The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1896-08-06
Concluded from page 4.


the fictitious value which the acts Of congress
Attributed to the legal tender paper.
viii endeavor to show you hereafter what
effect this deprecated currency had upon the
wages Of labor and upon the prices Of com
modities which the laborers were compelled to
purchase with their wages. my purpose at the
present moment being simply to prove. by our
own experience. that 1t Is impossible TO retain
In circulation at the same time legal tender
gold and silver coins Of the same denomina-
tion at any ratio which does not correspond
with the actual commercial values Of the two
metals in the markets Of the world, and that,
therefore. the free and unlimited coinage Of
legal tender silver by the United States alone
at the ratio Of 10 to /. when the true CONNER
cial ratio is about 81 to l. would instantly con-
tract the currency By the expulsion of all the
gold now In the country.
II the generalization of silver to the amount
of little over per cent in the coinage law Of
l792 expelled gold and established silver mono
metallism, and III the generalization Of gold TO
the extent Of less than per cent in the acts OF
1884 and 1887 expelled silver from circulation
and established gold recommendation, is not the
conclusion irresistible that the free and un-
limited coinage of legal tender silver ut the
present time at an generalization OF nearly
100 per cent, would ut once place the country
upon monometallic silver basisf This ques-
ton does not seem to me to be open to serious
argument, and when 1t Is proposed that the
United States SHALL in defiance of our own ex'
perience during period Of 50 years and in de-
fance OF the experience of other nations dur
ing many centuries. authorize the free coinage
OF legal tender silver at such ratio 1t Is the
duty of the people and especially the duty OF the
laboring people TO pause before II Is too Late and
carefully consider whether they will deter
mine to overthrow their existing monetary
system and substitute In its place the depre-
ciated silver monometallism of Asia and Mex
leo and the small states and republics OF Cen
trail and South America with their low rates
Of wages and their high rates Of exchange.
Under the coinage act Of 1902 We had silver,
but no gold. and under the acts of 1884 and
1887, with free coinage Of both metals. We had
gold but no silver except the token subsidiary
coins after 1888. while now, with gold Us tho
standard and limited coinage of silver, we have
both gold and silver as full legal tender money
in larger amounts than ever before in our his
tory and the coins Of the two metals are kept
equal in purchasing power by the credit and
resources of the government. Notwithstanding
the difference in their intrinsic value
Real Question Shall We Have Silver
Recommendation?
We have now about 500, 100000 in gold and
90 in full legal tender silver, besides
a$78,2l6,677 in subsidiary silver coins, which
$40. and the real question for the people to de-
eide is whether they will continue to use the
coins of both metals or adopt monetary sys-
tenn which always has and always will drive
one of them out of the country am not here,
therefore, this evening to advocate the exclu-
sive use of gold coin as money, or to oppose
conservative and safe use OF silver coin as
money along with gold and at parity with
gold, but am here to insist that we shall not
abandon tho r,roaant lapnl sta ndard a wilma.
expel all the gold from the country and adopt
silver recommendation, with free coinage Of a
nominal dollar worth intrinsically only 81 or
so cents anu here to insist that the minis Of
the United States, which were constructed
and are maintained and operated at the ex-
pense Of all the people. shall not be used for
the exclusive benefit Of the owners of silver
bullion under law giving them the right to
have 81 or 81 cents worth Of their silver coined
free Of charge and stamped rs a dollar and
compelling you and all others to receive IL
from them as dollar.
All the mints Of the United States, operated
to their full capacity and doing no other work,
could not coin into standard silver dollars two
thirds of the annual production OF silver in
our own country. but, notwithstanding this. 1t
Ia seriously proposed to offer free coinage to
all the silver in the world Mt legal valuation
almost double its commercial value In the
markets OF the foreign countries where it IL
produced. The annual production of silver in
the world Is about $2l6, 100000 at our coinage
rate, and the annual capacity Of our mints to
coin standard silver dollars is only about SAC.
100000 Last year we coined $43, 9S3, 475 In gold
and 5000, 4S0 in silver, so that II our mints
were devoted exclusively to the free coinage
of standard s. yer dollars the addition to our
stock Of metallic money would be about sl5,
600, 600 less every year than 1t Is now. and 1t
would not be good money after 1t was coined.
More than 10 years would elapse before we
could at this rate coin enough deprecated sill
yer dollars to supply the place of the good
gold dollars expelled from the country, and in
the meantime a complete revolution would
have to be effected in our commercial rela-
tions with other nations and in all our domes-
tic business affairs, including REIMBURSEMENT
of the wages of labor, the price of commodities,
the rates of municipal, state and federal taxa
ton, charges for transportation and every
other matter involving the use of money OF
credit. We should descend by single STEP
from the highest standard Of yaluoto silver
recommendation, with a contracted and at the
same time deprecated currency. u financial
experiment which has no precedent in the
monetary interest Of the world.
Fortunately when changes have heretofore
been made in the circulation by the substitu
tion OF the coins Of one metal for the coins &.
the other, the difference in their value hal
been very small and the process OF substitu
tion has been gradual and created no grea
financial disturbances. Under the act OF lsc
the difference in value between the coins ant
the legal ratio was only a little over pei
cent, and yet, within less than one year aftel
the enactment Of that statute, congress wa
compelled to re-enforce our stock Of money b,
making certain foreign coins legal tender IL
the payment of debts, and on the same day Q
the passage of the act Of 1884, which put thu