The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-07-21

were given no opportunity, especially
In Kansas, to be heard. 1t is this, no
doubt, that makes il so difficult for the
party managers in this state to get Re
publican candidates to place them
selves sQuarely upon the St Louis
platform. And it is because We have
defended, and have believed, and still
believe in the earlier Republican doc
trine that we are compelled to stand
by the historic landmarks of RepubH-
canism and reject the new doctrine of
enmity to silver and the silver indus
try.
We ask you. to say, if the free coin
age of silver was right prior to 1886,
what makes it wrong now? If our
leaders were misleading the people all
these years, how are we to know that
they are acting in good faith now?
We might rest our case here, but as
this question is of such vital lfnpOr-
tance to our people, we hope to be ex-
cused for giving it further attention
The farmer sells for silver and buys
for gold.
That the prosperity of this country
depends primarily upon the products
of our farmers is universally conceded,
yet we are asked to perpetuate a policy
that places the farmer at a serious dis
advantage. The price of grain, cotton
wool, and stock in Kansas is practical
" the price in Liverpool less the cost of
TRANSPORTATION. But the farmer must
there compete with the same products
from countries using silver or deprec1a-
ted paper as their currency He can
get no more L0an they. yet ever lAllIlB
the farmer buys he buys upon gold lie
therefore produces upon gold stand
ard, he sells on a silver standard, ne
buys upon a gold standard In some
degree, at least, this accounts for the
present ruinOus prices of farm pro-
ducts. Any action that will increase
the value of silver will give our farm
erS a better opportunity in the markets
of the world if logic or the quotations
heretofore given can be relied upon.
The effect of our present system can
not be better described than in the Ian
guage of CernuSchi, the great French
economist whose reputation was such
that he was invited and appeared be-
fore our monetary commission of 1876,
to give his opinion, as an expert, upon
the questions before the commission
He says:
The present monetary policy of the
United States is consequently very ad-
vantageOus to the interests of Eng
land, a gold mOnO-Tnetallic country, but
IL is utterly ruinOus as regards the for
eign financial relations of the United
States. and especially for its native
producers. - European Economist, May
%, 1850
For the truth of this. each reader can
abundantly determine for himself
SIXTEEN TO ONE.
The free coinage of both silver and
gold simply means that the silver dol
lar shall be sixteen times as heavy as
the gold dollar, and that each shall be
coined free by the government and the
done with gold. But it has been asked
why insist upon a ratio of 16 to /; why
not name some other ratio2 Because
that is the only ratio known to the law
of the land; that was the ratio when
Republican conventions and newspa-
pers were endorsing the free coinage
of silver; it is practically the ratio of
the civilized world; the national debt
is payable in coin, silver and gold coin
ed at the ratio of 16 to 1; changing the
ratio would require the recoinage of
rlnrn1n at II Of Gil r.
mean a great and unnecessary loss and
inconvenience, and an enormous and
needless expense. As we'll argued by
Governor Morrill,, and endorsed by his
associates upon the Republican ticket,
in the campaign of two years ago, no
other ratio than 16 to 1 should be
thought of, for that would esta blish a
precedent of recOinlng our whole stock
every time the manipulators of mar
kets could establish a commodity ratio
different from the coinage ratio
MORE MONEY NEEDED.
Those of US who believe that the Re
publican party has been right, also still
believe that this country needs more
money with which to transact its law
full business. Value is the relation be-
tween demand and supply, and price
is an expression of value in money.
This law of value affects money as we'll
as everything else. The demand for
money is the sum of commodities ready
to be exchanged for it. AS such COM
mOdities increase the demand for
money increases, and as the demand
increases the value of money increases
and the price of commodities decreases.
And now We have seven cent oats and
fifteen cent corn. The increase in the
products of this country increases the
demand for money. Yet with the in
creased demand for money, there is less
money per capita in existence in this
country than at any time since 1S83,and
less money per capita in circulation
than at any time since 1880. The treas
urer's report of July !, 1884, shows total
money $@1.O6; July 1, 1896, total money
S30.74; July 1, 1881, circulation $21- II;
July l. 1896, circulation $2115. Again
the per capita circulation July l, 1892,
was $24. Al. If the same ratio Of circula-
ton had been maintained as in 1892,
we would have 1924, 0OO, 900 more in cir
culation than we now have. But to in
crease the circulation to correspond to
1892 would tend to increase the price of
products and depreciate the value of
money, and this is just what the Re
publican party has pledged itself not to
do, except with the consent of other
nations. Who is the honest man, he
who demands that the supply of money
shall appreciate in value from year to
year at the expense of the producers?
And is there any sufficient source Of
supply of money except by restoring
silver to its ancient honor? We, in har-
mOny with the former doctrine of the
Republican party, believe not.
THE GOLD STANDARD MEANS Ma
TIONAL BANKRUPTCY.
The history of the past few years
demonstrates that there are but two
ways in which we can continue the
present gold standard; one is to con
tinue borrowing gold, the other is to
cancel the greenbacks and the Sherman
notes of 1890. The first means bank
ruptcy, for there must be an end to
borrowing; the other means the de-
Struction of One-fOurth of the money of
the country. Under the regulations es-
tabiished by the last administration,
the above named currency can be and
has been used to exhaust the gold in
the treasury, then the government is
sues bonds to buy more gold, pays out