The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1896-04-28
Money Questions.

Every voter should post hlmsel
on the absorbing question Of tn
day. Men must read and study i
they would be intelligent. This il
a time when the people must speak
There are men who are gold bug
without reason, and so it is witt
! silver men, ...-.-
| Below we give some Of the silyei
| questions answered and furnished
by the st. Louis Journal of Agri
culture: ~
"What does the term ratio 16 tc
l meanY"
1t means that sixteen ounces OF
pure silver are equal in value to
one ounce of pure gold.
'Is not our legal ratio now 16 to
/? If so, why ask for what we al
ready have?"
The legal ratio is now 16 to l,
but our mlnts are closed to stleer
at any ratio. What is asked forts,
that the mints be opened, at the
ratio, to the unlimited coinage of
silver, same as they are now to gold.
Wouldn't the world dump it's
silver on this country then?"
Ths void didn't flood us with
silver when our minis Were open at
the ratio-from 1892 to 1S73-and
an experience of eighty-one years
is hard to offset by a bare assump
ton.
"But conditions have changed
since then; the production of silver
is much greater now than in 1873"
Yes, the silver production of the
United States has doubled since
then, but our population has also
doubled, so that relative conditions
have not changed.
"But the increase of production
of silver in other countries has
been greater"
The worlds output Of silver is a
little over double what it was in
1873, but the combined output of
silver and gold in the world has
not kept pace with the increase in
population.
"But silver is now worth less
than seventy cents an ounce, and if
our minis were opened at the ratio
of 16 to l, it would be worth ST. 30.
China, for instance, has $500, 000,-
900 of silver; would not shrewd
men bring it all to our mints and
food this country with cheap sill
ver?"
China has population of over
40O,000,0O0, and that 00,00O,-
O00-$1.75 per capita--is all the
money she has to transact business
with. 1t is all in circulation. She
has no gold or paper money. She
couldn't spare her silver even if it
were worth 50 an ounce here. Sup
pose China had 100000, 600 bushels
Of wheat, worth fifty cents bush
el-the only breadstuff she had
and the United States should pass
a law that would make wheat So a
bushel here, does any one believe
that China would send her wheat
here? She couldn't do without it,
Neither could she do without her
silver, and it would not come here
The same is true of India and other
countries.
But some shrewd tinanciers
who had saved up a few million
ounces of bullion would dump a
lot of it here, and wouldn't it de-
base our currency, and give us 90
cent silver dollars?"
This is one of the fallacies of
gold standard advocates. If open
ing the minis to unlimited coinage
were to make silver so cheap, for
eign silver would be sure not to
come, no matter how big the sur
plus, for it would not pay; and if
silver was worth ST. 20 an ounce,
the silver in a silver dollar would
then be equal in value to the gold
in gold dollar, and the currency
would not, therefore, be debased.
In other words, it cannot be true
that foreign silver would be dump
ed on us, and also true that open
ing the minis would make 50-cent
dollars. One or the other assump-
ton is false.
VIVA - --