Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1896-03-15
nIsAsIER wouLp FoLLoW
The Inevitable Result of a Free o0'"aSs .
 o7 Silver.

rrbis nation cannot adopt the iiee .oinaoa of silver upon the old ratio of sixteen 10 one without placing us uI'o,, . silver, basis and reducing the curreheJ of this country to the use o1 one l1e.o,.i !l,o9 only as money, and that metal siis51, tlla The difference in price existing Ill .lie ,,arl<e+s of the world between tiio amount of pure gold in gold dollaI ond the amount of pure silver m a asllFei dollar is so great that can hardly con ceiye of thinking person who Mlil ',7 sort tbat both dollars can possibly oe made to circulate side by side as eur rency. unless the value ot the 1%o y'2, ooi hrs becomes nearly the same @hei- ever free coinage is granted o0 ony metaI that metal of neces- civ becomes standard money III tbe country where it has free com oo,a When free coinage is given 10 two metals and the value of the tiiV in one is greater than the value oi the unit in the other, the business or sucl a country will be done uniyeFsally os the use of the cheaper metal, ana llls dearer metal, wherever a nation aaoPt9 inc free coinage of the cheaper metal' becomes simple merchandise and ceases fo be used as currency. Ii the law per mffted the people of the United States to nay their obligations in silver dollars which were worth no more tilfta 9V cents when compared with gold dollars which were worth 100 cents, no sane man will say that the people would use gold dollars in such payment. Ihey would invariably convert then gold dollars into the cheaper silver ones ana discharge their obligations by usin8 only the cheaper money.
 know that certain advocates of the free coinage of silver upon the ratio ot sixteen to one tell us that by reinstat- ing such free coinage the silver dol lars would advance in price or the gold dollars would decrease in price until the two would again be approximately of the same value l dc not believe that. nor do | believe that one instance on the face of the earth can be named which will warrant such q conclusion. Mexico has free coinage of silver, but on that account silver is worth no more in Mexico that it is in the United States. The silver dollars of Mexico are worth only about half as much as the silver dollars of the United States. although they contain a little more silver than do the silver dollars of this country: but our silver dollars are increased In price because the government so man ages as to keep them at par with gold dollars. That cannot possibly be done if we give free coinage to silver. can thing of no way whereby these ean be kept at equal value at the present time except by making the higher priced money tho standard money and refus- ing. free coinage to the cheaper money. and then keep the cheaper money equal in value to the better money by making it readily convertible into the better money.
 Now, why do l believe that an in- crease in price produced simply by eheaPeniue the unit of measure will prove disastrous to the business iHter= e5ts of this country? ! will tell you why. In the inst place such q great and sudden change in the value of our currency would destroy tle confidence of inc business world in eur business integrity and woaId inicre this na- tion beyond all computation, and the first dfTefui result which would be eX- Perienced by such d Change would be the total destruction of oar nation cred- it. Good money is rightly called the ife-blood of the nation, but credits he atmosphere without which business has no life. The perfection of credit is the glory of modern business methods Re pudiation in any form is abborrent to all honest men. It is on this account that this scheme of reducing the value of our circulating medium meets oppo- sition from the business men ofnearlv all the civilized world.
 The next great disaster which be heve would follow such legislation is the effect that it would have upon the i wage-earners of the country. The trouble with the advocates of the free coinage of silver at sixeecn to one lies largely in the fact that they ignore the great human product of labor, and the way in which such legislation would affect the people who work for wages. Their scheme is based upon the ussump- ton that 1t would enable people to pay their debts with greater case, and then they follow that assertion by saying that the great bulk of the people of this country are debtors. The exact opDo- site of that is the truth. The mass of the people of the United States are creditors All the men and women who work for pay in money become creditors the very first hour of each days labor. Can anyone overestimate the calamity which would follow to the people working for wages if you cut down the price of the dollar in which those wages are paid one-half, and then increase proportionately the prices of everything such laborers t1e compelled to buy in order to live ?-Roswen G. Horr, in \. Y. Tribune.
 The Silver Question.
 The German federal council has re-