The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-10-29


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promises himetallism, that is not what he
would give us, but monometalllsm-and
silver monometallism at thst.
One must not ALLOW oneself 10 become
confused hy names or phrases, or even by
beliefs or promises. One must go by the
true inwardness Of things.
II will not do 10 hclieve that somethi ng
is b!metsllism because somebody says II
il, when IN reality II is silver monomotal-
lisin,
Calling silver recommendation bimctal-
li5m docs not make ii SO.
On the other hand, what have we in
this country today?
The United States treaeury statement oe
October /, 1896, shows that we have IN CIR
COLLATION. exclusive OF treasury holdings)
s5l7, ,OOo 600 OF gold and golt coin csrtid-
Gates, about si1I ,oeo, 90 of silver dollars
and silver certificate quite apart from
se0, ,0Oo. coo OF subsidiary silver COIN.
is not this practical oimetallsm9
How much more bimetalllc would we
be after if wo haG driven out all the gold,
and left only si.ve ?
In point OF fact then it is apparent that
WE ALREADY HAVE PRACTICAL BTMETAL-
LrsM (though not free silver coinage, and
that II we have free silver coinage we
shall only get silver monometallism.
Although we already have bimetaliism,
our measure OF value Is the gold dollar;
that is TO say, no matter which kind of
currency is Used in paying debt,
whether a gold dolia-, or a silver dollar.
or a green back, or treasury note, or
silver certificate, they are oil measured by
the gold dollar, which is our unit or
stepdard of vsiue,and at the present tins
all these five dilfsrent kinds OF currency
are equal in purchasing power TO the gold
dollar. And so when any exchanges taks
place IN this country in which no money
Is psid, es where payment ia made by
note, or by the exchange OF other proper
ty, The amounts are reckoned in dollars,
and the dollar In mind IL, at the present
time, always equivalent in value 10 the
gold dollar. thus tie gold dollar is the
measure Cor standard) Of value TO which
all values OF property and money are re-
ierred in this country at the present
time, and by which they are measured.
iris property of being the measure Cor
standarJ) OF value, it will be observed, is
quite distinct from the property of being
q medium OF exchange. Thus where one
or more gold dollars are given in ex-
change for property, they not only serve
as a measure Cor standard) CT value, bat
also as a medium OF exchange for that
value; whereas had silver certificates been
used, the gold dollar would still have
been the measure Cor sraniard) of value
OF the article purchased, while the silver
certificates would have bsen the medium
Of exchange usec.
This distinction was very clearly given
IN an article In the New York Evening
Post OF Septem ber Ii, 1896, entitled "The
Workingman's First Lessons in Money"
as follows, viz: "But ne Zone of the first
traders in the world) soon found out that
the forms of money he was using. namely,
cattle. iron, beads, tea, copper, for any
number OF reasons, would not do. Ana
so he quickly began to use the new
money, golt and silver, for that purpose,
and found that they answered perfectly"
"And from that rino tn the present,
money az represented 10y gold ana sill
yer, has served two purposes; irst as
MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE; second. as A
MEASURE (sTANDARp) OF VALUE"
Now, It will be perceived that 1t is
quite possible TO have but enc measure
(or standaid) OF vGlu', and yet several