The Irish standard., 1896-08-15


'I,ATlIl IYs
4a06, 565, 500 III another part Of his
Els speech he tells us that since 1873
| there has been coined of gold only 81 zoo, :
Dec. OO0 Therefore more than one- half
of the entire coinage of gold in the world
since 1873 was made in three years, to-
will: 1892, 1893 and 1894, or during the
whole OF the other twenty years there
was only coined of gold 1851, 1876, 327, Or
less han s29, OO0, O00,0 900 per year for TWEEN
ty years, for the whole world. The Unit
ed States alone for twenty years from
in gold $709, 1O9, 1877, according to my fig
ures or $131 ,926.44O more than the senator
says, was coined by the whole world. Let
us follow this a little further; Senator
Davis says that there was coined by the
world In gold since 1873 only 81, 2OO, OOO,-
600, and of this amount $685., 814,673 was
coined during the years 1892, 1898 and
1894, leaving 1857, 1S5,327 as the total
coinage of gold for the whole world for
twenty years. In another sentence the
senator says: "And Of gold The United
States minted during the same period
$685., AGO $685. or for the same period OF
twenty-three years. This would only
leave the mintage of the world for TWEEN
ty three years 1852 $3.50 1867 or 81 ,414,755
per year for the whole world. II the ball
anee, of the figures presented by the Sen
ator are Of no more value han those pre-
sented on the coinage of god for the
world, for the past twenty-three years,
they are of little use in aiding the great
American people in arriving at true So
luton of the money question. 1t is very
apparent to only casual reader of his
great speech; ohaht in his effort to show
the vastly greater production Of silver
coinage to that of gold he over-stepped
all bounds of fact and scared into the
1eal1ns Of fiction, or else the sourse from
which he procured his figures was CEN
tainly very defective. According to the
figures that.I have at hand the worlds
coinage Of gold from 1879 to 1892, both in
elusive. was 81, 1877, 714,679 and silver for
same period was 1892, 6O3,351. My au-
thority for the foregoing statement is the
bureau of the United States mint. Silver
today is not a proimary money. but only
secondary, and measured like every other
commodity by gold, which is measured by
itself and however much 1t may appre-
ciate, it never appreciates above itself;
country prior to 1873 was primary money,
and constitutional money as much as
gold, which has appreciated to hundred
cent dollar: and silver and every other
commodity measured by gold has de-
preciated. Senator Davis says: 1--WE
have $500, 100000 Of gold in the United
States I think more. It would disappear
at once in the face of free coinage or even
the certainty Of II" We reply that it has
already disappeared, and has all the time
been just where it now is, in the vaults
of the banks and the United States treas
ury, and not in circulation. 1t has been
where 1t could be reached when needed
by the gold syndicate to replenish the
United States treasury when the bonds
of the United States were offered for that
purpose, but when the fo6lishness of per-
hitting banking institutions of Wall
street to withdraw gold from the sub
tresury with grsenbacks and treasury
notes at the option of the holder to apply
the gold withdrawn to the payment If
private and corporate Indebtedness, and
when the treasury Is depleted of its re-
serve of gold to point which the secre-
tary decides to be a danger point, another
issue of United States bonds takes place
and the same gold which was withdrawn
is paid into the treasury for thirty-year
4 per cent United States bond. thus re-
placing or paying with United States
bonds. private or corporate Indebtedness.
and this on the plea Of maintaining the
credit of the government: and the gold
syndicate pockets the snug profit Of $1O,-
600, 900 900. Again the senator says:
stThey say silver has not fallen, that gold
has risen. Now let me put an illustration
from nature. The waters of Lake Su-
perior that great inland sea, which floats
so much of our commerce and is such an
element in our prosperity, have for many
years been falling until now they are low
er than they have been at any time for
fifty years, and everything on on their
surface has fallen. The waters of Lake
plane of humanity, bearing everything
upon it's surface-those waters bear the
fleets, vessels and craft, and fleets of all
kinds have fallen with the water. What
would you tlink of man standing on the
deck of one those vessels saying, this YES
sci has not fallen; this vessel stands just
where it did, but the universal shore of
Lake Superior has risen?' J"
No we do not say that silver has not
fallen. when measured by the shore line
but on the contrary say it has fallen, but
when measured by itself or water line
we say it has not fallen. The shore line
represents gold standard, the water line
silver, and the vessels and craft of all
kinds represent the average value of in
dex numbers of one hundred of the prin-
cinal commodities of commerce. We start
in 1873 with the shore line, the water line
and vessels and craft of all kinds at
level, but in 1896, we find the water and
vessels and all craft many feet below the
shore line, and when measured by the
shore line we say, the water Cor silver)
and vessels and craft have fallen, but
when the vessels and craft Tor average
value of one hundred commodities are
measured by the water Tor silver, we say
that they have not fallen, but are rela-
lively in the same position as in 1873.
The senator's shore line argument might
be sustained by quoting the case of the
eleven stubborn jurymen who disagreed
with the one who was right '"The
trouble is my financial friends have con-
fused the ratio of weight with the ratio Of
value, and are trying to confuse the peo-
ne with it," No, senator, the friends
Of free coinage understand perfectly what
they are talking about when they talk of
ratio, and know it means the commercial
ratio between gold and silver, and that it
did not change to exceed two points, for
nearly two hundred years; and was not
= AN~