Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1896-10-24


,e fcient notice to every nation on cart
n- that it is dollar and they will not fail tc
ii take cognizance of that fact.
!. Sterry: If free coinage would by an,
lr possibility create the necessity of putting
'r two trains into the railroad service in tn,
If place of one, would it increase the capac
ity of the train crew running the old one
n to make more money?
), Webber: Yes, because it would furnish
!. EN- ployment to the idle and thus relieve
+ the strain upon the employed by the idle
being able to provide for themselves.
0 Sterry: During the war, when gold
t was at its highest premium, did any rail
n road operatives in the United States earn
t in greenbaoks as much wages for like
+ services as is now paid on the Atlantic &
q Paciicf
Webber: The high rate of wages paid
. railroad epPloyes is the result of the la
Dor organizations. Prior to the war there
Y were no unions. It is not the free choice
+ of railroad owners or operators that wages
} are high.
Sterry: Is it not a fact that If you
would increase the price of all articles of
food, that it would make the cost of liv-
ing in Albuquerque great deal higher
than it is at present, and if so, how would
the average citizen get any more money
with which to pay such increased cost of
living?
Webber: This presupposes an increase
in the volume of currency, and with an
increase IN such volume all property
would enhance in value and as result
many new industries would be developed
thus furnishing employment to all of AL
buquerque's citizens at greatly enhanced
wages.
Sterry: If by free coinage of silver
the silver dollar rises in value to the par
value of gold, how would it be any easier
for railroad employees to get any more of
them than they are getting now under the
present system?
Webber: Everything else would rise
in proportion. The value of all property
is determined by the volume of currency
that can be profitably employed.
| Sterry: Under a free coinage would !
the government be in any way bound in
honor to maintain the silver dollar
coined for individuals at par?
Webber: The fact that it is stamped |
by the greatest nation on earth and pro-
| nounced a dollar is all that it is neces-
sary for the government to do. 1t is a |
dollar.
Sterry: If gold went to premium.
would it not take from our circulation
one-third of that circulation.
Webber: No. July IL, '95, the banks
of the United States reported to the
comptroller of the currency that they
had $l27,000,000 in gold on hand, and
prior to the recent importations by the
New York banks there was $100,000,OOO
in the treasury, making a total of all gold
in the United States of 1927 100000, out
side of the few dollars in the pockets of
the people. The total volume of clrcula-
tion is 81 l,6O0,00O,00O, thus you see if We
lost it all, which is not at all likely, we
would lose only one-seventh.
Sterry: Within what time would it be
possible with the present mint capacity
of the United States, and such capacity
as it would acquire by building new
mints, to supply the taking of gold from
our circulation that would be driven out
by the free coinage act on the basis of
16 10 /?
Wepber: About six months.
Sterry: Is it not true that about 80 per {
cent of the commercial transactions of
the United States are carried on by {
checks, bills Of exchange and paper of I
that class, and that the same is based {
upon money kept in the banks and other
places?
Webber: No, it is not. A. j. Warner,
before the house committee on banking
and currency, October 2, 1894, says that
the business of the country is based at
that time upon $55O,O0O,OOO in actual
cash in all the banks, and $4,700,000,OOO
of bank credits, and it is from these two
agencies, the bank credits and the money
actually in the banks, with the limited 4
amount in the hands of the people that
all the transactions of every nature and
of every description are carried on, and '
the claim that 80 or 95 per cent of all !.
business is done on credit or by credit in :
struments is fallacy. !
Sterry: Is it true that matter which I.
would pjure railroad company in it's :
earning capacity would be benefit to it's !.
employesf i.
Webber: No; it is not true. The in I
terests of the Employer and the employe F.
are mutual. y
Sterry: II q free coinage act is passed :
and gold went to a premium, would it not :
cost every railroad company more to meet :
it's obligations than it costs nowf =
Webber: The fear of gold going to a :,
premium in case OF free coinage is :.
delusion conceived by the Ignorant edu- =
GATED" of the east. If gold did 60 to +
premium under system of free coinage
it would be just as easy to get it as the
result of imitation as it is to get it now.
Sterry: II you claim that gold has ap-
preciated because of its greater purchas. q
ing power, are you borne out in such r
claim so far as the price of labor is con- v
cerned, and will gold dollar to-day pur- :
chase more labor in railroad service than II
it would purchase prior to the. coinage
act of 1881
Webbsr: A gold dollar will purchase
more labor and more of the products of Z
labor to day than ever before in all '
branches of industry.
Sterry: Is it not fact that the United t
States Today has more silver in circula- c
tion, per capita, than any free coinage
country on the earth hast
Webber: Yes, because the free coinage
countries are largely semi coun.
tries, and only small proportion OF
their people feel the necessity for money. =
In com parison with France which like
the United States has limited coinage =
Law the proportion is, in France, $l2.94
per capita, as against $8.77 in the United
States.
Hterry: Has any free coinage country
in the world any gold in actual circula- '
tionf If so, what countryf /.
Webber: Yes, Mexico has gold cur =
rsucy which has limited circulation to y
the extent Of $5OOO,OOO. In this it is not
unlike the United States, for, while We have !.
gold outside OF California there is very : !
little gold in actual circulation in the : :
United States.
6terry: Do you believe with Bryan,
ORrliele and othera that free coinage act