The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-09-01
SILVER.

A most significant telegram by
last mail was Kansas people have
given up Free Silver" The stern
logic of events has blown the Free
Silver bubble to pieces, though
those people who were, during the
Free Silver campaign of last year,
enamoured by the idea that I6 to
I meant sixteen silver dollars in
every mans pocket for every dollar
he then had, ought to be still more
delighted with 81 to I, because &C
cording to their mad reasoning this
would give thirtyseven dollars in
every mans pocket.
But to look at the matter in the
light of common sense, and not of
wild and untenable theory, what
would really have to happen now to
equalize the gold and the silver
dollar, would be to make it contain
$50 grains of silver instead of SAX
as it does now, or with alloy added,
o53 grains instead of 4I2H. This
would be an uncommonly awkward
kind of coin to carry round in
ones pocket, and further objection
to it would be that it would remain
unstable, and might sink lower yet.
Yet another way to look at it is
well put when it is shown that be-
tween February rs, 1873, and
November 1, 1898, under the Bland
Allison and the Sherman acts, the
United States Government has pur-
chased +59, 946, 7oI fine ounces of
silver, for which it paid S464, 2Io,-
263. At the last quoted market
rate this mass of silver was oaly
worth S259, o26, ia, and the loss by
shrinkage in value was $zo4, 5S4,
I57. So that it is by no means sur
prising that with such a very prac-
teal object lesson before them the
people of Kansas have given up
Free Silver"
Moreover there is no hope that
silver will recover itself. There is
no demand for it and there is no
direction in which there is likely to
be demand. China takes no silver,
Japan has gone out of business in
that line and India, which might
have taken certain amount is not
likely to recover from the famine
for some time. And it is doubtful
whether there will be much boarding
of silver there again, conservative
country as it is, for the people are
beginning to understand that the
banks will not coin silver any
longer.
The condition of Mexico at the
present moment is valuable lesson
to all silver cranks. The Mexican
merchants have to pay for their
foreign goods on gold basis, and
can only give their silver at the
current rate of exchange. The re-
suit is that the prices Of goods have
gone up tremendously, most articles
having more than doubled in cost;
and with sinking market in silver,
no one can tell where this will stop.
The law of supply and demand
"hiSh thS udNC DSGl
preaching for so long has had its
thorough exemplifcation under
existing circumstances, there is no
demand for silver, and the conse-
quence is it has sunk in the market
lower than has ever been known.
There is a demand for wheat, and
the price has risen and continues to
rise till it has reached a figure I'M
dreamed of six months ago. The
supposed mystic tie between silver
and wheat has been broken, and
with it has gone political party,
which will now have to seek new
affiliations and new war cry, The
logic of events is ruthless in prov
ing the worthlessness of reasoning
based on false premiss. rhe silver
argument has faded like the baseless
fabric of a dream.