The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1896-09-26
BIAIETALISM
Pascal to the Portland Oregonian and
Hugh GonrIay

4 IdbCdl u oTtSOniah anu
| Hugh GonrIay
ED. IMEs-MoUNTA1NEER:
1t does seem little hard on Hugh
Gourlay that his second essey should
be spoiled in much the same manner
as the first. Mr.. Tom Reed IS frank ad-
mission that sit wouldn'd work"
queered the first, and now Mr.. Gourlay
runs counter the big Oregonian, which
in its leading editorial of the 18th list.
same date as his LAST answers an hon
est seeker after truth who asked "why
we cannot have free coinage of silver
at 16 to just as we used to have it be-
fore 1872 this being the very question
raised by my last letter, and there
seeming to be some ''meat" in its aus
wer, and none of the sounding brass
and tinkling cymbal" business, with
Mr.. Gourlay's permission will exam
inc the Oregonian's answer. The
people are seeking facts in this cam
paign, not fancies; and we must appeal
to their reason, not their imagination.
The Oregonian draws some remark
able conclusions from the acts of 1887
and 1853 which l think the wording
and spirit of the law does not warrant.
1t says:
'The gold standard had been pur-
posely adopted in 1884 and confirmed
by the acts of 1887 and 1853, and the
silver dollar, practically obsolete, be-
cause worth too much, but which had
been left hanging in the air. so to
speak, was omnitted from the revised
code of 1873"
| Now let's look into those coinage
laws and see if they bear out this con-
struction for if they do the Oregonian
is right in it's final summing up,
against the old style dollar, but if not
true, then the premises on which it
bases all its proof failing, that alleged
proof is worse than nothing, and only
hurts the cause it advocates.
1t is not denied 1 believe Except,
perhaps, by Mr.. Hugh Gourlayl that
the first coinage act (1792) established
a unit of value, an arbitrary thing
called dollar, and designated that it
| should contain a fixed number of
grains of silver, at fixed ratio of Is to
l, by that as standard, nor is it ques-
| toned that bimetalism was the inten-
! tion of this act. 1t seems to me the bet
ter proved by it, from the fact that the
U. S. was not then silver producing
country to any extent, and a high
ratio or valuation would tend to bring
silver in from beyond our borders, but
it seems that actual experience taught
that the bid was too high, for silver
was not offered for coinage freely; to
correct this, in 1884 the ratio was
changed from Is to l to 16. 002 to /,
but was gold made the standard?
Hardly, when the actual fact is that
to conform to the standard silver dol
lar, at the new ratio, the gold coins
were recoined, the gold in gold dollar
being reduced from 24.7 grains to 23.2
grains, while the silUer dollar aoas un-
altered. To deny this is to deny his
tory, is it not stretch of Imagination
to think this "gold standard purposly |
adopted"
In 1887 the change was very small.
the ratio being then fixed at 1888, |
practically called 16 to l, and the gold
coins were again made to conform, the
grains in gold dollar dropping from
1872 to 1922, to conform with the stand
ard silver dollar, at the new ratio.
Did this confirm gold standard |
adopted in 1884? If so, the English
language needs revision.
In 1S53.as the Oregonian admits, the
minor silver coins, quarters, dimes and
halves, which were full weight, were
being drawn from the country,
and change was becoming scarce.
France had adopted ratio of 154 to l,
and silver was at 4c premium, France
had over bid us for silver, and some
thing must be done to stop the drain.
Congress ordered these small coins to
OO uduO vi tbno w bO
legal tender for $500 only. An ex-
treme measure to meet an urgent case;
but no change whatever was made in
the silver dollar, the unit of value of
our coinage, and yet the Oregonian
asserts that this act completed the
demonetization of silver, although it is
forced to admit that it was left chang
ing in the air" until 1873, practical
admission that it was then demone-
tized.
The financial history of this early
period is full of the struggle of the
people to get silver enough to do
business with-several acts were
passed looking 10 this-Mexican, Spar
ish, Peruvian and Bolivian dollars,
which were in the possession of the
people to the estimated amount of
nearly hundred million dollars. were
made legal tender, and with the eight
million of our own, and 81 million in
80, 25 and 10 cent pieces, made a total
of little over 200 million in silver
actually in use-not simply eight
million as it is sometimes stated
there were that many standard U. S.
dollars.
In 1873 an act was passed making q
gold dollar of a specified number of
grains the unit of value. Soon there {
after other nations inspired by SINH
lar power, as we think, took like
action, since then. silver which had for
so long been at a slight premium, be-
gan falling, steadily by jerks, so to
speak, relatively to gold, and yet by q
singular process of reasoning, we are
told that the scales are single action,
the one side goes down without the
other going up.
Be this as it may, however, it seems
to me that the Oregonian fails to prove
it's position by its forced Interpretation |
of the early coinage laws. Mr.. Hugh
Gourlay's effort, while purporting to be
q discussion Of the same question,
scatters wonderfully, and seems
more of band wagon performance
than serious investigation of the SUBJ
ject. One of his statements; however,