Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1898-11-01
AN ABLE ADDRESS.
Abstract of a Speech Recently Made
by Henry G. Miller, of Chi
cago, at Omaha.


plishing the object for which money,
was instituted, money made of sill
YER is as suitable and efficient anagent
as money made of gold. The great OBJ
ject of bimetallists is to restore gold
and silver to a bimetallic par, SO that
the great mass of these metals which
has been accommodating in thousands
OF years shall again become single
timetable money and that the
changes that take place in the annual
production of either of them can only
affect the mass by increasing or d.
minishing it.
The relative value of gold and silver
is dependent upon, and is governed by
| the demand for them for monetary
| purposes, and the question is whether
if the minis of this country were OPEN
to the unrestricted coinage of both
metals, our demand for monetary pur-
poses would be sufficient to raise the
value of that metal to an equality with
gold upon our present legal ratio of
sixteen to one, which is three per cent.
more favorable to gold than the
Franch ratio of fifteen and onc-half to
one In that case the demand for sill
Ner for monetary use would not be
confined to this country, but would
embrace all silver-using countries and
those nations in Europe which use sill
yer as token money, and in which, as
in France and Germany, silver is still
circulating for domestic use side by
side with gold upon the ratio Of fifteen
and one-half to one.
It is said that Is per cent. of the in
habitants of the earth transact their
business with silver money, while
reckoned in our currency, the silver
used as token money and full legal
tender money in Europe amounts to
at least $780, 100000, which must be
continually replenished.
What is the demand in this country
for money for business purposes as
compared with that of other nations2
AS stated by Hon. Thomas B. Reed, in
a speech delivered in the house of
representatives February /, 1894, we
annually produce one-third of the
manufactured products of the world.
The eminent statistician, Michael j.
Mulhall, in an article contributed to
Public Opinion, June 6, 1895, says that
the effective energy Of this country
devoted to the production Of wealth
is nearly equal to that of the United
Kingdom, France and Germany col
lectively. Mr.. Chauncey M. Depew said
in speech delivered in 1897: There
were carried last year on the rail-
~ Tri{
tons more than on all the railroads
of the world outside of the United
States, and in all the ocean commerce
Of the world put together" And he
adds, This internal commerce of the
United States makes it the most won
derful market in the world" We must
also take into account the great
amount of money that will be required
In the countries coming under our con-
troll as q result of the war with Spain,
the money to be paid for pensions and
the vast amount Of our public, mu-
nicipal and private Indebtedness
In view of these facts 1t is manifest
| that If this country with it's boundless
| capacity for using money should use
only silver for monetary purposes that
metal upon our ratio would be worth
moro than gold. But when there is
the unrestricted coinage of both
metals, the moment silver becomes
more valuable than gold, gold will take
Its place and q permanent silver
standard will be impossible. In that
case the two metals will be on parity
With each other upon our ratio of six
teen to one, as they were for nearly
100 years upon the French ratio of
| fifteen and a half to one. Then both
| metals would again be fully employed
in the worlds commerce and interna-
tional bimetallism would be practical
ly established.
1t is said: "All our money should be
on parity SO that one dollar shall be
asgood as every otherdollar." All legal
tender dollars of whatever material
omposed--whether of gold or silver
are necessarily on a parity. AS money
one legal tender dollar has the same
power and is of the same value as
every other legal tender dollar. AS
Mr.. Cernuschi says: ''The law of legal
| tender makes of them a forced cur
rency and prevents any of them from
| falling below the nominal par" Legal
tender greenbacks were always at g.
par and it was only when treated as
merchandise that gold was at a
premium, but the eagle-the ten dol
lar gold piece-was never legal ten
der for more than ten dollars, and if
paid upon debt, the person making
| the payment would not in law be cred
| tied with more than that sum.
The fundamental error of gold
monometallists is in supposing that
| the standard of value is the material
of which money is made. Upon this
theory the report Of the Indianapolis
monetary commission was construct
ed, in which it was contended that as
gold is the standard money of the civ
ilized world it should be our only
standard of value and all our currency
should be made exchapgeable for gold.
To this we reply that money and not
the material Of which money is made
| is the standard of value. money" as
Mr.. Cernuschi says, SIS the scale Of
valuation" In our monetary system
| the degrees in the graduation of this
scale are the dollar, dime, cent and
| mill, and in the terms of this scale or
standard, the values of all forms Of
property are expressed, precisely as
| the weights and dimensions Of objects
are expressed in the scale or standard