The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1896-08-15
REPUBLICAN slMETALLIsM.

REPUBLICAN BIMETALLISM.
The Republican national platform is
not, in any sense, an absolute declara-
ton for the single gold standard. 1t
says: eve are unalterably opposed to
every measure calculated to debase our
currency or impair the credit of our
country. We are, therefore, opposed to
the free coinage Of silver except by In
ternatiOnal agreement with the leading
commercial nations of the world, which
we pledge ourselves to promote, and
until such agreement can be obtained
the existing gold standard must be pre-
| served" The substance Of the Repub.
lican declaration is that every dollar of
money coined or issued in the United
States shall be on a parity with every
other dollar; shall be of equal purchasing
power and at all times interchangeable.
In short, that every dollar whether Of
paper or silver shall be as good as gold.
The Republican party believes that this
parity will be destroyed if unlimited
coinage of silver by this country alone
be undertaken; it believes that the sill.
yer dollar will Immediately sink to the
commercial value of the metal it con-
tains, drag down with it all the paper
money and drive gold out of circula-
tion. 1t is an historical fact, undenied
and undeniable, that whenever the
commercial value of gold and silver
varied from the coinage ratio two or
three cents on the dollar, the underval-
ued coin went out of circulation. No
statutory law has ever been able to pre-
vent the operation of this commercial
law, and it has time and again been
necessary to change the legal coinage
ratio to conform to the commercial value
of the metals. The silver men believe
that free and unlimited coinage of sill
yer by this country would operate to ad-
vance the price of silver. Lift it from its
present relation to gold, which is about
30 to 1; that is to say, that commercial
ly 30 ounces of silver are worth the
world over one ounce of gold, but un.
limited coinage of silver by the United
States would at once make 16 ounces
of silver worth one ounce of gold. We
must confess that it is not quite clear
to us that such result would follow.
1t is not probable that the mere declar.
alton of this government that l6 ounces
of silver are equal in value to one
ounce of gold, would actually make it
so. If government fiat could accom-
plish that it could just as we'll say that
two ounces of silver shall be the equal
Of one ounce of gold. Government
must devise some method other than
simple legal enactment if a coinage ra.
ito diviating widely from commercial
value is to be maintained. The meth
cd suggested by the Salt Lake Tribune
and other able silver advocates is for
government to become an unlimited
purchaser of silver. In that event,
ratio of IL to could unquestionably be
maintained as long as government con-
tinued to offer one dollar for Blk
grains Of silver. But what kind of a
dollar would government offer? To
give silver dollar would simply
amount TO giving 37114 grains of coined
silver for S7lh grains of uncoined sill
yer. This would maintain the parity
of silver with itself but as it is always
on parity with itself that would &C
complish nothing. The object is to
maintain a parity between gold and
silver, not between coined and lincoln.
ed silver. Government would then be
obliged to offer gold dollars for
unlimited quantities of silver calculat-
ed at 37lA grains to the dollar. That
would certainly establish the I6 to |
ratio. Just as long as government
stood ready to exchange 1922 grains of
pure gold for 37l1l grains of silver, BIZ
metallism would remain in actual ex-
istence, not only in this country but
the world over. The question is, how
long could this government do that
thing? Where would it get the gold
from? 1t is quite certain that the
moment doubt arose as to the ability
of this government to purchase all the
silver offered, gold would go to a pre-
MUM and then what kind of dollars
would be used in the further purchase
of silver? There is evidently much
doubt respecting the successful opera.
ton of this method. 1t would, at best,
be nothing better than a hopeful and
dangerous experiment. The Republi.
can party is not disposed to expert