The Republican journal., 1896-08-20
The Political Situation.
| II,

10 THE EDITOR OF The JOURNAL: !
closed my last article showing the alleged
reasons of the silver party for asking the
people of this nation to adopt their theo-
ries, which, if adopted, would most GER
tainly plunge the business of the country
into confusion by reason of the doubt and
uncertainty it would create. | had shown
that one of their reasons was their veneer
alton for the gold and silver money of the
constitution that did not exist in the con-
stitution. And another was their desire
to right the wrong committed in 1873 by
the decentralization of silver, when, in
fact, it was not demonetized. One other
thing they allege, which is that there is
not sufficient currency in the country to
transact business, and they propose to in
crease it by the free coinage of silver at a
ratio of 16 to l. :.
Now this claim, by inference at least,
presupposes two things. The one is: that
making money plentiful creates business,
and consequently makes it easier to ac-
quire; and the other is: that the free
coinage of silver will make money, or cur
rency, more abundant. The first of these
propositions | shall treat more fully here
after, the second | wish to consider here
Of course, the only way that course will
increase the currency, is for fifty three
cents worth of silver stamped by the gov
eminent as a dollar to circulate in this
country side by side with one hundred
cents worth of gold stamped as dollar,
without sending gold to premium and
driving it out of use as currency.
Now the impossibility of two kinds of
money, with the same face or coin values,
but with different commercial values, cir
culating side by side, is not based upon
theories, nor is it a new difficulty. 1t
dates back since the coinage of money
Without going back to the earliest record
back to the days of Copernicus, who, by
the orders of the King of Poland when
this same difficulty was met, reported the
same facts that nearly two centuries later
were made to Queen Elizabeth by Sir
Thos. Gresham, Master of the British Mint,
and which quote: ''When two sorts of
value by denomination, but not intrinsi-
cally-i. e., in market value-that which
has the least value will be current. and
the other, as much as possible, will be
boarded, or melted down, or exported
This law (lSnown to later generations as
Gresham's law is as unalterable as the
law of gravitation. When told of water
running up hill, you know without ques
ton, that it only does SO by some extrane-
Gus force being applied to cause it to do
SO, for when left to natural law it always
runs down hill; and likewise, whenever
any one, by alleged fact or theory at
tempts to prove that money can or has
been made to circulate contrary to this
law you may know that there is a screw
loose in their facts, or that their reason
ing is merely sophistry.
Now unless this new party sets all known
laws and facts at defiance, we must con-
template on our gold leaving us. And
how will it leave us? We now have in this
country over six hundred millions in gold,
about four hundred and twenty millions
of coined silver dollars and one hundred
and forty million ounces of uncoined sill
yer bullion, all of which is in circulation
itself or is represented by paper money
based upon it. When our gold leaves us,
as it must, and brings us to silver mono
metalism, will leave each one to figure
for himself how it will increase our circu-
lation. The contraction of both quantity
and quality will be so sharp that the crash
in the business world will be terrific and
even its very remote possibility is con-
tracing the business of to-day.
Now what are the battle cries by which
they seek to drowned reason and terrify
people out of their recollectionso They
are 'Gold Bugs" 'Robber Barons,'
''Millionaires' and ''Soulless Corpora
tions." Let us investigate and see what
we can make of them. AS the dictionary
gives no definition of "Gold Bugs and
"Robber Barons," l shall have to gather
their meaning, if they have any, from the
text of their talk and writings, and from
them judge that ''Gold Bugs mean
those who believe in the gold standard of
values. If this is what they mean, l
prophesy that they will prove thicker and
harder to kill than potato bugs. AS for
"Robber Barons'' I have faint and in
definite recollection of reading in ancient
history of some such living in old feudal
times, and as far as my recollection serves
me, I know of none in this country to
which the term would apply so aptly as
to the silver mine owners who, while de-
handing of the government the coming of
fifty-three cents worth of their silver into