The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-10-16

and gold was about / to 151z-that is. that
one ounce of gold should equal fifteen and
was less than l to IA, never greater than
] to Is. and the demands of silver and
that tb o com nmmere,ag xalues were KEPT
at about that price.
ENGLAND'S EXPERIENCE,
There never was a government in the
last two centuries that attempted to coin
silver and gold ut a ratio different from
their commercial ratio. The first attempt
at that experiment is the one Mr.. Bryan
wants us to make in this country. Even
with the small production of those days
England discovered. as far back as 1916.
that there was no more reason In having
two standards of value than there was in
having two bushels, two yard sticks or
two measures of anything, and therefore
she made her standard of gold; she made
her pound sterling of so many grains Of
gold. and SO well has she maintained that
standard that to-day, If you take the
steamer and go from here to Australia or
10 the sands of Africa, and you wish to
buy a draft to send home you will have
to buy 1t on London, payable in SO many
grains of gold. TIL unwritten law of COM
merce, which is greater than any leSisla-
ture, has fixed that.
The other civilized nations of Europe fol-
lowed on after England on the gold stand
Germany, after the war with France, con-
cluded she could take the large subsidy
she TccelNfQ, put the country on ROIQ ana
establish her commercial integrity with the
gold standard. This produced so much sill
Yer for sale that the Latin Union found
themselves being flooded with silver, and
gold being driven out. Mind you, here is
the thing | want you to remember. In 1871
the Latin Union, which was stronger than
the American Nation to-day, found them
selves being flooded with silver, which was
driving out gold. although silver then was
a trlfie under the value of gold. The
mints of Franc were SO full of silver that
they couldn't Sg4n it in two years, and
the coinage of 5-franc pieces and in 1876
the Latin Union entirely suspended the
free coinage of silver.
This statement is so important that / beg
your attention while / repeat it. The Bry-
an Populsts claim that If this Nation of
1o.o0oo;oOo people establish the free coinage
or silver at Is to J. 1t will have the effect
81 once of raising it's price to par, regard
less OF the fact that its commercial ratio
proving an assertion of this kind than by
pointing out an exact instance of the kind
in the past. and fortunately in this case
Union was friendly to silver and was anx-
icus to maintain its free and unlimited
coinage with gold at a ratio of 1872 to 7.
land, Italy and Belgium. nations contain
ing about Y 200. 600 of people, or more than
our present population. The commercial
value of silver at that time was about Il
TO l. compared to gold, and yet with this
feeling of these great nations. with this i'm
mense population behind them, they found
their mints clogged with silver. gold leav-
Ing their countries, and they were forced
In 1873 to limit their free coinage of 5-franc
pieces. Does any one know of anything
that has transpired since 1873 that would
render successful an attempt to do now
what failed then. especially when we con-
slider further that it failed in 1873 with the
commercial value of silver at about II to
!, and now it is 30 to 1?
The production of gold has increased so
much since the discovery of California, the
growth of credits has been so great that
the need OF money is not so much as it
was, and the commercial world has found
that the great transactions and exchanges
have to be conducted with gold, with sill
yer as a subsidiary coin. Such Is the his
country to-day has gold as q standard, but
still uses silver in large quantities for do
age and with its leg~al-tender qualities linn
tied. In other words, the standard Of value
In Europe 10 the same as that of the
United States.
SILVER IN THE UNITED STATES.
Let us look at the history of silver in
our own country. In 1892, after we came
out of the war with England, our currency
was In the most deplorable condition in the
world. The old Continental Congress had
issued greenbacks unlimited; they were
Populists that even Bryan ought to be
proud of. They put out so much conti-
mental money that it was in the end burned
UP. and when Alexander Hamilton took
charge Of the treasury in 1892 he had to
create something new. He called in to his
aid that great son of Virginia, Thomas JEFF
ferson, a man who had Travelled the world
over and who perhaps was more familiar
with the laws of m than anybody
of that day, and they decided that they
must have gold and silver in this country,
and that they would fix the ratio of COIN
age as near the commercial value as posi-
BILE, and In pursuance of that resolve they
fixed the value at ! to 10. Now, they over
valued silver by that. They had agreed
that fifteen ounces of silver should pay as
much 1ahf as ono OIlnCp Of GOLD and hXv
selling the latter abroad for fifteen and
one-half ounces Of silver a man could pay
have half an ounce as profit, and the re-
suit was all the gold left the country and
q gold piece seen. Even the silver dollars
that were coined We're driven out by the
clipped. and worn Spanish pieces that came
In, and Ia 1906 President Jefferson arbi-
trarily stopped the free coinage of the
same to save expense.
In 1928 the great Andrew Jackson came
upon the scene-a man who is supposed to
have been a Democrat and an honest man,
until we have listened to MIR. Bryan, who
a friend In the United States Congress by
the name of Thomas II. Benton, who was
in the United States Senate for thirty
years, and. If you want to, read the his
tory of the coinage of the United States
and see that this discussion is no new
thing.
If you will take Benton's speeches you
will find he thought this question all over.
he repeatedly stated that our ratio was
t@N 0A1 tkA,
country. and that the result was that in
1884 a new ratio was established at Is to /.
and In making that ratio they overvalued
gold just as much as they did silver be-
fore, for a man could take his sixteen
ounces of silver and sell them abroad and
get more money to pay his debts than an
ounce of gold would pay, and the result
was that all the silver left this country
and WE had but nothing but gold. So ex-
traordinary was this that the halves and
quarters, which were made of the same
proportionate weight as the dollar. disap-
peared. and in 1853 Congress, in order to
provide silver change for the people, had
TO reduce the weight of the halves and
quarters and dimes.
GRESHAM'S LAW. =
Now, consider this: Alexander Hamilton
overvalued silver about 3 per cent. Thomas
III. Benton overvalued gold about 4 per cent,
and yet SO unerring was the law of trade
that in the first place it drove out gold and
in the next place 1t drove out silver. Can
you tell me by what process our Populist
friends think they will keep their gold and
silver in circulation side by side after they
establish the free coinage of silver at 10
to /, when their commercial ratio is 80 or
% to 1? This process of the cheaper money
driving out the better has been known for
600 years. 1t was first mentioned In 1864.
or account of Sir Thomas Gresham, who
in 1858 wrote a letter 10 Queen Elizabeth
in regard to the matter. 1t is as unerring
as the ebb and flow of the tides, yet these
Populist people come TO preach a new evan
gel and tell you in the nineteenth century