Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-08-13

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| treasury to redeem all government paper
in gold, when gold is demanded, will re-
| quire the redemption of all silver dol
lars and silver certificates in gold If the
greenbacks and treasury notes are with
drawn from circulation. More than this,
| If the government should retire Its pa
per and throw upon the banks the neees-
sity for furnishing coin redemption, the
banks would exercise the right to fur
| niSh either gold or silver. In otner
words, they would exercise the option,
| just as the government ought to exer-
else 1t now. The government must either
exercise the right to redeem its obllga-
| tons in silver when silver is more con-
venient, or it must retire all the silver
| and silver certificates from circulation
and leave nothing but gold as legal ten
der money. Are our opponents willing
| to outline a financial system which will
carry out their policy to its legitimate
conclusion, or will they continue to cloak
their designs in ambiguous phrasesY
There is an actual necessity for BIZ
| metalism as well as a theoretical de-
Tense of it. During the last twenty
| three years legislation has been creating
an additional demand for gold, and this
| law-created demand has resulted in in
| creasing the purchasing power of each
| ounce of gold. The restoration of BIZ
metallism in the United States will take
| away from gold just so much of its pur-
] chasing power as was added to it by the
| decentralization of silver by the United
! States. The silver dollar is now held up
| to the gold dollar, by legal tender dol
| lars, and not by redemption in gold, be-
cause the standard silver dollars are not
| now redeemable in gold either in law or
| by administrative policy.
We contend that free and unlimited
| coinage by the United States alone will
| raise the bullion value of silver to its
| coinage value, and thus make silver bull
| ion worth $1.29 per ounce in gold through
out the world. This proposition is in
| keeping with natural laws-not in def
| ance of them The best known law of
| commerce is the law of supply and de-
| mand. We recognize this law and build
/ our argument upon it. We apply this law
| to money when we say that reduction
| in the volume of money will raise the pur-
| chasing power of the dollar. We also ap-
! ply the law of supply and demand to sill
| yer when we say that new demand for
| silver created by law will raise the price
| of silver bullion. Gold and silver are
| different from other commodities in that
| they are limited in quantity. Corn, wheat,
manufactured products, etc, can be pro-
| duced almost without limit, provided
| they can be sold at price sufficient to
| stimulate production, but gold and silver
| are called precious metals because they
| are found-not produced. These metals
| have been the object of anxious search
| as far back as history runs, yet accord
| ing to Mr. Harvey's calculation, all the
| gold COIN of the world can be melted into
| u ~ lOOl CuDc anu ali tie SllNSl GULL III
| the world into 66 foot cube. But gold
| and silver are limited, both in the guam
| tity now in hand and In annual produce
| ton, and it follows that legislation can
| fix the ratio between them.
Any purchaser who stands ready to
| take the entire supply of any given ar
| ticle at a certain price can prevent that
article from falling below that price. SO
| the government can fix a price for gold
| and silver by creating a demand greater
fhaY tIa nj hinonf-
allists believe that several nations bring
| ing into agreemnet to coin at fixed ratio
| all the gold and silver presented can
| maintain the bullion value of the metal
| at the mint ratio. When mint price is
| thus established 1t regulates the bullion
| price, because any person desiring coin
| may have the bullion converted into
| coin at that price, and any person de-
| string bullion can, secure 1t by melting
| the coin. The only question upon which
| interna tional bimetallists and independ-
| ent bimetallists differ is: Can the
| United States by the free and unlimited
| coinage of silver at the present legal
| ratio create demand for silver which,
| taken in connection with the demand al
| ready in existence, will be sufficient to
| utilize all the silver that will be pre-
| scented at the minis? They agree in their
defense of the bimetallic principle and
| they agree in unalterable opposition to
| the gold standard. International bimet-
! gives benefit to the mine owner, because
| international bimetallism gives to the
owner of silver all the advantages Of
| fered by independent bimetallism at the
| same ratio. International bimetallists
cannot accuse the advocates of free sil-
| yer of being bullion owners who desire
| to raise the value of their bullion or
debtors who desire to pay their debts
| in cheap dollars, y or "demagogueS who
| desire to curry favor with the people.
| ,,anc their OnnnGitiOn
| one ground only, namely: That the sup
| ply of silver available for coinage is too
| large to be utilized by the United States.
In discussing this question: we must
| consider the capacity of our people to
| use silver and the quantity of silver
| which can come to our minis. 1t must be
| remembered that we live in a country
| only partially developed and that our
| people far surpass any equal number of
| people in the world in their power to
| consume and produce. Our extensive
railroad development and enormous in
| ternational commerce must also be taken
| into consideration. Now, how much sill
| yer can come here? Not the coined sill
| yer of the world because almost all of 1t
| is more valuable at this time in other
| lands than it will be at our minis under
| free coinage. If our minis are opened
| to free and unlimited coinage at the
| present ratio merchandise silver cannon
| come here, because the labor applied to
| it has made it worth more in the form
| OF merchandise. than it will be worth at
our mints. We cannot even expect any
| of the annual product of silver, because
| India, China, Japan, Mexico and all the
| other oliver using countries must satisfy
| their annual needs from the annual prod
uct; the arts will require large amount
| and the gold standard countries will need
| a considerable quantity for subsidiary
| coinage. We will be required to coin
| only that which is not needed elsewhere,
| but IL we stand ready to take and utilize
| all of it other nations will be compelled
| to- but at the price which we fix. Many
| fear that the opening of our minis will
| BE- followed by the enormous increase in
the annual production of silver. This is
| conjecture. Silver has been used as
| money for thousands of years, and dur
| ing all that time the world has never
| suffered from an oyerproduction. If for
any reason the supply of gold or silver
| in the future ever exceeds the require
| ments of the arts and the needs of COM
merce, we confidently hope that the in
| telligence of the people will be sufficient
to devise and enact any legislation nee