The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1898-10-07
AN ABLE ADDRESS.
Abstract of = speech Recently Made
by Henry &. miller. of Chi
cage, at Omaha.


equal rank with gold, for in accom-
plishing 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 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 a single
bimetallic 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 il.
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 10 gold than the
Franch ratio of fifteen and onc-half to
one In that case the demand for sill
rer 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.
Ii is said that IS per cent. IF 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 100000, which must be
continually replenished.
What is the demand in this country
for money for business purposes as
compared with that of other nations
AS stated by Hon. Thomas b. Reed, in
IA 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 10
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 NJ. Depew said
in a speech delivered in 1897: There
were carried last year on the rail-
roads of the United States GO.O00,000
tons more than on all the railroads
OF the world outside Of the United
States, and in all the occar commerce
OF the world put together" And
adds: This internal commerce Of the
United States makes il 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 result of the war with Spain.
the money 10 be paid for pensions and
the vast amount of our public, mu-
nicipal and private Indebtedness.
In view Of these facts il is manifest
that If this country with its boundless
capacity for using money should use
only silver for monetary purposes that
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 win take
its place and 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
~ established.
II is said: "All our money should be
on a parity so that one dollar shall be
Al good 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 II was only when treated as
merchandise that god was at n
premium. but the eagle-the ten dol
lar gold piece--was never legal ten
der for more than ten dollars. and IL
paid upon a debt, the person making
the payment would not in law be cred
tied with more than that sum.
Srhe fundamental error of gold
monomctallists 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 IL was confended that as
gold Is the standard money Of the civ
ilizcd world il should be our only
standard OF value and all our currency
should be made exchanreablc for gold.
To this we reply that money and not
al. - ..f - -. Ill