Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1896-08-27


We have nearly equal amounts in value
of both metals in our circulation: $685.
G32,0sjS gold, S625,335,55 silver; and
every one of our silver dollars has been
coined on the mystic ratio, 10 to 1, so
dear to many of our friends, and which,
strange TO say, has become the banner of
n party. Any body who wants the dollar
of our 'daddies," the money of the con-
stitution, can have Il by working for IL;
and no system of finance will ever give
him dollar in value without work; and
when he gets it under our present system,
he will find that the 1f to | motto is not
an empty boast; that the government who
has coined this dollar and announced to
the world that 1t shall be worth at the
ratio of 16 to / of gold. stands ready TO
make good its assertion and redeem ii in
gold. But, the silver men say, that in
doing this we insult and debase the silver
dollar. Is 1t debasement of anything to
hold its value up TO what we assert it
to be! What do they mean when they
want us to stop insulting the silver dol
lar! They want us TO stop redeeming
it in gold, to stop holding its value up
to their beloved and mystic ratio of 16
to l, and let il take care of itself, and
sink to its natural value, which is 81 to 1.
Under free coinage the 10 to 1 motto
would be purely platonic declaration.
They want us to shout loudly 10 to l,
but at the same time to carefully stop
backing up our words by deeds, which is
the only way TO make them effectual.
II looks as though the people did not
| want the dollar of our daddies." We
| have coined hundreds of millions of them,
| and for twenty years the treasury has
| tried by every conceivable means to get
| them into circulation. and yet the report
of the director of the mint last fall shows
that there were only $56,000,00O in cir
cnlation. Our people refuse to receive
them as change in any amounts, and they
accumulate in the banks, who in turn
dump them into the United States Treas
ury. Hundreds of millions of them lie
there in useless heaps. which we cannot
dispose of in any manner whatsoever. If
| our people refuse TO use and carry around
these dollars now when they are really
worth 16 to l with gold, will they have
more respect for them when we cease to
hold their value up to the present stand
ard. and they will only be worth one-half
as much! Does it not look like sheer
folly for us to coin millions more of these
dollars when we already have hundreds
Of millions that we cannot dispose of?
Fellow citizens, let Ills not delude our
selves. The free silver coinage PROPOSE
ton is simply an act to reduce our stand
ard of value to one-half what il is al
present, and to liqnidate all existing OBJ.
legations on that reduced basis. 1t is
therefore, an act of spoliation, of fraud
and Reputation.
1t is useless for them to attempt to blind
us by fairy tales about their so-called
crime of 1873. The question before the
people is what is best to be done now
under the present conditions. When the
silver dollar was dropped from the coin
age in 1873 it was worth then, and had
, been since 1884, 8 per cent premium
above gold, and all our values in thi.
country had been measured by the gold
standard since 1884.
The act of 1873 did not change or dis
turb any existing values History give.
no record of any nation who has evel
attempted to suddenly lower their stand
ard of value to the extent which the silyel
men are urging upon this country.
Now, MS reasons why we should max,
this great and far-reaching change il
our laws and standard of value, VIVA
do the friends of silver urge?
{ Principally that the intrinsic va're o
gold has increased; that the demonetiza
, ton of silver in 1873 made gold the onl,
, money of ultimate redemption and prac
! tically doubled its value; that the suppl,
, of gold is inadequate to the demands o
increasing commerce and population. an,
r that consequently the demand for gold 1
; constantly increasing. and that the sun
| ply being according to their statement
1 | stationary, this is constantly enhancin
the value of gold; that this enhancement
in the value of gold has caused the declin
i of prices since 1873. and is unfair TO debt
, ors, and generally disastcrous to the wei
1 fare Of the country.
2 Nothing more absurdly false has eve
: been made the basis of great move
. ment.
\ Mulhall tells us that the amount of gol
t used in the world as money in 1913 wa
v SOD, 100000. In 1893 it was S3,727
h 100000. Since the year 1913 the go
used as money in the world has increase
g more than five-fold.
+ This increase is more than ten times n
n fast as population and almost twice a
r fast as commerce increased. But, saw tn
d silver men, it is not fair to count in III
i honanZa years after the discovery of gol
i in California and Australia, that now III
g supply of gold is stationary. Not Sc
The production of gold in 1893 reached tn
3 sum of Sl57,0000O0: in 1894, ISL 900
:, 900; which is the greatest production tina
Il has taken place in one year in the histur
v of the human race. Since 1886 the m
It nnal production of gold has averaged NOR
= than the bonanza years from 1851 t
r 1863. The production of gold alone no,
s amounts to more than the average pre-
l. duction of both gold and silver in til
Y ten years before 1873. Since 1873 til
l. worlds production of gold has amounte
= to about S3,0O0,000.OOO. which is abou
d equal to the entire product of the worl
If Tor 3Ni years from the discovery q
.. America to the year 1913. Can any fai,
q minded man assert that the supply q
r. gold is stationary or diminishing?
= But though the supply of gold has enoi
5, mously increased. this increase has bpe
n very steady and gradual one. Sine
y 1901 gold has ranged about $40. OOO. 90
10 IA year, running MP lately to S157, 900, 90
II year: but the annual production of 81
N yer in the same period has more tina
m quadrupled. running up from $40,0O0,O 90
- To $2OO.000.OO0.
~ Now let us examine the other propos
~ ton. that the demand for gold is iucrea,
+ ing. and We will find it equally false.
" The whole tendency of modern civilizi
- tioD has been TO lessen the pressure of d,
II nilnd upon our coin money.
= In the first place we have the inyer
II ton and use of paper money by the prir
cipal commercial nations of the eartl
.lnDnnIinyr nj 10 an