The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1897-09-22
BRYAN DEMOLISHED BY oAag.
The Popocratic FalIacies stand No
show.

The Popocratic FnIlacies stand No
e-tftt show.
There is one statement which Bryan
often in.sde during the presidential
campaign and which herepeated in his
letter printed recently in the Tribune.
1t is as follows:
3 III is the contention OF bimetallists that
the opening Of our mirts to the free and
unlimited coinage of silver at Hhe ratio Of
sixteen to one will fix q mint price for
silver, just as a mint price is now fixed for
gold. They further contend that the de-
mand thus created by law will be sufficient
to utilize all the silver presented, and thus
the bullion value will be raised to the coin
age value"
These assertions are criticised and
their lack Of truth is fully exposed by
Secretary Gage. The secretary points
out that the so-called mint price" does
not fix the value of the metals which
are minted All that aI mint does is to
retunn to man in coin the number of
grains Of gold or silver he brings to it
i'm the shape of bullion. All that the
mint does for him is to put his bullion
in a form In which he can exchange it
for commodities more easily.
Were congress to halve the number
of grains in gold dollar, the mint
price" of gold, which is now $2O.o7--
that being the number of dollars OF
% Is grains of gold each which can be
coined out of 4s0 grains of gold-would
rise to $47.34 an ounce. But the value
OF gold bullion would not change, and
the new dollar would buy only half
as much as the old dollar bought.
Bryan asserts that under free coin
age there would be a demand" for
silver, created by law" which. would
raise the bullion value of silver to the
coinage value. That there might be q
demand" but only if the free coinage
silver dollars were given that Legal
tender quality the Bryanites want theil
free silver dollars to carry. The secre
tary states:
1.-THE reason why the legal tender quaDt.
might or would lend a greater value to sill
yer is this, and this only: AS they woult
serve to pay existing debts, many peopl
would avail themselves thereof to dis
charge their obligations, provided the!
could make profit to themselves by doin,
so. This they could do only in case the sill
yer dollars were worth less than gold dol
lars. At the same cost most people vii
keep their honor and integrity. Many vii
do so at any sacrifice. few will forfei
both for the most paltry consideration
How great demand would be thus Sc
up for silver dollars, as before stated, nc
body knows"
If free coinage law were enacte'
and there were no silver dollars coine
at the ratio of sixteen to one, the frs
dollars coined under the law, accordin
to the secretary, would be in deman
at more than their bullion value. Fo
with one of those dollars, worth fror
40 to 40 cents, debtor could pay O.
100 cents of indebtedness. If his crec
itor was pressing him, the debtor woul
find it ohis interest to pay rather MOI
than AZ cents for the cheap dollar b
needed to cheat his creditor with.
But as the mints poured out moi
free silver dollars
"Themarket value of the coined dolla
would be the same as the market value
the bullion, in It and unless new demar
would arise not now foreseen, or unless Il
silver supply should be much reduced, Il
value of silver either as metal or as none
would not be essentially different fro
the present value of silver bullion"
The secretary points out, howeve
that there are in existence nearly 50(
100000 silver dollars of 371H grail
each. Those dollars are kept artificial
at par with gold, but the day fir,
coinage law was enacted they wou
drop to their bullion value and becor
cheap. There would be so many chei
dollars, with which so much indet
edness could be paid off dishonest
that those dollars would remain chea
Bryan cannot get away from the sc
retary's reasoning. Under free coinai
the bullion value of silver and VIII
Bryan calls "the coinage value" wou
coincide. "a silver dollar would b.
371A grains of silver bullion. But tn
silver dollar would buy less than hi
the goods gold dollar would BIT
1t would take 40 ounces of silver, coin
or uncoined, to buy AN ounce OF go
In word, the value of silver bulli
or coin if measured in gold, which
the worlds standard, would rems
precisely what it is now. = Chica
Tribune.