The herald., 1896-09-10

or steady depression as long as the
| silver dollar could be kept in circula-
ton at all? Under the laws of finance
which are as fixed as those of any other
| science, the inevitable result will be fin
| ally currency all and absolutely fiat.
| Their Is no difference in principle be-
tween dollar half fiat and one all fiat.
| The latter, as the cheapest, under the
! logic Of "cheap money would surely
| drive the other out.
! Any attempt on the part of the gov
| ernment to create by its fiat money fic-
titious value. would dishonor us in the
eyes of other people and bring infinite
reproach on the national character. The
! business and financial consequences of
such an immoral act would be world
wide because our commercial relations
| are worldwide. All our settlements
with other lands must be made, not with
the money which may be legally cur
rent in our own country but in gold, the
standard Of all nations with which our
relations are most cordial and extern
sive, and no legislative enactment can
free us from that inevitable necessity,
1t is fact that more than so per cent
of the commerce of the world is settled
| in gold or on gold basis.
Such free coinage legislation, il ever
| consummated, would discriminate
against every producer of wheat, cot
| ton, corn or rye-who should in justice
be equally entitled, with the silver own
| er, to sell his products to the United
States at profit fixed by the govern
ment-and against all producers of iron,
steel, zinc or copper, who might prop
erly claim to have their metals made
| into current coin. 1t would as well be
fraud upon all persons forced to ac-
cept currency thus stimulated and at
the same time degraded.
In every aspect the proposed policy
is partial and one sided, because it is
| only when a profit can be made by a
mine owner or dealer that he takes his
silver to the mint for coinage. The gov
ernment is always at the losing end.
Stamp such fictitious value on silver ore,
| and a dishonest and unjust discrimina
| tion will be. made against every other
form of industry. When silver and bull
| lion, worth a little more than so cents,
is made into a legal tender dollar driv-
ing out one having a purchasing and
|
clearly be done at the expense and in
Jury of every class of the community.
| Those who contetnd for the free and
unlimited coinage of silver, may believe
| in all honesty, that while the present
ratio of silver to gold is as 80 to (not 16
to y silver will rise above the existing
market value. If it does SO rise the effect
| will be to make the loss to all the people
so much less, but such an opinion is a
| hazardous conjecture at best and is not
justified by experience. Within the last
twenty years this government has
bought about 40,000000 of silver dollars
and issued 13O,OOO,OOO of dollars in silver
certificates, and the price of the metal
has steadily declined from $115 per
ounce to 6S cents per ounce. What will
be the decline when the supply is aug
mented by the offerings Of all the
world? The loss upon these silver pur-
chases to the people of this country has
now been nearly S150,000,000. The dollar
of our fathers, about which so much has
] been said, was an honest dollar, silver
maintaining a full parity of intrinsic
value with gold.
| The fathers would have spurned and
ridiculed proposition to make silver
dollar worth only SO cents stnd with
equal value with a gold one worth 100
cents. The experience of all nations
proves that any depreciation, however
slight, of another standard from the
parity with gold has driven the more
| valued one out of circulation and much
| experience in a matter of this kind is
worth much more than mere interested
speculative opinion. The fact that few
gold coins are seen in ordinary circula-
ton for domestic uses is no proof at
! all that the metal is not performing a
most important function in business af-
fairs. The foundation of the house is
not always in sight, but the house would
not stand an hour if there were no foun-
dation. The great engineering that
moves the ocean steamship is not al
ways in view of the passenger, but it
is all the same, the propelling force OF
the vessel without which it would soon
become a worthless derelect
1t may be instructive to consider a
moment that free and unlimited coinage
of silver would affect few great inter
eSlS, diu ilcillloI oilly cHouSi W uVii-
onstrate why a calamity may lie before
us if the platform adopted at Chicago
is carried out There are now on de-
posit in the savings banks of thirty
three states and territories of this union
the vast sum of s2000,000,O00. These are
the savings of almost five million de-
positors. In may cases they represent
the labor and economies of years. Any
depreciation in the value of the dollal
would defraud every man, woman and
child to whom these savings belong
Every dollar of their earnings when de-
posted was worth one hundred cents
in gold of the present standard Of
weight and fineness. Are they not enti-
tied to receive in full, with interest
>! all they have so deposited? Any legis-
lation that would reduce it by the value
of a single dime would be an intolerab:e
wrong to each depostor. Every bans
or banker who has accepted the earn
| iugs of these millions of dollars to the
credit of our citizens must be required
to pay them back in money not one
whit less valuable than that which
these banks and bankers received ir
| trust.
There are in this country nearly six
thousand building and loan associations
with shareholders to the number o