The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1897-09-25
BRYAN DEMOLISHED BY GAGE.
The Popocratic Failacies stand No
show.

The Popocratic Fnllacies stand No
There is one statement which Bryan
often made during the presidential
campaign and which he repeated in his
letter printed recently in the Tribune.
1t is as follows:
.It is the contention OF bimetallists that
the opening of our mints TO the free and
unlimited coinage OF silver at Me ratio OF
sixteen TO one will fix mint price for
silver, Just as a mint price Is now liked 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 AZ mint does is to
return to man in coin the number of
grains of gold or silver he brings to it
in the shape of bullion. All that the
mint does for him is to put his bullion
in a form i'm which he can exchange it
for commodities more easily.
We're congress to halve the number
of grains in n gold dollar, the mint
price" of gold, which is now $20.07-
that being the number of dollars OF
% is grains of gold each which can be
coined out of $50 grains of gold-wou!d
rise to $i7.34 an ounce. But the value
Of gold bullion would not change, and
the new dollar would buy only half
as much rs the old dollar bought.
Bryan asserts that under free coin
are there would be demand" for
silver, created by law" which would
raise the bullion value of silver to the
coinage value. That there might be a
demand" but only if the free. coinage
silver dollars were given that legal
tender quality the Bryanites want their
free silver dollars to carry. The secre-
tary states:
1.-THE reason why the legal tender quality
might or would lerd a greater value to sill
yer is this. and this only: AS they would
serve to pay existing debts, many people
would avail themselves thereof to dis
charge their obligations, provided they
could make a profit to themselves by doing
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 will
keep their honor and integrity. Many will
do so at any sacrifice, a few Will forfeit
both for the most paltry consideration.
How great a demand would be thus set
up for silver dollars, as before stated, no.
body knows"
If free coinage law were enacted
and there were no silver dollars coined
at the ratio of sixteen TO one, the first
dollars coined under the law, according
to the secretary, would be in demand
at more than their bullion value. For
with one of those dollars. worth from
10 to 40 cents, debtor could pay Off
100 cents of Indebtedness. If his cred
itor was pressing him. the debtor would
find ii to his interest to pay rather more
than AZ cents for the cheap dollar he
needed to cheat his creditor with.
But as the minis poured out more
free silver dollars
''Themarket value OF the coined dollar
would be the same as the market value OF
the bullion in H. and unless a new demand
would arise not now foreseen, or unless the
silver supply should be much reduced. the
value of silver, either as metal or as money,
would not be essentially different from
the present value of silver bullion"
The secretary points out, however,
that there are in existence nearly $780,
100000 silver dollars of 371A grains
each. Those dollars are kept artificially
at par with gold, but the day a free
coinage law was enacted they would
drop to their bullion value and become
cheap. There would be so many cheap
dollars, with which so much mdebt-
edness could be paid off dishonesty,
that those dollars would remain cheap.
Bryan cannot get away from the sec
retary's reasoning. Under free coinage
the bullion value of silver and what
Bryan calls "the coinage value" would
coincide. " silver dollar would buy
371A grains of silver bullion. But that
silver dollar would buy less than half
the goods Il gold dollar would buy.
Itwould take 40 ounces of silver, coined
or upcoined, to buy an ounce of gold.
In word, the value of silver bullion
or coin if measured in gold. which is
the worlds standard, would remain
precisely what it is now. = Chicago
Tribune