Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1896-08-10
FREELAND, Pa, AUGUST 10, 1896.
Neither Flood Nor Drought.

Is it true, asks correspondent, that
in case we have free and unlimited coin
age of silver European nations will send
all their silver hear and sink us under
an avalanche of that metal?
No, it is not true. Unless, on the hy
pothcsis that the people of those nations
are about to become lunatics or idiots.
The report OF the director Of the mint
dated June 24, 1894, shows that the
worlds production of silver for 1898,
rated at l6 to | amounted to $2O7, ,37l 900.
OF this amount Europe produced but S19,-
l55, 100. The amount now being con
Sumcd by Europe for coinage purposes
alone averages about S32, 900, 600 annual
ly. Add to this the amount consumed by
her in the arts, and it will be found that
instead Of having silver to sell, she an
nually consumes more than double the
amount of silver she produces.
Now, as Europe annually consumes
She produces, where would she get the
silver to flood this country with?
After the passage of the free silver law
Europe would still have to draw on
America for her needed supply of silver,
but instead of having to pay SO cents an
ounce she would have to pay 12o cents
an ounce. That would be the effect of
the law. America is the greatest silver
producing country in the world, and as
such she can control the market. He
IL .l.
This is why the United States can set the
ratio Of silver to gold at l6 to /, and COM
pei the world to recognize that ratio.
Instead of being controlled by the mar
Sct the United States can control the
market and fix the price of silver; and
Europe must pay that price or go with
out the metal
Why is this so? For this reason: An
unlimited demand at Il given price for
an article limited in its supply will pre-
vent the article from ever going below
that price. Unlimited coinage of silver,
which is limited in its supply, will create
an unlimited demand for it. If the
government sets the price at 1G to
silver will not go below that ratio, for
no man will sell his silver for less than
he can get for it at the mint.
But could we use all the silver in the
world If by any possibility it could come
to us?
Certainly. If we had all the silver
coin now in existence, which amounts to
Si,Oi2, 700, 900, it would make per
capita circulation of about S5S for our
present population, and that is not too
much money for the business interests
Of the country. France has nearly that
sum per capita, and France is now one
of the most prosperous countries in the
world.
For the statistics and many of the
facts quoted we are indebted to one of
the abest articles on bimetallism we
have seen. 1t is by A. J. Utlcy, and
published in the June number of the
arena.
But if silver will not flood in on MS,
will not gold be driven out?
No. One fact is sufficient to show that
it will not. When we began to coin sill
yer in 1879, after demonetizing it in 1873,
gold began to flow into the country in
stead Of going out, as the following fig
ures will show:
Gold in the United States January /,
1879, $27s, 200, 900; January /, 1898,
sos, 900 600.
This shows that the stock of gold
more than doubled in the fourteen wears
after we began again to coin silver.
This one fact upsets all the goldite
theories on this point.
But how could the United States pay
for all the silver that would come to the
mint if we had free coinage?
1t would not buy or pay for it, any
moro than the miller pays for all the
wheat he grlnds. The latter grinds all
the wheat that comes to his mill, taking
out the toll as he grinds. That is what
| the government would do at the mints