The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-08-26

signifies that silver shall al.o be unlimited
legal tender for all private and public debts
anu the result Will be TO land the country
upon an exclusive silver basis The gov
eminent wonld have TO receive its dues in
silver or silver paper, the greenback would
pc redeemable in silver, the bonds would
nave to be paid in silver, and national
pans notes, founded upon government
dard and be appreciated about forty
seven per cont. The claim that every such
dollar, now worth as bullion only fifty-three
cents, would have its full purchasing power
ana interchange at parity is not sustained
by reason or the facts. Hitherto the coun.
try has used its public credit to maintain
parity and fxity Of exchange value, but,
under free coinage, 1t could not, nor would
u De called upon to guarantee interchange
ability. The moment this fifty-three cent
dollar left the mint it would fall subject to
the worlds commercial laws and its mask
would instantly be torn from its face 1t
would pass for what 1t Is, fity-three cents,
no more, and only buy ffty.three cents
worth OF labor or the products Of labor, and
no more. The bottom would fall out Of ex-
change, business would be disarranged,
contraction would ensue, and all the caam-
tiles OF initiation would also follow. This
view is sustained by the facts. Gresham's
law OF displacement is that the cheaper
money will drive out Of circulation the
more valuable. In 1892 the ratio was made
10 to / gold was undervalued and disap-
peared. In 1884 the ratio was made 16 to 1;
silver was undervalued and disappeared.
In 1887 the ratio was made 1898 to for SUBJ
sidiary coins, and they, too, disappeared.
In 1860 we had the enormous greenback
issue OF the war. Gold disappeared, silver
followed, small coins concealed themselves
next and shinplasters ~ became the money
OF petty trades. Every country has had a
similar experience. The cheaper money
always drives out the more valuable unless
parity Is Maintained by limited coinage of
the cheaper, and by pledgng the country's
credit to the maintenance of its interchange
ability with the more valuable. But the
Chicago platform proposes unlimited coinage
and does not propose to guarantee the gov
ernment's good faith for parity, and, there
fore, shorn OF disguise, it is a proposition to
place the country upon a silver basis, un-
der which the dollar shall contain 371t
grains--that is, weigh sixteen times more
than the standard gold dollar Of to-day.
What that silver dollar will be really worth
no one knows, or pretends to know, with
exactness. 1t is now worth, as bullion,
ffty-three cents. The absence OF govern
mental guarantee for its parity will signify
that the value Of this dollar will then rest
upon the commercial value Of silver. That,
in turn, will depend upon the amount of
silver produced and the demand for it. I'm
proved methods Of mining, greater means
OF transportation, free access to the mints,
the importing of silver from abroad -
all these causes would combine to greatly
increase the amount. The ratio Of the sill
yer production to gold was 10 SO to / in
1856, 1888 to 1 in 1876, 2078 to in 1856, and
1886 to in 1895. To-day an ounce Of gold,
the standard of the most civilized countries
of the world, is worth thirty-two ounces of
silver, instead of sixteen as the Chicago
platform would have it, That is why the
free-coinage silver dollar in the ratio OF 10
to l, is spoken Of, and truthiully SO, as
tfty.cent dollar.
FREE SILVER AND INSURANCE.
Where this free silver craze, brought about
by the producers Of crude silver, would
land the country, no one can say; but il this
debasement of legal tender money is threat
ened, it is quite clear that the creditor class
mentioned above, has a large interest in
the issue. Thousands Of men, whose bust.
ness it has been for years to study the
requirements and laws of commerce, unite
in predicting grave disasters from any
change in the standard. Men who for years
have voted the dem ocratic ticket are now
being forced to renounce the Chicago plat
form from patriotic motives and high sense
OF duty. When they do this, their reasons
are met with sophistry and their purpose is
maligned. Mr.. John A. Mccall, demo.
crat, and president Of the New York Life
Insurance Company, said recently: How
ever much / might like to take neutral
ground on this question, because of the
honest difference from my views that pre-
walls in many Of the states Of the United
States, yet l cannot justly do SO in adj
herence to what / believe to be my duty, as
president Of this company, to the hundreds
of thousands of families now insured with
us. | regard the present accumulated funds
OF this company as sacred trust, placed
with us by these hundreds of thousands Of
people as provision against not only pre-
mature death but old age DIS well, and any
hardship caused by the depreciation, in the
value OF such provision should not be per-
mitted without protest"
In the New York Life Insurance Report
for 1885, exhibiting the business as it stood
December 81, 1895, we find thirty. seven life
companies mentioned, doing business upon
old-line or level-premium plans. These
had in force, excluding industrial risks,
1,S77S0S policies, insuring SASS, 170,945,
protected by gross assets of 81 l42. 1922.
These companies are mutual-that is, they
are owned and controlled by and for the
benefit OF the policy. holders OF the assets
given, only .s9,5705oO, or less than one per
cent, is capital stock. The people, there
fore, and not the few stockholders, are in
terested in maintaining the value OF their
money. These thirty-seven companies paid
policy holders during 1895 1922 ,97S7lS,
every dollar of which had the buying power
OF dollar in gold. If this debt had been
paid to them in money having purchasing
power Of only fifty cents to the dollar,
their protection and benefits would have
been shaved in the enormous sum OF S6l,-
io9, SoJ III Is estimated on the OASIS OF re-
liable returns that at the present time there
are in the United States two million hold
ers Of old-line life policies, the same NUM-
Der in fraternal and cooperative orders, and
seven million of people insured in the in
dustrials-a total Of eleven millions. The
insurance represented by these policies
equals ten billion dollars, secured by in
vested assets of one and half billion OF
dollars. To this may be added the business
of fire and other insurance companies, with
aggregate assets of half billion of dollars
and thirty billions OF risk. These figures
are startling. They suggest how great
part OF our commercial and social life the
different forms of insurance have become,
aud also why the threatened debasement
of our currency provokes such widespread
criticism and opposition. The yearly dis
bursement to their members by the various
insurance companies in the United States
now exceeds quarter of billion OF dol
lars. 1t is absurd to assume or to ar
que that the people receiving this vast
sum would not be fearfully injured by de-
creasing the purchasing power Of their
money or that the men who act as trustees
for the people of these great interests should
not be earnest and vigorous in defending