The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-03-24
wnAT TaE Law cAssor 10.
10 Cannet Make silver Doi1fea E4sea
to Geld ~ 1e 20 l.

to Geld ~ 10 - I.
Seattle. March - fssA
To the Editor: Hasariznx the impusa-
siun Of too great pertinacity. 1 oes your
indulgence 20 the extent OF very Few
Maes az your valuable space that nay
reply to yosr comments on NY camme1-
cation OF yesterday.
Nc. am well aware Of the fact snat
under free coinage law Applsed 70 AISeT
thu asvesument would no< buy safver ou.-
lion. likewise as it does not buy gold put
lion And Ii Is for that very reason silver
would then come 10 be mere common
ity on the market. subject TO the n1anipu-
latfons OF Spectators. causing fluctuations
In fits price. II would have but one price
or value. as gold has. ana that price or
value would be iss money or mint value.
That II to say. that number OF grains OF
silver coined Into dollar-l0 cents
would command a. merchandise 100 cents
IN exchange for any and all commodities
This may be asserted as an ineontrovert-
ihle truth
True. there is general distrylst OF silver
In banking and business circles" And
whye Because by adverse legislation ar
fecting It as standard money. il has been
debased by making IL subsidiary TO gold
and retieemahie in gold. All our silver doll
lars should be their own redeemer. and
have within themselves rnerchantabie
value equal TO that impaired by the gov
ernment Imprint. At present the larger
part of the value given to our silver dol
lar Is fiat supported by a gold base Tn
der the operation OF true hi-metailism in
.rins.e value would dispiace that fat
value.
As 10 the hughear OF precedence being
given 20 gold by all creditors. how easy
II would be TO destroy that. by the enact
ment OF a law prohibiting the exaction by
contract OF any specific metal money
Lawful money of the United States
should be and would be the only stipuia-
tien allowed. This would vest the option
with the debtor-as II should be--to pay
In either silver. or gold. or paper. or in all
three. As to the laborer and wage earn
er protesting against taking his pay In sill
yer. one need not feel solicttous on that
score. He will be only too glad 20 get il.
because he will get much more OF IL as
wage for the same amount of labor than
is now the case. As for that matter. what
pay he now gets Is mostly in silver.
JNo. AUBREY JONES.
The laborer who gets his pay IN silver
now gets the equivalent OF gold That Is.
there is no present distinction between 100
cents In silver and 100 cents In gold. IL
We are to have free coinage. and the
parity Is not maintained-as 1t would not
be-and the silver dollar drops TO It's real
bullion value, how would the workingman
100 silver cents. but not worth 100
gold cents. and its purchasing power
would be heavily reduced. Would his
earnings increase proportionately? Dur
ing the civil war gold went to premium
Of about IS over paper money. The av-
erage wage advanced about so per cent.
in paper. The man who received 81 per
day in gold got 50 In paper: bus Its pur-
chasing power was considerably less than
$3.50 In gold. which was the standard and
revolutionlze our financial system and
adopt the silver standard. the Iahorer viii
be the first to suffer and the last TO re-
cover
Mfr Towne declared that the parity at ls
to would be maintained by the increase
OF silver bullion values and the decrease
Of gold bullion values until they reached
a common meeting point That is TO
say. II free coinage IL practicable. the
silver dollar and gold dollar will be on
equality but 1t will be less valuable than
the present silver dollar. which stands for
100 cents In gold at preseu. gold values.
The new silver land gold dollars will OF
course buy less than the present. II
is confessedly the deliberate purpose OF
the sr~e coinage advocates to reduce the
purchasing power of the wage paid the
wage-earner. What benefit does he get
out OF free coinage? Is he going to raise
his own wages
There Is possible merit In the suggestion
that silver be redeemed in silver; but in
order to clear the way TO II. II win be
necessary 10 wipe out the ratio of is to |
and let each metal stand on It's own bot
tom. Why ratio anyway Gold and
silver may be the money OF the eonsti-
tuition. but that document Ia wholly silent
on the subject N ratio.
Finally. assuming that II would DE le-
gal TO prohibit the exaction by contract
OF any specific metal money" what are
you going TO do about presen: contracts?
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