The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1898-05-20

The Bland-Allison act remained on
the statute book. and the purchase and
coinage of silver continued under il for
more than five years, when il was re-
pealed. and the so-called Sherman act
which provided for the purchase and
use for the purpose Of money OF not less
than 100000 ounces Of silver bullion
each month was substituted therefor.
The amount of silver coin was largely
more than doubled after Mr.. Cleveland
declared that there was no possible way
of maintaining the parity of silver WITH
gold except by suspending the purchase
and coinage of silver. Predictions of
all the leading oddities in he land TO
the same effect might be cited. They
; told the people every day while the
United States was purchasing and coin
ing silver that the limit had been
reached, and that if any more silver
was coined the value Of the silver dol
lar would fall TO the current price OF
silver bullion. The fact that they have
made these false predictions for more
than 20 years, and continue TO make
them, must be attributed to their lust
of falsehood or their desire to deceive.
There is another grossly absurd false.
hood which goldites constantly preach
and teach. This also appears in the
Warner letter. which is said TO have
been the first financial document ever
written for MIR. Cleveland 10 sign. Mr.
Cleveland argued in that letter that the
Bland act must be repealed, or gold
would be withdrawn. the volume of
money unprecedentedly contracted
and the wages oil labor scaled down 10y
their payment in deprecated money.
To avoid doing him an injustice the pre-
else language he used in predicting the
results of the refusal to repeal the
Bland act will be quoted. lie said:
Gold would be Withdrawn to its hoard.
/ inE places. and an UMPIRE cedented contrac-
| ton IN the actual volume Of our currency
would speedily take place. Saddest of all,
IN every workshop. mill, factory. store.
and on every railroad and farm. the wages
/ Of labor. already depre ssed, would suffer
sim further depression by scaling down
OF the purchasing power Of every so-called
dollar paid into the hands Of toll"
This is fair specimen of the argu-
ments against the restoration of the
coinage laws of the early days OF the
republic. The hallucination which
would induce president Of the United
! States 10 believe that unprecedented
contraction, creating dear money. and
the robbery of the labOrer. by the cheap
money in circulation. could occur at one
and the same time accounts for many of
the absurd vagaries of the advocates of
So-called sound money" But strange
as it may appear, this absurd paradox
has been iteratcd and reiterated by the
sO-called economists of our colleges.
the financial mountcbanks Of the COM
mercial press. and the patronage-bribed
politicians. for the last 20 years.
These examples of the false predic-
lions OF the goldites have been cited
To show how little reliance can be placed
upon their arguments against the I'M
limited coinage of silver at the ratio
of sixteen 10 one. because the stock ar
gument they always use. when driven
10 the wall by the force OF well-known
facts. is that the coinage ratio must be
changed to correspond with the com
mercial ratio of the two metals. They
seem entirely Obvious to the fact that
under equal coinage the commercial ra-
ito followed the coinage ratio without
material variation for thousands OF
years previous to 1873. While the minis
were open no one would sell his silver
bullion or his gold bullion for less
amount OF money than it would pro-
ducs at the mint. Ii was impossible for
either silver or gold 10 decline in price
below the coinage value. because there
was az unlimited market for it at that
price. Nor could the commercial price
of either Of the metals rise 10 any APP
probable extent above the coinage
value. because in that case its excessive
price would be pronibitory and the de-
mand would fall on the cheaper metal
until the commercial price of the two
metals was equalized.
The mode adopted by the goldites for
the ostensible purpose Of restoring the
parity between the two metals. but with
the real object Of increasing the dis
parity and destroying silver as money
metal. is one of the most vicious as well
as the most transparent humbugs in.
vented to fool the people. The slightest
reflection will show that the non
use of commodity destroys the de
rnand and reduces the price. Would the
price of wheat be advanced if every body
should stop eating wheat bread? Yet
the goldites say that the way to raise
the price OF silver to a parity with GOLD
is the utter disnse of silver and the us,
of gold alone.
The Clevcland-Harrison combination
excuse the breach of trust of which they
! were guilty in refusing to pay out silvel
according to law and the contract will
J the bondholGers, by contending tina
such use of silver would destroy tn,
parity. and that the only way TO re
store parity is TO buy gold at any prize
? and pay ii to the government creditor
and keep silver in the vaults Of tn,
trcassTy. They claim 10 have discov
cred that the unlimited use o. gold ant
the nonuse of silver will make an equa
J demand for both and maintain the par
! ity. If they were indicted as privat
A 80 - "a. ,xorl1 la fn- h~carh ~ frfSt IL