People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1896-09-03

that will reduce pGces. But the interests
Of society aIe far superior TO the interests
of either debtors or creditors and he INFER
ests Of sOcie,y demand a financial system
which will add TO the volumeof he stand
ard money q he world and .hus restore
stability TO prices.
Perhaps the most persistent misrepre-
sentatlOn that We have to answer is the
charge that we are advocating the pay
ments OF debts in Scent dollars. At The
pre- ent time and under pre- 7ent laws g sill.
yer dollar when melted loses nearly half
Its value, but that will not be true when
we again establish mint price for silver
and leave no surplus silver upon the mar
ket to drag down the price Of bullion. I'm
der blmetallism silver bullion will be
worth as much as silver coin, Just as gold
bullion Is now worth as much as gold
coin, and We believe that a silver dollar
will be worth as much as a gold dollar.
The charge of population comes with poor
grace from those who are seeking TO add
to the weight of existing debts by legisla-
ton which makes money dearer, and who
conceal their designs against the general
welfare under the euphOnious pre- ense
that they are unfolding public credit and
national honor.
In answer to the charge that gold will
go abroad, it must be remembered that no
gold can leave this country until the
owner of the gold receives something in
return for it which he would rather have
In other words when gold leaves the coun-
try those who formerly owned it will be
benefited. There is no process by which
we can be compelled to part with our gold
against our will, nor is there any process
by which silver can be forced upon Us
without our consent. Exchanges are mat
tiers OF agreement. and if silver comes to
this country under free coinage it will be
at the invitation of some one in this coun-
try who will give something in exchange
for 1t. Those who deny the inability of
the United States to maintain the parity
between gold and silver at the present ra.
ito without foreign aid, point to Mex
leo and assert that the opening of our
minis will reduce us to a silver basis and
raise gold 70 a premium. 1t is no
reflection on our sister republic to
remind our people that the United
States is much greater than Mexico
In area, in population and in com
mercial strength. 1t is absurd to sert
thai the United States is not able
to do anything which Mexico has failed to
accomplish. The one thing necessary in
order to maintain the parity is to furnish
q demand great enough TO utilize all the
silver which will come TO the minis. That
Mexico has failed to do this is no proof
that the Uniled States would also fail. 1t
IS also argued that since some of the ma
items have demonetiZed silver, nothing can
be done until all of those nations restore
bimetalliSm. This is also illogical. 1t is
how many or how few nations
have open minis, provided there are suffi-
Gent open minis to furnish monetary
demand for all the gold and silver avail
able for coinage.
In reply to the argument that improved
has lessened the cost of pro-
ducing silver, it is sufficient to say that
the same is true of the production Of gold,
and yet Notwithstanding that gold has
risen in value. As matter of fact, the
cost Of production does not determine the
value of precious metals, except as it may
affect the supply. If. for instance, the
cost of producing gold should be reduced
% per cent, without any increase in the
output, the purchasing power of an ounce
of gold would not fall. So long as there
is monetary demand sufficient to take,
at fixed mint price, all the gold and sill
yer produced, the cost Of produc ion need
not be considered 1t is often objected
that the prices of gold and silver cannot
be fixed in relation to each other, because
Of the variation in the relative production
Of the metals. This argument also over
looks the fact that If the demand TO- both
metals at fixed price is greater than the
supply Of both, relative production be-
comes immaterial. In the early part
of the present century the annual
production of silver was worth at
the coinage ratio about three times as
much as the annual production of gold !;
whereas, soon after 1S49 the annual pro-
duction Of gold became worth about three
times as much, at the coinage ratio, as the
annual production Of silver and yet, owing
to The maintenance of the bimetallic stand
ard, the enormous changes in relative pro.
duction had but a slight effect upon the
relative values of the metals. If, as is as
serted by our opponents, the free coinage
of silver is intended only for the benefit OF
the mine owners, IL must be remembered
that free coinage cannot benefit the mine
owners any more than decentralization
took away; and 1t must also be remem-
bered that the loss which the demonetiza-
ton of silver has brought to the mine
owners Is insignificant compared to the
oss which this policy brought to the re, {
Of the people. The restoration of silver
will bring to the people generally many
times as much advantage as the miners
can obtain from it. While it is not the
purpose of free coinage TO especially aid
any particular class, yet these who believe
that the restoration Of silver is needed BIZ
the whole people should not be deferred
because an Incidental benefit will come &c
the mine owner.
Question Of Ratio.
The erection OF forts, the deepening OF
harbors, the improvement Of rivers, thu
erection of public buildings, all these con.
fer incideftal benefits upon individual:
and communities and yet these incidental
benefits do not deter US from making ap-
preparations for these purposes whenever
such appropriations are necessary for the
public good. The argument that a silver
dollar is heavier than a gold dollar and that
therefore silver is less convenient in large
quantities is completely answered by the
silver certificate which is as easily carried
as the gold certiflcs e or any other kind OF
paper money. There are some who, while
admitting the benefits of bimetallism
object TO coinage at the present ratio. II
any are deceived by this objection, they
ought to remember there are no bimetal
lists who are earnestly endeavoring to
secure 1t at any other ratio than IS tol.
We are opposed to any changes of the
ratio for two reasons. First, because q
change would produce great injustice, and
second, because change In the ratio is
not necessary. A change would produce
injustice, because if effected in the man.
ner usually suggested, it would result In
an enormous contraction in the volume Of
standard money. If, for instance, it was
decided by International agreement to
raise the ratio throughout the world to g
to l, the change might be effected in any
one Of three ways: The silver dollar could
be doubled in size. 50 that the new silver
dollar would weigh 30 times as much IS
the present gold dollar or the nreSent GOLD