The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1897-10-22

with France as abe is to day.
Now comes the secondary question, how much surplus" will there probably
he, The reader must no, lose sight of the fact that if we get the $s9"o,oo'a
veal it can only be in competition with all the re@to of the world Hence nnles
it can be shown that the annual production of silver is saoDo"o n excess of the
requirements of other countries lbeshdes what W ourselves use in the arts it
clear that II such amount would be presented at the American rnt. HE
doubtful if 80. $780, 900 ounces of silver could be found in all bullion markets ="
the world at the present time, and whatever there is represents tn accumulation
of ages. Foreign coin would not m here in any apprec1abie qnah"A'
Neither would silver, in the form of jewelrv and plate, for they IRE WORTH more
now than they would be coined into American money. Especially SC II tn
yoldie claim is true that the American coins would be worth N nor nat me
sam weight of bullion is at the present time But that nonsense ASIDE P"t''
cany all we would have to deal with would be the annual production Oh the
mines less the quantity used for other ways Let rs then glance AZ these wv
factors a#
We will take the three years 1905 Di and 95 the latest for which we have
anything like full figures The average annual production va F'lfVp''uo
coming value. The average coinage is given by the Mint Director 1t 1924 ""-
900. OF this. upon n average, $ito~Mm consisting of old coins reminted
leaving a ret coinage of &llo@oo 90" yearly This deducted from the total pro
duet of sMA@W,oon leaves *lotonoN to be otherwise accounted for How
much Of this was used in the arsy The reports arev very measre and unsattfac'
tory. For 1885 returns from twelve countries named and Others nt named
showed a total of al, 3ss oos. For 1894 returns from eight countries gave 10
tai Of &s seao0. For 1898 we have no fguers for foreign countries We know
that great quantities arr thus used and never reported TO place the average
amount used annually in the arts at $@ooo@O is exceedingly moderate Hu 70
assume that $4,000 600 is nw silver is entirely within bounds, This deducted
from the sloa NN, 900. would leave just about $ooUo@N in new silver available
for coinage Elm the United States, provided other usesr remained the sane as now
reported. What becomes Of this go 900 900 at the present time cannot be stated
certain. Much of is doubtless used in the arts and never reported whnea
considerable amount floats of into the East, where it is virtually buried But
unless the actually reported uses by other countries should diminish al an MT
side figure only about sixty millions annually could reach the American mint
nearly thirty millions less than W e would have to coin in orde to reach the
French per capita in twenty years
But" says the gold men, I'VE open u mints other nations will not us $50
much, because they car not get 1t 80 cheaply as they can now This however is
a mere surmis, and not a very reasonable one at that tits quite possible tht
some silver is o used because 1t is cheap This Is manly IN 'he arts pv
for coinage purposes there is no oom for doubt that the foreign Use of silver
would increase, for the nearer 1t approxmates to gold the more fayorabiy II
would be regarded IS money metal
The gold men o derde silver, declare it unfit for money, because tbs
cheap" and yet they tell us that when it becomes dear the nations nov CON
ing it will discard 1t entirely. Poor unfortunate silver. Whether cheap or lear
it is doomed according to goldie philosophy. III
Again, they tell us that the production will enormously increase under free
coinage. In this they are simply drawing upon their imagination. They dom
know anything at all about it. No human being can say what the production Of
silver would be under free coinage The output of the precious metals as IL
ways been irregular and it always will be. The greatest silver mines that were
ever developed have been practically worked ont, and the tendency of all mines
il to exhaust When those now yielding become unproductive, it is npossible 1t
this time TO point out on the map Of the world where other rich deposits Will 0e
found. .aE#~s #
The gold men re also very confidently pre- dieting a great yield Oft hlr ia
voite metal during the next few years If there Is anything that delights TN
heart OF the worshiper Of the yellow God" histo look wise and make some
great prediction with regard to monetary natter. They as always ready TO
predict whatever they happen TO want and when their predictions fh,a as hey
have with painful regularity for the last twenty odd years they arr equally
ready with IN excuse" which Is quite a satisfactory to them.
The truth Il, that they know no more about the future production of gold than
of silver II for once they should be right, and the product OF gold should mie
.y increase, II would simply make itso much the easier for us to maintain silver
at parity with it. An immense production OF gold. unless used in the arts n
boarded away. would greatly enlarge the aggregate ssock Of the worlds money
in use, and, Of courss. onr dhtrhutive share Of that aggregate would be puror
tionately increased Consequently. we could coin more silver without expeihns
the gold from the coantsy. w
We will conclude ts rather lengthy article by sying that upon the ques
ton Of mr. ability 10 maintain the two metals ut par the position Of thu silver
men . nccunpar~hy Asoasss than that Of their opponents Not only do the b.
metalhsz stand IN cssrsct eCGnonLc ground, dut thcy prodnrean the prcfswhle
they re met with nothing Int deAas uruphed~s and a setting at naught Of
the best known phnetptNs d scnnmmy W. hare frequently shown that even II
parity should not b preserved, ard gold shoad 80 toa premium. the advantages
would BE- largely with ~ ThefvSos We will not 90 into that phase Of the ques
ton At this time