The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1896-08-06

course Gnctuato to the same extent, thus az
fording an opportunity TO bullion brokers and
Spectators to buy and sell 1t at profit. II
would cease to be used as money, because no
man would pay his debt in gold dollars or in
paper redeemable in gold dollars. worth 100
cents when the law permitted him to pay IL
IN silver dollars, worth only 81 or 81 cents.
The sudden withdrawal of s62O. 100000 from the
volume Of currency in the country would un-
doubtedly produce financial and industrial
disturbance far more disastrous to the inter
ests Of labor than has ever been experienced
In our history. and no man who has a particle
Of sympathy for working men and women and
their dependent families can contemplate the
possibility of such calamity without feeling
that it is his duty, whether he occupies pub
lie or private station, to employ every honr
orable means at his command TO avert it,
While the Sudden expulsion Of $3.50. 900 IN
gold from our stock Of money would itself DO
sufficient to create financial disturbance UNI
parcteled in the history Of this or any other
country the situation would be very greatly
aggravated by the fact that the purchasing
power of all the remainder of our currency
would be suddenly reduced about one-half:
we should have only about two-thirds as much
currency as we have now. and at the same time
1t would be SO deprecated in value that 1t
would require about twice as much as We have
now to transact the business Of tho country.
provided there should be any business to
transact
Double Standard Failure
The attempt to maintain what is called the
double standard of value-that is, to attempt
to keep the legal tender coins Of the two met
ais, gold and silver, In use as money at the
same time, upon ratio of value fixed by law
has repeatedly been made by kings and par
liaments in every civilized country in tie
world, and it has failed again andhgain in
every one Of them, and it requires no gift OF
prophecy to foresco that it must continue TO
fail SO long as self interest constitutes con-
| trolling factor in the business affairs of men.
| Without trespassing upon your patience to
review the monetary history Of other coun.
| tries in which this experiment has been made
and failed 1t may be advantageous to refer
| briefly to our own experience upon this sub
| ject When it was determined to adopt
monetary system for the United States and
establish mint, Alexander Hamilton and
Thomas Jefferson, two men who differed
widely upon almost every public question and
whose names as founders and leaders Of their
respective parties will live as long as our po-
litical literature is read, agreed that in deter
! mining what should 30 the coinage or legal ra.
J to between gold and silver tho true relative
commercial value Of the two metals in the
| markets of the world must first be ascertained.
and that this relative value, when ascertai3ed,
/, should be incorporated into the statute as tho
basis of the proposed system OF coinage. AL.
though they were party leaders, they were
statesmen and patriots, and when they wers
| called on to consider this great business ques
ton affecting all the private affairs OF their
fellow citizens they gave it thorough and
impartial investigation upon its merits, with
out regard TO the effect their decision might
hot 0p
upon the political fortunes of their followers
The "Fatherss Not Disturbed by This De-
fusion.
These great men were never disturbed for a
moment by the delusion that congress could
fix by statute tho actual or relative values u
gold and silver any more than it could fix Ivy
statute the actual or relative values Of pound
Of lead and pound Of iron. They knew that
gold and silver, like all other Interchangeable
things, are commodities and that their value
will DO fixed in the markets Of the world.
They knew that 1t was entirely competent in
fact necessary, for congress to declare the ra-
ito upon which the two metals should be coined
at the mint, II they were to be coined at all,
but they knew equally well that II the ratio 80
declared did not correspond substantially with
the ratio which the commercial world had es-
tablished, the coins Of the two metals cou
not be kept In use as money ut the same time.
and consequently, as have already said. thoy
determined to ascertain he commercial ratio
and to adopt it. They reached the conclusion
that the true commercial ratio at that time
was Is to l-that is. that Is ounces OF silver
were equal in value to ! ounce Of gold and
accordingly the act of 170a, which was our first
coinage law, authorized the coinage Of the two
metals at that ratio.
At the ratio thus established the silver dol
lar contained 87l14 grains Of fine silver and
the gold contained 2aa4 grains Of fine gold, but
1t was soon discovered that o mistake had been
made and that S7l14 grains Of fine silver were
not in fact equal In value to 24A grains Of fine
gold, and the consequence was that, although
the difference between the value of a silver
dollar and the value of gold dollar was only
about one cent and one-eighth OF q cent, silver
drove gold out Of use and out of the country,
and from that time we had silver monometal
ism until after the passage of the acts OF 1873
and 1887.
The fact that the silver was put into the
form Of coin and made legal tender the same
as gold and that both dollars were declared
to be worth lU0 cents each, did not increase
the value Of the 311l4 grains of silver to any
extent whatever. The people could not be dc
ceived by mere words printed in statute
they soon learned that the metal contained
in the silver dollar was not equal in valnt
! to the metal contained in the gold dollar
and they paid silver to their creditors ant
boarded the gold or sent II out Of the coun
try Even our new and full weight silver
coins would not circulate or remain In tht
country, because congress, by various acts
: made certain foreign coins legal tender in th,
} payment Of debts, and as they were generally
so worn by abrasion as to be of less weight
than tho new domestic coins they drove oui
dollars and half dollers, and to large extern
cur quarters and dimes also, out Of use Il
} money. Our own coins were exported and uset
at their bullion value in making purchases
and paying debts abroad, and Mr.. jefferson
himself, who had then become president Of thu
United States, issued All order on the first da,
} Of May, 1905, stopping the coinage of silver
, dollars at our mints. No more silver dollar,
were coined until 1886, 30 years afterward, ant
. then only 1000 Of them were issued from tn,
mints.
Restoration of Gold Standard In 1884.
|, Gold having left the country, congress- II
1884, during the administration of Andrew
Jackson. determined to restore IL to the crcu
lation and, in order to accomplish that result
the legal ratio was changed from 10 to t,
about Is to l-that is, the law SO amended a
to provide that the gold eagle. or $40 piece
should contain 232 grains Of pure gold, which
made the dollar consist Of 20 l-5 grains. but b,
the act of 1887 1t was changed to 3.22 grains
which now constitutes the dollar and unit o
value. This was a slight generalization Of golt
In the coinage because "a. q grains of fine golt
, were not in fact worth as much In the mar
kets as 37lh grains Of fine silver. Although thu
difference in value was very small, it provet
sufficient to change the whole character of oul
metallic currency. and under this ratio golt
and silver exchanged places Silver went on
, Of the country and gold came in, and from
that time until after the passage Of the act o
1873 we had practical gold recommendation
: except during the period Of the war. when WI
had no metallic money Of any kind. When tn
great civil war began, we had no silver il
; circulation except the subsidiary coins author
lied by the act Of 1853 but we had gold an,