Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1896-08-07


lican party demands the use of both gold
and silver as standard money. with such
restrictions and under such provisions. to
be determined by legislation, rs will secure
the maintenance Of the parity Of values Of
the two metals so that the purchasing and
debt paying power of the dollar. whether
Of silver. gold, or paper shall at all times
be edual." Does not this language clearly
imply-can 1t be tortured into anything
clse-that the silver dollar should ut all
times be kept up to the gold standard In
value, and was not that the condition under
which bimetallism was favored? Was not.
as matter of fact. the gold dollar made
rs much of a standard value in 1892 Us In
1896? The "parlty' was to be maintained
Mt all hazards. And that implied that silver.
the cheaper metal, must be kept up In
value to gold, the dearer metal. Our plat
form Of 1896 asks for no more. This Is
the language:
1--WE are unalterably opposed to every
measure calculated to debase our currency
or impair the credit of our country. We
are, therefore. opposed to the free coin
age Of silver except by international agree
ment with the leading commercial nations
Of the world. which we pledge ourselves to
promote; and until such an agreement can
be obtained the existing gold standard must
be presel we'd. All our silver and paper
currency must be maintained ut parity with
gold and we favor oil measures designed
to maintain inylolably the obligations Of the
United States, and all our money. either
coin OF paper, at the present standard
the standard Of the most enlightened ma
tons Of the world"
Our platform Of 1896 insists. like our
platform Of 1892, upon maintaining our
silver and paper on a parity with gold.
Gold Is no more the standard In one case
he pulled down to the level of silver SO 1t
could In the other case. The parity, the
equality In coin value Ia the glst of the
matter In either case There was no ex-
press demand for the free coinage of silver
In the platform Of 1892. II 1t be said that
this demand Is implied in the phrase: ''rhe
Republican party demands the use Of both
gold and silver as standard money" 1t
must be noted that this was coupled with
the condition TINT 1t was to be under 'such
restrictions and such provisions US would
maintain the parity in value of the two
metals This Is precisely the attitude of the
platform Of 1906 on this point. It Is In favor
of free coinage only
by international Agreement
And every genuine and honest bimetal-
list, who is not at heart silver mono
metalllst, knows that there can be no act
ual, genuine and substantial bimetallic cir
culation except through concurrent agree
ment OF at least u major number OF the
great commercial nations Of tho world.
with the present great disparity In the
commercial value of the two metals would,
without such an agreement, inevitably lead
to silver monometallIsm-to a fuctuating
single silver standard, such as now prevails
in Mexico, China and Japan. This l will
try to make clear as I proceed to consider
the free coinage Of silver and Its conse-
qucnces more In detail and Mt short range.
The phrase, "a ratio of 1G to l." means
that sixteen ounces of silver coined into
money shall be equal to one ounce Of gold
coined Into money. This Is the coin or
money ratio fixed by law. But the rela-
tive commercial price or cost Of the two
metals may be. and generally Is. entirely
different from the coin or money ratio.
This relative commercial price Is called
the commercial ratio to distinguish 1t from
the other or coin ratio TO illustrate: The
government declares that sixteen ounces
Of silver. In the shape Of silver dollars.
shall be equal to one ounce Of gold in tho
shape Of gold dollars, when. Us matter
of fact, l can to-day purchase, and ever
since 1893 could have purchased, not less
than thirty ounces Of silver for one ounce
OF gold. So that to-day, while the coin
ratio Is 16 to 1, the commercial ratio ~
80 to l. The free und unlimited coinage OF
silver at the ratio Of 1G to l means that
the government of the United. States shall
receive at lto minis and coin Into silver
dollars. without charge. all silver bullion
that may be brought there by any person
or corporation whatsoever from any nook
or corner of the entire world. 1t means.
futher, that, although one ounce of gold
will purchase thirty ounces OF silver. yet
the government must take sixteen OF those
thirty ounces and stamp them into silver
dollars and then make them equal, and COM
pei you aud me to take them as equal to
in another. but equally truthful light, It
means that when the owner OF silver pull,
ion sells his silver to you or me without
the Intervention of government he must
give thirty ounces of silver for one ounce
Of gold but that when he gets the govern
ment. without charge, to coin and stamp
his silver bullion into silver dollars. then
he need not give sixteen ounces of silver
for one ounce Of gold. 1t means oil this
for gold at the ratio Of 1 to 10 Is mad"
the measure of the price OF silver. II
does not mean this. then 1t means silver
monometallsm-a single silver standard
pure and simple-for only in this way can
Won degrade the silver dollar below the
gold standard. Your silver dollar must OF
necessity be gold standard. or gold bug
dollar, IL you please, or 1t Will be nucl"
ating silver bullion dollar.
1t Is universal and memorable rule gov
erning the circulation of money. that tine
intrlnsically cheaper money drives the
dearer money out Of circulation, unless IN"
former Ia interconvertible Mt par with tn"
latter. The debtor will always pay win
the cheaper dollar and the buyer always ways
buy with the cheaper dollar. The dear'r
dollar will be withdrawn from circulation
and disposed Of at its bullion value. Th"
intrinsic difference may be slight. but stu!
the rule holds good. This Is the unlversa'
money lesson Of the past. 1t is the lesson
taught US by our own experience. In ~
the commercial ratio Of silver was 1o:l' 10
/, and at that time, at the instance OF Ha,n.
ilton and Jefferson. congress enacted "ne
first coinage law, establishing the ratio nt
Is to 1. Unlike the Populist and free s,'.
yer Democrats Of our day. those sr'at
statesmen of our early days aimed TO MAKE
The Coin Ratio
almost identical with the commercial raf'o
Rnt these two ratios soon parted company.
for the reason. to a large extent. that me
coin ratio In France and other large com
age centers Of Europe was at TINS ''ns
in the mints Of Europe half an ounce OK
silver more than In the United States. our