soon that these metals should
have universal fineness and world
wide equal weight. Then an interna-
tional monetary conference will have
the task of double the Importance that
it has now in view.
| 1t will be of the first Importance even
now to start in not so much to say that
| 16 to l shall be the ratio, as to say that
| coin Of certain denomination shall con-
sist of, say 66 cents of gold and 3S cents
of silver If the name shall chance to be
dollar that these proportions Of each of
a given fineness shall constitute dol
| lar in the business Of the world.
| Then it will not be necessary to count
| the value of sovereign or five-dollar
-
worth the dollar as constituted-and if
the silver is above or below fixed value
mark down or up the price of the COM
modify.
| But this decree of ratio Is not a de-
cree of equalization, you say. 1t is,
| however, a better decree-of a joint use
of the two metals. It is more. It is
joint and several use. Gold and silver
| both as metals and their proper repre-
sentatives, are still circulating at
value peculiar to each.
| Gold is now the almost only medium
of foreign and domestic exchange.
When silver is added in the above ratio
of silver to gold, it enhances the amount,
compels it's use, and leaves each to a
separate use under the immediate con-
| troll of the parties interested.
| A silver transaction could by con-
tract agree that the loan or sale should
be paid in silver, as is now done with
gold, with no venture involved but that
of f1uctuation in value during the time
| of the agreement.
There are breakers ahead and heavy
shaving in our midst. China, Japan,
the East Indies and South America
are soon to be commercial nations. The
/
nations A dollar must be minted and
it's transcript in bills Of exchange and
| bank notes must be struck Off.
| To enter into commercial relations
with them without these inevitable COM
| ing relations is to reckon without our
host The whole of our precious metals
| divided among the whole Of these popu-
lations will beget the exclamation:
| To
require or continue that one metal shall
be in use in one country and another in
another will be not only shave, but
| too deep shave in our transactions.
| The worlds money would or should be
so well known, so distinctly stamped,
SO universally current, that a shave
would seldom be severer than the inter
est for the time the money would be in
use.
1t would be easier to recoin in the
progress Of commerce than to write a
passport for the odd names and real
values of many breaking Russian
and other coins in local use. Senti-
mentality seldom enters into money
transactions, but when we discuss its
universal flow, 1t is hard to repress the
| glowing thought that He hath made of
| Ouc OlCCQ anu CQIIGACy dii IAlC liz
tons of the earth If it shall seem that
33 silver bears an inadequate proportion
to sc gold, let it be remembered the pro-
portions in all the silver countries
named will strive for a reversal to 33
gold and sc silver, and only steady
hand can hold the reins over the race
| course.
No one who has digested the PROPOSE
| foc ,ar. int n
a mixed coin, or who would accept the
proposal but for the many separate
uses to which each meal is put, will fail
to see that the same end is attained by
the method here proposed and the met
ais kept separate. This agreement made
and entered into there remains but II
cents of makeweights at each end of
the scale for fuctuation with all
| the nations.
How fast the makeweights may
be destroyed depends upon experience,
both between countries and parts Of
countries Added and subtracted slices
of the metal themselves, fiat leg
islation, issue of bonds, will all widen or
narrow this marginal difference, with
no strain upon even a numbskull Gov
eminent or State. The first trial is safe
and within Notifications. The sallies
may be made with lines connected with
them.
France, Belgium, Holland and the
United States now have gold and silver
coin in the ratio of 66 gold to 33 silver,
practically. England has gold S4, sill
yer 16 per man. AS these principal
commercial nations use now these met
ais in the above ratio, no change would
be required In their amounts, but only
to use the two instead of gold alone in
international transactions. The nations
can go no further than to arrange in
ternational ratios. The separate ma
tions can use as suits themselves.
I will venture the opinion that gold
and silver are much more to the front
on account Of commercial relations
with silver countries than many of us
think. It would be nearly impossible
to do business with China, Japan, the
East Indies and South America with
out either great augmentation Of the
value of gold or the great increase OF
the currency silver. There must neces-
sarily be an increased use of silver in
the immediate future to keep pace with
the spread of commerce. The one suffi-
cient post to sustain the weight Of these
propositions is that no nation can OF
it's own will send all silver, all gold
all bank notes or bills Of exchange
The receiving nation can demand the
metals and their duplicates in the
agreed ratio Of 66 to 33. No danger
here of driving any metal out Of ones
country by paying in the cheaper
metal No danger now Of drainage OF