The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1896-04-16

a law giving them the, right to have 81
free of charge and stamped as a dollar,
and compelling you and all others to re
mints OF the United States, operated to
their full capacity. and doing no other
Yer dollars two-thirds of the annual pro
duction Of silver In our own country, but.
noswithstanding , this. 1t Is seriously pro-
yer In the world at legal valuation nl-
most double its commercial value In the
markets of foreign countries where 1t is
produced. The annual production OF sill
yer I'm the world is about PIC, 900 900 at our
coining rate, and the annual capacity of
our mints TO coin standar silver dollars
coined s4S.sS8, l75 in gold, and s9,6es,iso in
exclusively TO the free coinage of stan
dard silver dollars the addition to our
stock OF metallic money would be about
Sl5Ue,0oO less every year than 1t Is now:
ana II would not be good money after II
was coined More than fifteen years
coin enough deprecated silver dollars to
supply the place of the good gold dollars
expelled from the country. and. in the
have to be effected In our commercial
relations with other nations and i'm all
readjustment of the wages of labor,
the prices oi commodities, the rates OF
other matter involving the use of money
or credit.
The recent experience of the Republic
warning to the wage-earners against the
evils of deprecated currency: That
double standard of value. with coinage
OF legal tender gold and silver at the rate
OIL 1853 TO ]. but as this was n considerable
that metal went out of circulation and
gold constituted the medium of exchange
and actual standard OF value until about
hnt
soon as the commercial value of silver
fell below the ratio of 1859 to as com
circulation and the country. had silver
m1on0metallism nm, tall ;, In lS55 before this
Chilli, was worth about ST. cents sYI"t in our Er
money. but in 1885, ten years after gold
went Wen out and silver came in. the peso
money. Silver continued to depreciate
and, besides, large amounts OF paper cur
the banks. and in 1895. twenty years ar
ter the change from the gold basis 10 the
silver basis. the peso was worth only
see, now. what effect this cheap money.
or in other words. this system of silver
adopt here. had upon the wages of labor
in that country Our Minister at Santia-
| go has very recently made an official in
vestigation and report upon this subject,
which has not yet been published, from
which IL appears that in the northern
| been in greater demand than elsewhere,
on account Of the great nitrate fields To-
Gated in that section of the country,
Very little change took place even in the
nominal rates of wages, notwithstanding
the great fall in the value of the cur
ceive In deprecated money about the
same amount they received before I'm
good m9ney. Sli In 1878. when the peso was
maker, blacksmith, n carpener. fire.
man and an ordinary iaborer received to-
gether for a days work 1877 pesos, or
Sn ma
sons received for the same work 2oa.
pesos, but owing TO the depreciation OF
| in our money: and in 1875. twenty years
after after the country had descended to
silver basis, the same laborers received
for the same work 1855 pesos, but the
value of the peso was less than So cents.
and consequently their wages amounted
to only S'@ in our money, or just about
twenty years before.
Our neighboring Republic of Mexico.
with u constitutional government very
similar 10 our own, with an area OF 7S7-
U1 square miles and Il population OF only
about l2Uo0,G0 with almost marvellous
natural resources awaiting DEVELOPMENT.
anu Offering most inviting field for the
investment of capital and the employment
of labor, has the silver standard of value,
gold not being in use, and If cheap
money is blessing to the luboring man
he ought 10 be prosperous and happy in
tains S17.l7 grais OF pure silver. or nearly
q grains more than is contained I'm our
uollaf, ana YET, not beinE sustained by Il
monetary system which keeps II at a
parity with gold it is worth only about
80 cents in our money. Wages are paid
in silver and are very low In comma arison
with the wages paid in this country for
the same service, in many instances not
being half as much. while the prices of
commodities generally are much higher
than they are here. The prices OF i'm
ported articles especially are exorbitant-
ly high in Mexico, because they have TO
be paid for abroad in gold. and the de-
nreciation of their money is so great that
IL requires nearly two dollars in silver
10 pay one in gold. Although our own
silver dollar contains less fine silver than
the Mexican dollar. one of ours is nearly
equal in eNchang, able value TO two Of
ted ana the Government issues the coins
on its own account and has pledged its
faith and credit to keep them as good as
gold. pledge that has been Faithfully
complaints and denunciations of our free
coinage opponents.
You have doubtless observed recently
what appears to lie quite formidable
demonstration In favor of the free coin
age of silver by certain large manufac-
turing interests in the Eastern part of
the country, upon the ground that if we
continue to maintain our present stand
ard of value the silver standard coun-
tries. especially India China and Japan,
the markets OF the world. Reduced 10 Its
simplest form, the proposition of these
gentlemen is that the manufacturers of
certain kinds OF goods in this country
high wages in gold. or its equivalent, and
compete successfully In the markets
abroad with the manufacturers of similar
goods in silver standard countries, who
pay their laborers low wages in depre-
ciated silver, and therefore, they insist
han hn all