The representative., 1896-10-14

age was Is TO 1; that is. silver dollar only
weighed as much as Is gold dollars; or
putting it the other way. one ounce Of gold
was, for free coinage purposes. valued at Is
ounces of silver. In Europe the coinage
ratio was 1872 to one. The consequence
was that from 1892 to 1884 it was more profit
able TO have gold coined in Europe than in
the United States, because there was more
money to the ounce to be had for it, In
1884 the ratio was changed to within an
1nnnitesimal fraction of 16 to one. This was
mistake in the other direction. 1t then
became more profitable to have silver coin
ca in Europe than in the United States, be-
cause the European mints coined it into
three per cent more money than ours did.
II the Eurnp an ra'i had been adopted by
this country, SO that a silver dollar would
have weighed only 15la times as much as
gold dollar. or, putting it differently, if an
ounce of gold had been valued at 15ha ounces
Of silver, 1t would not then have made the
slightest difference whether the bullion
owner took his bullion to the European or
t.-c United States mints. In each case he
would have received the same amount of
coin. Mr.. Sherman knows all this as we'll
he knows his alphabet; and he also
knows that whether the mintage of silver
bullion in this country was great or little,
1t would have no possible effect upon the
relative value of gold and silver through
out the world. So long as all the silver
and the g I'D nv lila BILE for coinage could be
freely coined in one or more of the great
nations of the world was on Il double
standard. and the total amount of gold and
silver coin was the measure Of all values.
Mr.. Sherman furthermore knows that
he did, in 1873, surreptitously and clan
destinely, secure the passage through the
senate of the mint bill, in which was con-
cealed the decentralization Of silver. He
says he has never been able to Sc what
motive could have existed for secrecy.
But he does know the motives He
knows that he could no more have de-
monetized silver If the people and con-
gress had understood 1t than he could
have established monarchy In this coun-
try. 1t is pcurile in him to suppose that
the people know no better than to think
he was ignorant of the motives. He was
determined upon demonetization. The
whole transaction was a brazen fraud. 1t
was like tearing out leaf from a will, or
description from a deed. 1t was the scan
dal of the century, and whoever reads the
proceedings of the senate on the 18th of
January, 1873, will find that John Sherman
then vehemently declared in debate that
the standard silver dollar was provided for
in the mint bill then under consideration,
although 1t had been stricken out upon his
own motion but a few minutes before. 1t
was this assertion that made senators ne
glect to look at the bill for themselves.
We call upon Mr.. Sherman to etc any
words of his own In all the debates in con-
gress which in the least degree indicated
that he favored the dcmonetization of sill
YER. The words do not exist. If they do
IS Just as easy for him to produce them
as It is for him to deal in generalities hav-
ing no foundation in fact which have thus
far been his only mode Of defense