The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-08-09
Inv q, a,,nn,v and demand. This would

| only about ffty-two TO fifty-three cents.
| and as the supply of silver would 30 on
Increasing under the demand for II that
| free coinage would cause. it would most
| probably fall very soon TO "A much lower
price. Whoever will consider the case
| candldly will be bound to admit the con
| clusiyeness Of this reasoning.
Every mans common sense and ex-
norIcnce teaches him that when two
,norcvs are put TO circulating side by
side both Of which are fun legal-tendor
and one Of which is more valuable than
the other. the cheaper money will drive
the dearer money out Of circulation. IL
takes no argument TO prove this. No
man will pay out n dear dollar when he
can effect his purposes by paving out
a cheaper dollar. TIE inevitable result,
then. OF free coinage OF silver would be
TO drive all the gold out OF oirculaticn
and TO make our money the deprecated
silver money only. IL IT is asked why
the present silver money does not drive
gold away the answer is very simple.
We have stopped coming silver dollars.
We have only a limited quantity or them
Ga little more than 100000 0W. and the
Government IS able 20 keep them at par
with the gold dollar by On effect giving
gold dollar IN exchange for silver
dollar. But free coinage would very
soon make the silver dollars so numerous
that the Government could not do this,
whereupon the silver dollar would neces-
sarily fall at once to its bullion value,
and our money would be exclusively sill
yer money, worth. possibly. less than half
what It purportod TO be worth
Who suffers whom the money OF a coun-
try becomes deprecated? Every one, but
particularly the laborlng men and those
who are pad salaries.
The unbroien record Of countries that
have allowed their money to become de-
preciated is that all Commodities at once
rise IN price I'm proportion 10 the dcpre-
citation OF tho moroy, but that wages and
salaries remain what they were and rise
very slowly. and never 10 the proportion
of commodities A. few years ago the
Senate OF the United States appointed
committee, consisting of the leading sem
ators OF both parties. TO inquire into
the subject Of labor. wages and prices.
They made long and most elaborate
Investigation and report. and they show
ed the state Of the case in the North dur
ing our civil war In 1852 wages paid
in the deprecated paper currency were
not quite three per cent. higher than when
paid in gold but prices Of 23S articles Of
daily consumption were nearly eighteen
per cent. higher. In 1868 wages paid in
paper currency worth siXty-nne cents on
the dollar were 10 1-2 per cent. higher
than when paid In gold, but the prices
of the articles the laborer had 10 buy
with his wages were nearly forty
per cent higher. In 1864, with the paper
dollar worth forty-nine cents, wages had
advanced % 1-2 per cent. but the prices Of
the necessaries Of life had advanced
80 l-2 per cent In 1865, with the paper
dollar worth sixty-three cents. wages
showed an advance OF 43 per cent, but
the prices Of commodities an advance Of
III FER cent. This is the record Of every
case where there has been a depreciation
Of money.
IT, then. we have free silver the wages
OF cur workingmen and the salaries ~
our clerks will be cut pretty nearly In
half, and when will they ever get them
raised? Both classes know the difficulty
they have always had in forcing or in
ducing employers to advance wages and
salaries. 1t would be a long, uphill
pull. and they would never get back 10
where they now are.
Our neighbor, Mexico, presents us an
Illustration of how free silver would
affect workingmon and clerks MEXICO
has had free coinage OF silver and gold
all the time. The result is gold has dis
arroaced and silver is her only money.
the dollar buying only what half of q goll
dollar will buy. 4 Mexican gold dollar
will iry two Mexican silver dollars.
WAGES and salaries have remained, how
ever, what they were when the silver
dollar was as valuable as the gold dol
lar. but they are paid in the deprecated
siher dollars. and the prices Of what
ever the laborcr buys are advanced in
proportion to the depreciation of tho
money.
Our Consul General at the City OF Mex
leo. Thomas 7. Crlttenden, has written
q letter to this country, which was pub
Hshed in the New York Journal Of Com
merce Of August g. 1896. end he tells us
that he has to pay $3.50 a barrel for -four.
$50 a bushel for corn-meal, and fifty
cents a pound for breakfast bacon The
laboring man can judge for himeslf how
free silver will affect him from these
facts.
There is another consideration which
those laborng men WHO believe in a
protective tariff ought 10 bear in mind.
II the dollar of the country is to become
worth only half dollar, then the present
protective duties will lose their power
20 protect. Instead OF imported articles
paying the present duties. they would
pay IN silver dollars and the duties would
be only one-half what they are. Laboring
men know very well that the country is
dead set against very high duties. yet
the present duties even. which Tire
thought too high by large part OF the
population, would have TO be doubled in
order to secure as much protection as