Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1896-09-02

the Constitution? Under the first ratio
silver was undervalued and refused to
circulate except in the form of worn and
abraded foreign coins. Our own silver
coins, even the subsidiary pieces, were
melted down for bullion because they
were worth about 3 per cent. more than
gold dollars. In all the period up to the
time of the great silver discoveries Con-
gress sought to make the coinage ratio
the same as the commercial ratio. 1t
never authorized coinage at any other.
was that the coinage of the COnstitu-
tonY' If so, will it be a return to it for
us now to establish free coinage at the
ratio of 16 to l when the commercial
ratio is about 81 to 1?
4. Will not free coinage Mt 16 to / re-
duce the value of the dollar unit by about
one-half?
D. Will ii not be in fact n Reputation
OF about onc-ha!f of all our debts, public
and private?
y. Is there not danger that It will
cause the return to us of all the Ameri-
can securities held abroad-government,
railroad and industrial stocks and bonds
thus precipitating a panic of giant pro-
portions, with long years of depression to
follow? !.
Z. VIII not your election upon the Chi
cago platform cause the calling in, be-
tween November and March, of all col
lectable debts, all loans, all mortgages
that have expired? And will not this
produce such a distress as this country
has never known, particularly in the
West and South, where capital and
credit are most needed and depend upon
confidence as their basis?
:. Will not free and unlimited coinage
drive all the five or six hundred millions
Of Rnln and nnlI on,tsEnatnu nt,t of uoa
as money or as bank reserves? Will 1t
not cause a currency contraction of the
most disastrous proportions, inasmuch
AS the utmost capacity of the minis to
com silver cannot make good this with
drawal for several years to come?
y. WIN not free coinage place us at
once on n financial level with Mexico.
India and China, and can we afford to
90 upon that level?
10. Is there any country in the world
today which gives free and unlimited
coinage to silver? Mexico does not.
India does not. None of the Central or
South American States does. We know
of no country that does, of no example
that can he studied.
IL. Is there any country in the world
now on the silver basis which is as pros
porous as the United States. even in this
time of depression? Is there any in
which Wages are so high as they are
here, or ii which the dollar received in
wages viii buy so much? Is there any
silver-basis country that has a large
commerce, prosperous manufactures. CO
a well-to-do agricultural class? Is 1t
not a fact that in every silver-basis coun-
try in the world abject and hopeless pow
erty on the part Of the masses is the
rule?
IL. Will you explain to us for our en-
l%ightenment and guidance how our coun-
try is TO escape like conditions If we
90 to a silver basis, or how we are to
avoid the lapse to that basis If we adopt
free and unlimited coinage Mt 10 to !
when the commercial ratio between the
metals Is about twice that?
10. And if you tell us, as many free
coinage advocates do, that free coinage
will raise the commercial value of silver
| TO the coinage rate, will you explain to
us how in that case free coinage is TO
make money cheaper or easier to get.
how it Is to relieve "the debtor class"
how it Is to increase the price Of wheat
or any other commodity?
IA. You may be aware that there was
last year on deposit in the savings banks
| of this state alone $643. 873. 574. This
enormous sum belonged to 1,615,11S de-
| positors, giving an average to each of
$39S.63. 1t represents mainly the small
! savings of the thrifty poor. Nearly all
| of it has been deposited since the pres
ent standard of value was adopted by
| the government. Do you think it fair
or Just to impair by AZ per cent. or by
even l per cent. the value of the money
in which these deposits were earned and
in which today they would be paid?
IL. There are in this state SS,710 PEN
sioners. They drew from the govern
ment last year nearly $14, 100000. Con-
when Justly due-can you look with ia
vor upon any policy that might result in
paying them in a deprecated currency?
16. There are in the country 5S3S
building and loan association, of which
AIS, are in New York. These a~ssocia-
tons have Las. 125 shareholders-all of
the working and saving classes. Their
assets last year were $450,667 ,594, repre-
sented chiefly by mortgage loans to
homeseekers, of whom 455.000 are mem
hers of the associations. These ~associa-
tons have nearly all been organized with.
in the last fifteen years under the exist.
ing money standard. Can you think IL
fair or beneficial to the working people
to reduce by AZ per cent. or any lesser
sun, the value of these investments OF
the thrifty poor?
II. Is it not a fact worth consideration
in proposing Il descent to the silver stan
dard that the thirty-nine old-style life | IN
surance companies alone doing bushes,
in this state last year had in force her,
nearly 100000 policies, %insuring owe,
Sc .000,0 00, 900. The assessment comma
MES and various benevolent orders have
vast amount more. Would it not be NJ
injury and a wrong to the benefciarie
of these polices-the widows an,
orphans. whom a provident love ha,
, sought to protect-to compel them to re
ceive in payment deprecated money?
is. The rise in prices" which yo,
! predict as n result of free silver coinag
would. of course, mean an increase in III
cost of living to all the people--to wage
|, earners, salaried men. and the Who'll
body of consumers. Do you know of an
case in which n rise in wages or sala
ries has been parallel with the rise |
r prices? Is there any way to render
certain, or even probable, that the wage
!, earners will be compensated for the il
, creased cost of living?
: 10. You attribute the decline in silye
to the demonetiza ton of the silver do
lar in 1873, though that dollar was nc
, then coined in any considerable number,
and was not in circulation at all, OWN
TO the fact that silver bullion was wort
/, more in the market than at the min
: Do you consider that the increase in tn
/, worlds silver production from CT, 100,0 90
, ounces in 1873 to 165, 000,000 ounces |
!. 1895 had something to do in causing tn
decline, even though gold, the standar
J money Of all the great commercial nj
, tons, and the most sought after of MOI
ey metals, has also increased its yiel
, meanwhile?
20. You speak of the ''crimc again,