The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1898-10-07
AN ABLE ADDRESS
Abstract Of n Speech Recently Made
by Henry G. Miller, OF Chi
caEO, at Omaha.

PIishing the object for which money
was instituted, money made Of sill
yer is as suitable and efficient an agent
as money made Of gold. The great OBJ
ject Of bimetalIists is to restore gold
and silver to a bimetallic par, 50 that
the great mass Of these metals which
has been accommodating IN thousands
Of years shall again become a single
bimetaIlic money and that the
changes that take place in the annual
production Of either Of them can only
affect the mass by increasing or di-
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
I gold upon our present legal ratio of
! sixteen to one, which is three per cent.
more favorable to gold than the
! Frauch ratio Of fifteen and One-half TO
/ one In that case the demand for sill
/ ver 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 a 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.
/ 1t 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 $1,000, 100000. which must be
continually replenished.
/ What is the demand in this country
I for money for business purposes as
/ compared with that Of other nations?
/ As stated by Hon. Thomas B. Reed, in
! q speech delivered in the house Of
representatives, February 1, 1894, we
annually produce one-third of the
manufactured products of the world.
/ The eminent statistician, Michael J.
/ 8IulhaIl, in an article contributed to
/ Public Opinion, June 6, 1898, 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 N. Depew said
in a speech delivered in 1897; There
were carried last year on the rail
/ roads of the United States 5O,OOO,OOO
/ 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 +.
/ 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 viii be required
] in the countries coming under our con-
/ troll as a 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 II is manifest
/ that If this country with its boundless
] capacity for using money should use
I only silver for monetary purposes that
I metal upon our ratio would be worth
/ more 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 a permanent silver
| standard viii be impossible. In that
/ case the two metals viii be on a 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 half to one. Then both
/ metals would again be fully employed
| in the worlds commerce and interna-
| tiOnal bime tallism would be practical
| " tablished.
II is said: "All our money should be
/ on a parity so that one dollar shall be
| 8sgOOd as every other dollar" All legal
| tender dollars of whatever material
! composed-whether Of gold or silver
| are necessarily on 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 a
| par and it was only when treated as
/ merchandise that god was at a
| premium. but the eagle-the ten dol
! lar gold piece-was never a legal ten
/ der for more than ten dollars, and If
paid upon a debt. the person making
4 the payment would not in law be cred
I tied with more than that sum.
The fundamental error Of gold
mOnOmetaIlists 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
I gold is the standard money of the civ
ilized world It should be our only
| standard Of value and all our currency
I should be made exchangeabIe for gold.
To this we reply that money and not
I the material OF which money Is made
Is the standard Of value. Money as
Mr. Cernuscbi 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 OF standard