The Republican journal., 1897-08-19
The Ohio Democratic Platform.

I'VE declare that the act of 1873, demon
etiZing silver without the knowledge and APP
| prevail of the American people, etc.
The act of 1873 did not demonetize
silver, as is claimed by this sentence of the
| PLATFORM The act itself says in specific
terms that ''this act shall not be construed
to affect any act done, right accrued or
| penalty incurred under former acts, but
every such right is hereby saved,' thus
clearly stating that it did not demOnetize
any of the coins authorized prior to that
date, while every one of the four hundred
and fifty million standard silver dollars
coined since the passage of that act is and
has constantly been a full legal tender.
and none of them is OF has been demon
etized.
| The act of 1873 was not passed with
out the knowledge and approval of the
American people, as the platform asserts
1t was submitted to Congress in April
1870, printed thirteen times, discussed at
three years., the debates and discussions
filling IA pages of the Congressional Re
cord, which was published daily during
the sessions in which it was discussed.
The American people had ample oppor-
tunity to know all of its provisions, and
that there was no popular disapproval of
it is shown by the fact that H. of the
Members of the House which passed it
were reelected, many of them continuing
to serve in Congress to the end of their
lives, while several are still members of
that body, notably, William NJ. Stewart of
Nevada, orho roted for the bill and who
in speech delivered on June II, 1874
said: ''The laboring man and the producer
is entitled to have his product and his
labor measured by the same standard of
value that measures your national debt
Y GU require from the laboring man gold
to pay the interest on your national debt
which is right, which can not be avoided
| if you mean to save national honor; but
then give him the same money with which
to pay that debt. The question will never
be decided until you determine the single
question whether the laboring man is en-
titled to have a gold dollar if he earns it,
or whether you are going to cheat linn
with something else
eve declare that the act of 1873
has resulted in the appreciation of gold
1t has not ''resulted in the appreciation
of gold,' because gold has not appre-
ciated. Any article appreciates in
value only When there is an increased de-
mand for it either because of the reduction
in the quantity or an enlarged need for it
in the current affairs of life. The figures
of the best statsticians show that the gold
coin of the world and the total money of
the world have increased much more
rapidly then the population since 1873,
hence the absurdity of the claim that it
has appreciated in value, as the amount
for each individual in the world has greatly
increased since the passage of the act in
question. The gold money of the world
has more than doubled since 1873, the
silver money of the world has nearly or
quite trebled in that time and the paper
money has also increased largely, while
| the population of the world has increased
only 25 per cent. in the same period 1t is
thus evident that the total amount of
money for each individual in the world is
much greater than in 1873 and that there
can thus be no increased per capita de-
mand for gold and hence no appreciation
in its value, while the fact that a large
proportion of the business Of the world is
now performed with checks, draft and
other forms of credit without the direct
use of money further reduces the demand
upon gold. The mines of the world pro-
duce more gold to- day than they produced
of gold and silver together in 1873, the
silver production of day is nearly three
| times what it was in 1878 and the amount
of silver now annually coined is more than
was produced from the mines of the world
in 1878. The number of silver dollars
coined in the United States in the fiscal
year just ended was two and half times
as many as in the entire history of the
minis prior to 1878 and the total number
of full legal tender dollars coined by our
minis since 1873 is Sc times as many as
were coined in the entire history of the
mint prior to the act of 1873.