The herald., 1896-07-19

that of France we must add $1.35S, $780,
600 to our stock of metal, and till we
reach that point there Will not be too
much. Plenty of money makes prices
high. A scarcity of money makes prices
low.
Why was SO little silver coined when
we had free mint?
This is one of the patent questions Of
the gold men, and they imply by the
question that even silver men did not
want silver money. 1t has been said that
from the opening of our mints up to 1873
that we only coined ss,00o,000 In silver.
The facts In the report of the mint for
1894 show that there were coined in sill
yer before 1873 $84, ,907, ,000 and of this
amount ss.oo0.O0o were in legal tender
silver dollars.
Why was it that much more was not
coined?
| At that time our silver dollars were
coined at 16 to l, while France was coin i
! ing the legal tender silver dollar at
| 15k to /, and hence both our silver bull
lion and silver dollars went to the mint
| of France. Our small coins, half and
| quarter dollars, were not decoyed from
| home because they contained more alloy
than the dollars. and hence were not
| wanted In Europe. This exodus of our
silver to Europe left our mints free to
| gold during these years, and hence our
gold coinage for the term far exceeded
that of silver
But ought we not to KEEP UP the S100, =
100000 gold reserve?
We say no. for several good reasons.
First, there is no law for it and never has
been. 1t is one of Sherman's iridescent
| fictions. 1t is ostensibly kept to keep
| $346 sol ,Ol6 of outstanding greenbacks up
to par with gold. AS a security it Is
only 80 cents on the dollar The green
| back has been taking care of itself for
80 years, and needs no protection. AMI
should continue to circulate till 1t wears
| out, or till the secretary of the treasury
will REDEEM them in silver
Nearly all bankers wish them redeem
ed in gold and bonds sold to get the gold
, AS it is the greenbacks pay no interest,
and were they redeemed by $346, 600, 900
OF bonds the interest alone would he
from $12, 900 900 to S14 200, 900 per annum
How money is distributed over the
world.
The treasury department of the mint
In its appendix of August 16, 1893, gives
as the population of the principal coun-
tries of the world 1919, 100000. Those
having a single gold standard, 15S,OOO,
| 900; silver and gold, 243,000000; silver
alone, S17,600,000.
There is not enough gold to do our
/ trade or pay our debts.
1t is shown by house document No 80
| OF the department of labor that th,
minimum debt of the United States
public and private. is $40. .227. .170 546, and
the annual interest is 81, ,166, 1O1, 3O3. Now
as our entire gold in the United States
on April l, 1896. was only $617, 1877, $3.50
and If 1T were all used to meet this in
terest it would leave us in debt to the
amount of $54S, 1903, 337 There is not
enough gold in the world to pay its debts
What is meant by free coinage at i
to 1?
Under free coinage any owner of sill
yer bullion takes it to the United States
mint and has it coined free, and takes his
dollars home with him. A gold dolla,
contains 25.S grains of gold and silver
dollar contains 16 times as many grains
or 4l21s, hence it is called 16 to /. There
is no such thing known in our present
| coinage as gold dollar, but the silver
dollar, our unit of value, is still legal
tender for all debts, private and public
The act of 1873 dishonored the silver, and
we are now selling bonds to get hold OF
gold to Keep 1t at par with gold, thus
burdening the people and posterity witt,
= oppressive taxation. Shall we contin,,.
to sell bonds to pay our treasury notes
and .greenbacks? We say no, with an
| emDhasiS ~