Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1896-07-30
Historical and Preliminary.

y
The leading issue Of the campaign
that of tinance--is practically q new
question, in its present phase, in thi
section of the country. While the fire.,
coinage of silver has agitated the Yves
and South to a considerable degree fol
the past few years, this is the first tim,
that it has been brought home to tn,
East. Consequently it is not strang,
that much ignorance of the subject is
shown where the tariff and other intri
cate matters have been thoroughly
mastered.
To fully understand the subject Of
free silver coinage it is necessary to
start right. A short study OF the gen
eral theme OF money should first be
made and this followed by a brief re-
view of the history of our own none
tary system and the effect that various
changes have had upon it. With this
necessary information in mind, we can,
after defining a few terms and phrases
in common use, proceed TO acquire a
better understanding of the free silver
problem than would be possible in any
haphazard way. 1t is the intent of
this article to thus open the way for a
further consideration OF the all-impor-
tant issue of the campaign.
Political economists tell us that
money is "a medium Of exchange" II
is standard Of comparison Of values
Just as the yard-stick measures the
length OF cloth. 80 the value OF the
cloth Is measured in the units ofmoncy,
such rs dollars, francs or pounds. But
money is not a necessity for tradc--it
is a convenience. Things were bought
and sold before anything of the nature
of money existed. Barter took the
place of it. Sheep were exchanged
for cows. cows for horses, and horses
for land, before any metallic money
But il was very early rcco9-
nized that some general standard OF
relative values would be of great as
sistance in making exchanges. Where
barter is solely relied upon, trade
must OF necessity be dull. fla person
has only sheep to dispose of and wants
to buy land he must wait until he
finds someone who wants to exchange
land for sheep. But if he can sell his
sheep to someone who does not want
land for money he can easily buy land
with the money. Money has not al
ways been of gold, silver or copper.
In primitive times shells, beads and
the like sufliced, and later even bullets
served as the medium. But gold and
silver were early recognized rs espe-
,ially suited for this purpose and we
find as far back us in the time of Abra-
ham that they We're then current. In
he olden time money was not coined
)ut went by weight Articles were
worth so many "shekels" of gold or
silver, which was denomination of
weight. Governments had nothing to
10 with money then. Indeed gold and
silver were used in exchange before
my government existed. Not long
,etord the Christian era governments
,egan to coin money, doubtless to pro-
ect their citizens against fraud and rs
matter Of public convenience. The
governments did not undertake to add
lnything to the value Of the coinage
Metals, but simply stamped on the
oins the value Of the amount of metal
obtained in each coin, according to a
ertain scale of denominations, as that
alue was determined by the coins
Weight. Gold and silver were the
rlncipal metals employed rs currency.
When their coinage began it was noted
hat a silver coin of a certain value
Teighed ten times as much as a gold
DIN of the same value. The ratio
vas therefore 10 to l. On account of
he excess in the supply Of silver over
hat of gold that came in later years
/ the lessened proportionate demand
IL silver the value OF the latter has
INSTANTLY declined as compared with
old 50 that in 1873 the ratio between
lem was from u to to 16 to |, ac-
riding to location. The'coincd valuc !