The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1898-01-07

taiN upon thIs cDantry, At the liIpe
this was done, the silver dollar was
worth three cents more than the dollar
IN Gpid, 80 that not the slightest jpstih
cation On the ground Of an oyrrprol &c
lion Oh silver, can be found for thn leg
Islation Of 1873 4
1t is often urged by the friends Of he
single gold standard, IA an extenuatine
circumstances, that large amount of
9 silver dollars has been coined since the
laws Of 1878 were enacted; but the
. record shows TINT, in every jpstance
when more silver dollars were coined
| Mr. Sherman and his associates were
forced to yield, The Bland Allison Law
was enacted against the veto Of presj
dent Hayes, when Mr. Sherman was
Secretary OF the Treasury; and the
sherman Act of 1890 was coerced from
MI sherman and other leaders of the
gold pnrty-as he himself has often
stated by the Republican Senators
from the silver producing states Of the
| West.
II Is no answer however, to the lust
attack upon the Legislation Of 1891 |
that silver dollars have boen coined |
since that time What the friends of
blinetalism denounce is the closing of
the mints to silver coinage, and then
using the commercial depreciation of
silver bullion as an argument against
flver money. They charge and stat
Ystics support them that there is not
fenough gold and silver in the world FOR
tho necessities Of business and that the
minis have been closed to silver for the
pnrposo Of decreasing the volume of re,
deihptlon money, 80 rs b Increase the
purchasing power of gold. They 10
lleve that the pending struggle is the :
fight which has been wared in MI the :
centuries, the attempt - use govern.
ment powers by the rich and powerful
to increase their incomes Mt the expense
OF the masses. No intelligent or honest
man expects to enact laws which will
pnt money into the pockets of those d
who do not labor but money should not Il
be diminished in volume below the >
amount necessary to afford every human
being fair opportunity to secure lust
for the product of his or T
her enterprise and toll. The single gold
is an instrument of tyranny, -
the foe of that equality which is the
basis of FREQ institutions
1t cannot be denied that plausible ar.
can DO made against bimetal
lism by the men whose trained intellects )
have been devoted to the art of making
money breed money" They parade
the spectros of Reputation, dis .,
honor" and the single silver stan. a
lard"
As to reputation, it is enough to say :,
that no bfmetallist advocates or con ~
templates it in any degree or form. -,
The friends Of bimetallism are pledged "a
TO the payment of all national and in N
lividnal obligations honestly and fully u
u stipulated between creditor and II
iebtor They do not propose to pay in y,
ifty'cent dollars but in dollars of full u,
purchasing power and value. When ~
he minis of the United States are ~,
lgAln opened to tho coinage of silver "a,
egal tender dollars the commercial az
'alno of silver will at once rise to that r.,
# gold, on the established ratio. to
1t is automatic that the legal tender no
money of any nation is worth through. M
MT the world the value of the purchas, r,
BILE products of that nation. The sill. oh
er dollar of the United States is worth M
ne hundred cents everywhere; not be- r,
ause it is redeemable in gold. forit is tr,
ct, hut because it has the legal tender M.
uality and will purchase all the prod. an
cts OF this country, The legal tender
liver dollar Of Mexico is worth only 10
fly cents outside Mexican territory; 20,
nd the cause is obvious. W.,
In lsA-5,-the last official report OBJ, az,
Unable, the exports of Mexico 70,
mounted to 800, s54, ala, of which, sh,
%, 535,SA We're gold and silver, and for
n 3l9. 900, merchandise, During the III,
me year, tho exports Of the United sib
ates amounted to 5000, TAI 900, Of drs
hich tlla,a5s, 400 were gold and silver thr
I'd S'a3, a0a, 800, merchandise bu
In the last fiscal year. the balance of sue
ade in our favor was larger than ever dis
fore; and with increasing resources, rul
is safe to assume that the time will mn
'ver come when foreign countries will $
Vt be compelled to huy from us in eve
rye quantities, the necessaries Of life, wo
long as this IL 80, our legal tender one
oney will be at par throughout the eac
orld ,
The prediction that this country will lin,
forced to the single silver standard, fus
opening our mints, has been often ma
own ia ha ridiculous; and recent uni
'ents have demonstrated its worthless. con
'ss. Foreign nations cannot ship sill Off
n coin to this country, because there exc
ould be loss by reason of the differ ma
Ice in ratio and they capnot possibly tina
spense with their present supply Of im1
liver, ,,,,
The Bank Of England has lately in A
eased its silver reserve, and FIVE ma. sue
ons OF the Latin Union have agreed to Off,
'large their silver circulation, while 8