The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-08-27

sal tGHueI LOT Ile pay lileul OL lll ucDtS, public and private. The owner of the silver bullion would get the silver dol lar, It would belong to him and to mo- body else. Other people would get 1t | only by their labor, the products Of their land, or something of value. The bullion owner, on the basis of present ] values, would receive the silver dollar | for fifty-three cents worth of silver, and other people would be required to receive it as a full dollar in the pay ment of debts. The government would | get nothing from the transaction. It f would bear the expense of coining the | silver and the community would suffer | loss by it's use.
 The Dollars Compared
 We have coined since 1878 more than | four hundred millions of silver dollars, which are maintained by the govern ment at parity with gold and are full | legal tender for the payment Of all debts, public and private. How are the silver dollars now in use different from those which would be in use under free coinage? They are to be of the same weight and fineness: they are to bear the same stamp of the government.
 
 value? I answer: The silver dollars now in use were coined on account of | the government and not for private ac- count or gain and the government has solemnly agreed to keep them as good as the best dollars we have. The gov ernment bought the silver bullion at it's l market value and coined it into silver l dollars. Having exclusive control of l the mintage, it only coins what it can l hold at parity with gold. The profit, l representing the different value of the silver bullion and the face value of the silver dollar, goes to the government for the benefit of the people. The gov ernment bought tho silver bullion con- tained in the silver dollar at very mulch | less than it's coinage value. It paid it | out to its creditor and put it in circula- | tion among the people at its face value | of one hundred cents, or full dollar l It required the people to accept it as l legal tender and is thus morally bound to maintain it at a parity with gold, which was then as now, the recognized standard with us and the most enlight- ened nations of the world. The gov- ernment having issued and circulated | the silver dollar, it must in honor pro- I tect the holder from loss. This obliga- tion it has so far sacredly kept. Not | only is there moral obligation, but there is legal obligation expressed in public statute to maintain the parity. They Could Not Be Kept at Par. These dollars, in the particulars I have named, are not the same as the dollars which would be issued under free coinage They would be the same in form but different in value. The government would have no part in the transaction except to coin the silver bullion into dollars. It would share In
 no part of the profit. It would take upon itself no obligation. It could only get them, as any citizen would get them, by giving something for them It would deliver to those who deposit l ed the silver and it's connection with the transaction there end. Such are the silver dollars which would be issued under free coinage of silver at a ratio l of IS to 1. Who would then maintain l the parity? What would keep them at par with gold? There would be no ob- ligation resting upon the government | to do it, and if there were it would be | powerless to do it. The simple truth | is, we would be driven to a silver l basis-to silver monometalism These | dollars, therefore, would stand upon | their real value.
 | If the free and unlimited coinage of | silver at a ratio of 16 ounces of silver | to one ounce of gold, would, as some of it's advocates assert make fifty three cents in silver worth one hundred cents and the silver dollar equal to the | gold dollar then we would have no | cheaper money than now it would be l no easier to get. But that such would | be the result is against reason and is | contradicted by experience in all times | and in all lands. It means the debase- l ment of our currency to the amount of l the difference between the commercial and coin value of the silver dollar which is ever changing, and the effect l would be to reduce property values l entail untold financial loss, destroy confidence, impair the obligations of ex- isting contracts, further inpoverish the laborers and producers of the country, create panic of unparalleled severity l and int1ict upon trade and commerce deadly blow. Against any such policy 1 am unalterably opposed.
 Bimetallism
 Bimetallism cannot be secured by in- | dependent action on our part. It can- not be obtained by opening our hints l to the unlimited coinage of the silver of the world at ratio of 16 ounces of silver to one ounce of gold, when the commercial ratio is more than thirty ounces of silver to on ounce of gold Mexico and China have tried the exper- l iment. Mexico has free coinage of sil- yer and gold at a ratio slightly in ex-
 cess of sixteen and a half ounces of silver to one ounce of gold, and while her hints are freely open to both met
 als at that ratio not a single dollar in gold bullion is coined and circulated as money. Gold has been driven out of circulation in these countries and they
 are on a silver basis alone Until in- ternational agreement is had it is the plain duty of the United States to
 maintain the gold standard
 It is the recognized and sole stand
 ard of the great commercial nations of the world with which we trade more largely than any other. Eighty-four per cent. Of our foreign trade for 1895 wac with po11 standard co,ptrias an1