The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-07-31
A SHORT MEMORY.

The letter which we publish In an
other column from Mr.. Hessian, of Du-
luth, in response to soma comments of
ours upon previous communication
from him, shows that the poet must
have had free silver in mind when he
wrote that ''hope springs eternal in the
human breast" For here is an fntelli-
gent gentleman claiming that some
thing will happen, namely. the rise IN
price of silver bullion to the coinage
value by the operation of 81 mere act
increasing demand, as he says. in the
face and forgetfu1ness Of the fact that
within the last five years an expert
ment of this sort was tried, whose utter
failure is conclusive in the premises.
Mr.. Hessian's argument, and it IS real
ly the most plausible ore that the free
silver people have to advance, is that
when free coinage is enacted no owner
of silver bullion will sell it for less than
$1.29 per ounce, less the cost Of trans
porting it to the nearest mint This is,
Of course, q mere +Toorv in which we
confidence. We 40 not know, and no.
body knows, oven approximately, what
the total amount of liver in exist
ence in the world may be, but it is away
up in the billions Of dollars worth.
Now, 1t is certain that the proposition
to coin this at 1e9 per cent more than
it's market value would set in motion
toward the United States every ounce
of silver in the world available for
transport. Our minis have coinage
capacity that would barely take care
of our own product. There would be
hundreds of millions of dollars worth
of silver upon the market unable to
obtain access to the minis, and there
fore not Immediately coinable into
dollars; for which the holders would
be glad to obtain the market price
when that price rose sufficiently above
the present low figure to make 1t pro-
fitable to send it here. The immense
stimulus to production and the in
creased import of silver would, we
have not any doubt, keep the market
price of the bullion down, If not to the
present price, at least to one far below
the coinage value.
AS we have said, however. this is a
theory, just as our correspondents no
ton that the increased demand of free
coinage would raise the price to 81. 20
per ounce is a theory. Let us turn our
attention for a moment to facts. The
experiment made in this very line ad-
vocated by Mr.. Hessian, of increasing
the demand and so raising the price
of silver. has been tried by this gov
eminent in the most conclusive way:
and, we repeat, within so short a time
that it ought not to have escaped the
memory of any man interested in the
financial question. Every argument
that Mr.. Hessian advances was
urged in congress in 1890 by all the ad-
vocates OF free coinage We do them
exact justice. We do not claim that
the Sherman act was what they want
ed, or that they believed that 1t would
be as effective as free coinage. but thew
did admit and assert that, by what Mr..
HeSSldn sets 1Ortn as creating COndi-
tons" by legislation, which would vast
ly increase the demand for silver bull
lion. the price of it might be raised
materially, even If not to the point of
$1.29 per ounce.
The total production of silver bullion
in the United States that year was So
100000 ounces. The total production of
the world was 129, 100000 ounces. The
Sherman act directed the United States
treasury to purchase 100000 ounces
per month, which is 81, 000, 600 per year.
That is to say. this country, by act of
legislation, was to instantly and finally
subtract from the worlds supply of
silver nearly one-half it's total 1t was
&c absorb the entire product of the
mines of the United States. leaving the
worlds demand for silver dependent
upon other sources OF supply.
Now. surely, if there is any force