The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-05

stopped that After fixing on a unit or val
determining what the size of the coin
should be, and in order to reach conclu-
sion gathered quantity OF coins from all
parts of the country. of all conditions. Some
were worn badly, others slightly, while
some Were practically new. They. were ALL
however, of the denomination of a dollar
and We're placed in scale and weighed
The sum total was then divided by the
number of coins in the scale, and the aver
silver.
Jefferson said relative to the value of
gold and silver that the maintenance of the
parity of the two metals was a mercantile
problem. The originators of our financial
system. however. taking the values of the
two metals as they were at that time fixed
the ratio of the metals at 16 TO /, putting
24A grains of gold in each dollar. 1t was
thought undesirable at that time. however
denomination gold piece was fixed at $3.50
1t was expected that when these values
their metal for coinage, but this calcula-
ton was upset by law stronger than any
act of Congress. In 1898 one ounce of gold
was worth fifteen and thirty-three one
hundredths ounces of silver. Under these
conditions people could get a better price
for their silver from the government at
the minis than in the market. AS a conse-
quence silver began to be coined in i'm
mense quantities and no one complained be-
cause ut that time silver was good enough
for the people of this young country. The
farmers made all their articles of wearing
apparel and supplied nearly all their own
wants at home, so that there was little
occasion to use q medium of exchange.
THE BASIS CHANGED.
Finally, however in the regular order of
things they began to grow rich and as the
ability to crafty new tastes became theirs,
this medium of exchange became desirable.
Then the conviction gradually grew on the
people that a more convenient form of
money than silver was necessary, and the
government was compelled to give its finan-
cial system some consideration. From the
time of the establishment of the coinage of
the country until this period. in 1888. it re-
quired 1898 ounces of silver to be worth
an ounce of gold. Congress then, in con-
sidering the adoption of a regulation by
which the. parity of the two metals could
could be passed silver would have nearly,
If not quite, reached the 16-to-1 basis AS
an r,o outcome to- me- OF the passage OF this law the
came worth S1.02, and as the people began
boarding it for market purposes. small
the people petitioned Congress for some
small coin with which they could do bust
coinage Of gold dollars. This failing to rem
edy the situation Congress. in 1858, decided
to coin its money on government account,
by buying its own metals In the open mar
ket and coming it for itself. AS pre-
Ventive against boarding silver during pc
RODS CT appreciation it was decided at that
time to reduce the quantity of silver in the
| dollar, thereby decreasing its intrinsic value
from one hundred cents to ninety-eight
cents.
DEMOCRATS OF OLD.
mo true Democrat need be ashamed of
| being a Democrat l do not refer in this
| remark to Populists or Popocrats The pure
| Democrat can look back on his party with
| pride, for it was under Thomas Jefferson,
a Democrat, that this country acquired
Louisiana, giving us possession of the Mis-
| sssippi. 1t was under Monroe, Democrat,
| In 1919, that we reached the gulf by the
purchase of Florida. 1t was under James K.
| Polk, a Democrat, that Texas became ours
and under Democratic administration that
| California was acquired. Beyond all this.
| however, there is the fact that many
modern Democrats either do not think of
| or do not know Of and that is that the
| problem which was solved years ago and
| of the present Republicans party was orig
! inally the work of the Democrats them
selves.
With regard to the Populists, 1 can say
| that don't agree with them on any prop
osition they advance. They have not
presented one issue to the American public
| that has not been dead and buried years
| ago. There is one thing, however, in the
! Fopulists that compels admiration and that
Is their sincerity. A Populist says he be-
the Populist will carefully study the funda-
/ mental principles of his own organization
ne VIII md that he cannot conscientiously
For years prior to 1894 the minis of this
! country were used to make coins not for
metals for sale purposes making the Minis
! practically nothing but an assay office
recall a man from my. own State who, in
| a debate with Republicans on the silver
| question, said that the fundamental prin-
! clple on which the whole question hingerl
was that the stamp of the government fixed
| the value of a coin. The truth Of the mat
ter, however, is that the stamp of the gov
| ernment is not an essential attribute in the
hut
| real value of the metal in the coin regulates
the worth of the coin. Before coinage was
ever begun; the people, in the early ages
weighed their metals and one of the familiar
| signs of those times was the merchant
standing in his store with his scales sus-
| pended from his belt, in which he weighed
the metal that was rendered in payment
FOR his goods. Under these conditions, it
was found by the people of that day that
| the rev men having a knowledge of metal
lurgy and chemistry grew rich rapidly by
dipping the many who were ignorant of
| these sciences. Then it was that they petit
toned their rulers to save them from these
wolves by the government fixing the value
OF the metal and certifying TO its value by
cutting 1t into small pieces and stamping on
them the image of the ruler. This was the
origin of the first coins in use. In a con-
versatile with well-known free silver ora
tor some time ago, he made the remark
that he believed In a govern ment thaf>could
stamp anything and make it a dollar.
answered so do L. I believe in a govern
ment that could take button from your
coat said he, and by stamping it make it
q NoAldi. dSieeO with MIN. w ell, said
he in case like that what would the dol
lar be WORTH 1t would be worth pre-
cisely one button said l. The stamp Of a
government does not fix the value of a dol
lar any more than the fact that when I
was about foot long and was chrstened
James Thompson McCleary that act fixed
my size for all time
Industrial conditions and wages change
slowly, but times change quickly. Employ
ers of labor take long chances by looking
into the future when they accept contracts.
These contracts are taken largely on a
knowledge of what the scale of wages under
which the product is manufactured will be
during the period of the contract and the
real dependence that the laboring men can
place in the future to give them steady en-
| plOyment and fair wages, lies in their en-
stability of industrial conditions The price
of wheat is now fixed by Liverpool, and
the coinage of this country has absolutely
no effect whatever on it. 1t matters not
to the British importer how much wheat
| there is IN "a bushel because bushel means
nothing to him. He buys his wheat by the
| quarter, and expects a certain amount of
wheat for his money. Neither does it make
| any difference to him what the American
| dollar is, for his unit of value is grains of
| gold which never changes.
GOLD CURRENCY LAWS NEEDED.
''There are, however, some monetary mat
| ters that need regulating. Statistics show
that the average credit in bank in Rhode
| Island is 1871 man and almost all other
| Northern States in like amounts, while in
| nearly all the Southern States the figures
are next to nothing. In Arkansas the per-
| centage is $4.S6 a man. In the States where