The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-13


ent financial policy is adhered to. unless
We continue TO borrow from across the
ocean, and even then we simply postpone
the evil, because the amount borrowed, to-
gether with interest upon IL, must be re-
paid in approaching dollars
The American people now owe a large
sum 10 European creditors. and falling
prices have left q larger and larger mar
gin between our next national income and
our annual interest charge.
Inere is only one way to stop the in
creaslng How Of gold from our shores. and
tnat Is 70 stop falling prices. The restOra-
ton OF bi-metallism viii not only stop fall
ing prices, but will-tO some extent-re-
store prices by reducing the worlds de
mand Tor gold. If 1t is argued that rise
IN prices lessons the value Of the dollars
which We pay to our cred
itOrs, reply that. in the
balancing OF equities, the American
people have as much right to favor a
financial system which will maintain or
restore prices as foreign creditors have to
insist upon financial system that will re-
duce prices. But the interests OF society
are Tar superior to the interests OF either
debtor or creditor and the interests of
society demand a financial system which
VIII add to the volume of the standard
money or the world, and thus restore sta
bility to prices.
Perhaps, the most persistent nisrep-
resentalon that We have to meet is the
charge that we are advocating the pay
ment OF debts in fifty-cent dollars. At the
q
silver dollar, when melted loses nearly
nan It's value, but that will not be true
when we again establish a mint price for
silver and leave no surplus silver upon the
market to drag down the price of bullion
Under bi-metallism silver bullion will be
worth as much as silver coin lust as gold
bullion is now worth as much as gold coin
and We believe that a silver dollar will be
worth as much as gold dollar.
THE charge of reputation comes with
poor grace from those who are seeking to
add to the weight of the existing debts
by legislation which makes money dearer,
and who conceal their designs against
the general welfare under the euphoniOus
pretense that they are UNFOLDING public
credit and national honor
In answer to the charge that gold will
go abroad, IL must be remembered that
no gold can leave this country unless the
owner of the gold receives something in
return for it which he would rather have.
In other words, when gold leaves the
country, those who formerly owned it Will
be benefited. There is no process by
which we can be compelled to part with
our gold against our will, nor is there any
process by which silver can be forced up
on US without our consent. Exchanges
are matters of agreement, and il silver
comes to this country under
free coinage, it will be at
the Invitation of some one in this
country who will give something IN
exchange for it. Those who deny the
ability of the United States to maintain
the parity between gold and silver at the
present legal ratio without foreign aid
point to Mexico and assert that the open-
ing of our minis will reduce US to a silver
basis and raise gold to a premium. 1t is no
reflection upon our sister republic to re
mind our people that the United States is
much greater than Mexico in area in pop
ulation, and in commercial strength. 1t is
absurd to assert that the United States is
not able to do anything which Mexico has
failed to accomplish. The one thing neces-
sary in order to maintain the parity is to
furnish demand great enough to utilize
all the silver which will come to the mints
That Mexico has failed to do this, is not
proof that the United States would also
fail.
ut is also argued that. since a number
of the nations have demonetized silver,
nothing can be done until all of those
nations restore bimetallism. This is also
Illogical. 1t is immaterial how many or
how few nations have opened minis, pro-
vided there are sufficient open mints to
furnish a monetary demand for all the
gold and silver available for coinage.
In reply to the argument that improved
machinery has lessened the cost of pro-
ducing silver, it is sufficient to say that
the same is true of the production of
gold, and yet, Notwithstanding that, gold
has risen in value. As a matter of fact,
the cost of production does not determine
the value of precious metals, except as
1t may affect the supply. IT, for instance,
the cost OF producing gold should be re-
in the output, the purchasing power of
an ounce Of gold would not fall. So long
as there is a monetary demand sufficient
to take a fixed mint price, all gold and
silver produced, the cost of production
need not be considered.
ct is often objected that the price of
gold and silver cannot be fixed in rea-
tion to each other, because of the Varia-
ton in the relative production of the me-
tails. This argument also oVerlooks the
fact that, ifsthe demand for both metals
at a fixed price Is greater than the supply
of both, relative production becomes inn
material. In the early part OF the present
century the annual production of silver
was worth at the coinage ratio about three
times as much as the annual production
of gold, whereas, soon after 1919, the an
nual production of gold became worth
about three times as much, at the coinage
ratio, as the annual production of silver;
and yet, owing to the maintenance of the
bi-metallic standard these enormous
changes in relative productions
had but a slight effect upon the relative
values of the metals.
IF it is asserted by our opponents that
the free coinage Of silver is intended only
for the benefit of the mine-owners, is must
be remembered that free coinage cannot
restore to the mine-owners any more than
decentralization took away; and 1t must
also be remembered that the loss which the
decentralization of silver has brought to
the mine-owners is insignificant compared
to the loss which this policy has brought
to the rest Of the people The restoration
of silver will bring to the people generally
many times as much advantages as the
mine-owners can obtain from 1t. While
it is not the purpose of free coinage to
specially aid any particular class, yet
those who believe that the restoration of
silver is needed by the whole people should
not be deferred because an incidental ben
eft will come to the mine-owner. The cree
ton of forts, the deepening Of harbors.
the improvement of rivers, the erection of
public buildings, all these confer incidental
benefits upon individuals and communities,
and yet these incidental benefits do not
deter US from making appropriations for
these purposes whenever such appropria-
tions are necessary for the public good.
1.-THE argument that silver dollar is
heavier than gold dollar and that, there
fore, silver is less convenient to carry in
large quantities, is completely answered
by the silver certificate which is as easily
carried as the gold certificate, or any
other kind of paper money.
There are some who, while admitting
the benefits of bimetallism object to coin
age at the present ratio. II any are de-
ceived by this objection, they ought to re-
member that there are no bimetallists who
are earnestly endeavoring to secure 1t any
other ratio than is to l. We are opposed
to any change in the ratio for two rea-
sons: First because change would pro-
tat =