Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-11-01

fifteen ounces Of silver. the result
Vas sa that we coined y aoa gua bear IN
mind that we always coined some. except
in the two years 1876 and 1877. Up to the
year 1874, therefore. our metallic money
was mostly silver. consisting of the CONS
which we ourselves struck and large
quantities of foreign silver coins. such as
the Spanish milled dollar, the Peruvian
dollar, the Mexican dollar and the Frencn
five frame piece, which were mace fuit
legal tender by the laws of this country;
But as we coined comparatively niue gol9
and it was desired to bring that metal
into more general use, in 1854, the AInerl-
can ratio was changed to 10 to l: one
ounce of gold then became worth sixteen
while at the French mint 1t was oniy
worth fifteen and a half This changed
the course of the metals. and our CONS
quite largely exported to Europe, where
its coinage value was higher than It was
here: But all this tirne, my friends; we
had bimetallism-the full and unrestricted
right to the use of both metals for mon
etary purposes, and had the whole benent
of both. When in the earlier period 70
which l have referred, we exported gold.
or buying commodities, and it was always
for full value in return, When N me az
was true of that metal. In both cases the
metal which went abroad was largely
coined in Europe, became a part OF tne
money supply Of that continent ana netpeQ
to sustain the price OF everything that
was both bought and sold in the markets.
of Europe and America.
HOW AND WHY SILVER WAS DEE
MCNET1ZED.
From 1861 to 1873 we were living in what
we may call the "greenback era" When
the war broke out we had very little spe-
Gle, the government was bankrupt, ana
as most of you know, large amounts OF
greenbacks were issued and put INTO CIR
culation. Neither gold nor silver during
that period, formed any part OF our actual
circulating medium except 70 hmIteu
extent on the Pacific coast. 1t was Wnlle
we were thus doing our business eXclus-
lively with paper money that the oppor-
tunity was seized to GenonetiZe SILVER,
and by the simple process OF leaving out
the silver dollar. A great deal has been
said and written with reference 10 now
silver was demonetized ana why IT was
done. 1t has been vehemently charged
that it was corrupt conspiracy IN inc
interest of the money Lending class, ana
just as stoutly denied. L do not know
whether it was done corruptly or not, but
l do know that since it was done only Two
or three men of any prominence in pubic
life have ever had the hardihood to ADMIT
that they knew anything about 1t at the
time it was done. John Sherman is one,
John J. Knox is another. and George >.
boutwell,, who was then Secretary OF tns
Treasury, are the only ones whom can
now recall. The step had been recon-
mended by the Comptroller of the Cur
rency, Mr.. Knox, in a final report, out II
effect considered in any public way either
in Congress or out. The only reason
given for it was the one to which l nave
already referred, that but Htde sltVeF
was being coined at the American mint
The silver required to make dollar beng
three per cent. more valuable imam the
gold required TO make dollar, the ST.
yer was naturally exported TO Europe,
where it had higher coinage value Inc
reason given for stopping the coinage OF
the silver dollar being, as l nave sag,
than the sold dollar, the questlo natuf-
ally presents itself, what was the proper
remedy TO be applied III case OF tEat
kind? The plain. common sense answer
comes at once. TO change the ratio, TO
take out Of the silver dollar three per
cent of the metal which it contained and
gold dollar, or else put enough
more metal in the gold dollar to bring
and thus make them OF eqlAi Value. In
stead of doing this, however. the silver
dollar, which was at mat tme the more
valuable one, was destroyed entirely.
value in the United STATES
CLAIM THAT SILVER DENIONET
ZAIION DID no HARM.
1t is claimed with endless reiteration
that this did no harm, because we had
coined so little silver. l answer that 1t
makes no difference whether we nae
coined little or much, we h4d the f'sht
ITO coin it, arI i We exported it in pref
erence il was simpIv because it was to our
Advantage 20 do 50. out the very mo
ment we demonet.zed silver, the teA0ency
was to deprive the metal Whlcl we were
exporting of a very considerable portlon
of its value [ answer turt ner, lAat II
we had coined only little silver, we mad
used vast amounts Of foreign CONS such
as | have named and which served US eE-
actly the same as # we h6d coined them
ourselves. There is no means OF ascer-
tanning Just how much foreign com was
then used, but | have no doubt that there
are elderly men in this audience VINO can
Remember t0e time when Mexican dollars
were fully plentiful in the currency OF
this country as STANDARD silver doliafS are
now, and perhaps great Geal more SO.
l answer still further TO this conte2tion
that it did us no harm that at the time
when silver was demone tized we were
not actually using for general business
purposes either gold or silver 10 any con-
siderable extent. And # it did no harm
to Gemonetize silver, Their II would nave
done no harm to demonetize gold, and ac-
cordirg to this reasoning, we might nave
demonetized both without any injury TO
the country. AND yet the TACT IS quite
apnarent that if we had done so, we
would have been left with no metallic
money at all; consequently, nothing with
which to redeem the paper money when
had been put into circulation. go SUI!
q step further in my answer ana say
every dollar of paper money then in cur
culation was expected to be redeemed in
coin Coin meant either gold or silver.
If we demonetized silver it made tnat
great mass OF paper reGeemable IN gold
enable US to see that it would naturally
be more difficult to redeem that paper
with gold alone than with silver and gold
together.
UNDER BTNlETALLTSM THE TWO
METALS WE'RE PRACTI-
CALLY ONE.
Let me now go back a step. have al
ready referred to the fact that France
coined the two metals at the ratio Of
155s to l. In 1855 France united with Italy,
Belgium Switzerland, and little later,
with Greece, in what is called the Latin
Union" for the purpose of coming silver
and sold upon the same terms, namely
I51a ounces of silver to one of gold: and
the coins Of both metals were full legal
tender. The ratio then established abso-
luteiy controlled the value Of the two
metals, not only in those countries, but
the world over. for the very good reason
that no man would take any less for it
than he could get for it al the minis of
those countries Neither could he get any
more because there being great mass of
coin struck at that ratio. people VINO
wanted silver could simply gather up the
coins at the face value and il was not
necessary for them to pay more. The
effect of all this was that the two metals
were linked together at the ratio of 15l2
ounces of silver to one ounce of gold
making one combined mass of metallic
money So far as business was concern
ed it was Just the same as II il had been
all gold or all silver or as II thetwo met
ais had been melted and run together into
a combined mass. In 1871 Germany, which
in 1857 had demonetized gold, concluded to
10 1k