San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-08-16

4 Cieariy "hy Cheap Money Drives Out
Dear Money-some Homeiy illustrations.
Experience Of This Country-Distrust
Brought on Hard Times In 1898.
In accepting denomination for con-
gress at Portland, Me-, ON Aug. 8,
Thomas B. Reed devoted most of his
time to the money question. He spoke
plainly and pointedly. He said in part:
suppose that if have listened once,
have hundred times, to the declara-
ton in congress that silver money was
stealthily demonetized. Well, now, 1
myself in the house of representatives
produced the volume of The Congress
sional Record which contained the de-
bates Of the change in 1878, and there
were 1876 columns, made up of speeches
that were actually made ON the subject,
and it was up twice, and, think, three
times. And yet they say it was done in
corner. Then they have declared that
it was done by an emissary from abroad,
and they even went to the extent of
giving the name of Ernest Sayd. Ernest
Sayd was always silver man and was
not here when the thing was done.
IL has also been said that this was
steal by which we were called upon to
furnish more costly metal, and, there
fore, our creditors were going to get
more out of us, and it was all a plot
with that in view. The answer is simple
and conclusive. In the first place we
had not, prior to 1878, had single dol
lar of gold or silver currency in this
country for years, and we did not have
any for five years afterward. And there
is another fact, pretty important one,
and that is that in 1878 the silver which
would have made United States stand
ard silver dollar of 412Ha. grains was
worth 3 CENTS ON dollar more than a
gold dollar was. This was setting up a
standard that was cents ON dollar
lower than the one which you say ought
to have been retained. think, then, we
may safely eliminate from our minds
any notion that any fraud or wickedness
was practiced. And the only question
is, Which system is the best for this
country-which will produce the best
results?
Z Why, we hadsome experience in this
country, but mems memories are short.
In 1882 our earlier fathers determined
to marry the two metals together What
is the first thing they did? 1t was to as
certain the market value of the two
metals as they stood side by side then,
and they thought that they were 10 to
1-not 16 to 1, but Is to /. What was
the effecS 1t was an generalization Of
silver. Yes, the gold in gold dollar
was worth more than the silver in sill
yer dollar.
What was the result? Why, if man
had So, one of which was worth 100
cents and the other was worth 102
cents, he kept the 102 cent dollar longer
and passed off the other one quicker. 1
don't mean that the average man did
that. Two cents ON dollar, even in
those days, was not worth making much
muss about, but the money changers
swere on the alert, and whenever silver
dollar came into the bank or reached
the money changers, he put it out of
circulation. have misstated that. /
should have said that gold was more
valuable-so that we had silver alone
during that period. The gold, being
more valuable, fled away.
Well, now, the gold disappearing,
our fathers in 1884 thought they had
better make change and see if they
could not keep gold and silver together ;
so they changed the ratio from 10 to
to 16 to /, or, to be exact, to 10. SO to l.
That turned ont to be an generalization
the other way, and what was the result?
The result was that gold reigned su-
preme.
Then, in 1861, we had war and we
issued greenbacks, and ,greenbacks, be-
ing cheaper, for II years drove out both
gold and silver, but in 1879 we resumed
specie payments, and the result was
that we resumed them, as we agreed to
do in 1878, upon gold basis. And that
has been the case ever since.
This, then, is the experience Of the
United States encountering single hand
ed the question of currency. We never
were able, when there was difference
of 3 or per cent, to keep the one metal
alongside the other. 1t was always
either gold or silver, never both. Now,
If the United States could not lift
silver dollar that was worth only 2
cents less than the gold dollar. can she
now lift a 80 cent dollar to the height
Of 100 cents? And II she can. why
should we want to do it3 Suppose you
have got q house, Is it worth any more,
is it any different house, whether it is
worth 2,0O0 silver half dollars or 1000
gold whole dollars? II you want to put
your house at more dollars. why not cut
the gold dollar in two, and measure it
by gold9 fe gsf.s aisAg a5agaa
Are there any more potatoes in 1000
pecks than there are in 1000 bushelsr
If remember my arithmetic right, and
perhaps don't, your house is the same,
your farm is the same-it produces the
sauna raSr1l t