, 1896-10-03

NNFNII ENNON 1912 FN'N"' - :" N"N'N
count. Again suppose the nations of the
world or q good portion Of them, Were to
agree on an international coin, or consent TO
legally enforce the passage, for its full face
value of the money of each of the high con-
tlactjug parties, IN each others domains, 1t
would he a matter Of Indifference, whetherl 1t
was mutually agreed to coin such our OF Tin
copper, bimttal silver, gold, OF else.
The vital question theu. to silver advocates
is simply to get the rorid or the greottr poy-
ton hereof to acccpt at a certcin standard
si{rer coin, and 1t wall answer the purpose rs
we'll as anything else. AS to whether this
is likely or not to take place, l hope to treat,
when dealing with my last question.
It's true. tAat the free coinage Of silver, on
account Of its abundance might lesson, to Il
certain extent, its present relative value to
what it may he desirable to purchase with it,
bat while competition. that useful factor Of
trade, would prevent this going too far, | fail
10 see that We would be on the whole, other
wise than benefited. Suppose +. l.. that =
silver coin, representing MS much weight as
a present silver ten cents piece, could be
earned rs easily us n present one cent
piece. (now of copper, its true that it
might purchase no more than the latter,
does at present, but Oh the basis that it
would procure no less, and would be Inst as
easily obtained, we would rather 10 gamers
than losers, for it is far preferable to handle
than the comparatively dangerous v~erdigris
producing copper. Then. while | admit, that
The more universal use of silver as q coin,
would % q certain extent lesson The }tmand
for gold, | also Justly claim; that it would
beneticjaily sulplaut the use of nickel and
copper therefor. 1t might he said hat the
sudden increased demand Tor siiyet. is bound
to cause the lie. opening Of mines now closed.
nnd with the discovery Of new mines, cause
Il superintendent supply Of this metal III the
worlds markets. Such q charge iotestall,
by ointing out that such an occurrence. VIZ
the working of more mines, would have the
beneficial effect Of finding employment for
lots Of people now idle, and out OF wolk.
Silver, moreover, before being able TO meet
its needs, and have anything like Il surplus
stock, would have a great deal to do: not
only would it have tC supplant the use Of
copper, and njchle, and partly gold, as coin;
(as before stated J but there are lots Of ether
uses for it. mn sure that many Of the use
full utensils and vessels, now made cut Of
tin, copper, iron; zinc &c. would be p,c1e,rsd
Of pure %siir0r, were it only more easily plo-
cured than at present, and within he reach
of the poor to obtain it,.
! now arrive at question (c.)
The u. S. A. Is, as every one knows, q
great silver producing country, and therefore
the more valuable silver becomes. the more
wealth il acquires. Now then, although with
your claim that governments cannot hxkths
value on anything" it may be inferred hat the
U. S. A. could not raise the value Of silver,
but il is also admitted, in your letter, that
they can fr a standard, and sag tia all
transactions ShdN be tn that StGHdard.' You
also say that "v0luo mast depend on the supply
and demand" 1t is now only too we'll known
that the demand for money is alpdgs great, II
even for more than what is Nee, ssal y to sup
ply our dai y wants, "to put up and as 1t Is
within the power of governments, to declare
that money made out of any of the metals,
shall pass as legal tender, ir their dCmipiopS,
ID Is also IN their power to increase the de-
maud for such metal, and Nth II Of II is
rdfu6, 'rhtch must increase NTH ats demand.
Taking 1t for granted then, that The u. IS.
Government, which is, as with a good many
other governments, but the people, after all,
represented by the comparatively few.-wero
to pass an enactment to the effect, that after
a certain date genuine coins Of silver bearing
its stamp shall pass as legal tender, to any
amount, at say l6 dollars TO ! of gold, within
its territory, this would Immediately make it
acceptable aud current coin among, at least,
seventy millions Of people.
But such a step is not likely to stop there.
put be followed by all the countries in the