The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1899-01-28
SILVER MoNoMETALLIsM.
rhe Real Meaning OF Free Coinnse
mt the Ratio OF sixteen
to One.

by James Kerr, secretary OF the demo-
cratic congressional campaign commit
tee. on The Recent Election and It's Re
suits" In that article MIR. Kerr states
that ION the financial question the
democratic party is committed to BIZ
metallism. while the republican party
is irrevocably committed 10 the single
standard" In another place Mr.. Kerr
asserts that
1.-THE near approach OF the campaign OF
1900 may discover that free silver at sixteen
TO one Is not the acute issue 81 was In 1896,
by reason OF the fact that for ;ime other
Issues, that must be settled. may assert
themselves. and. along with blmetallism.
claim recognition from the people"
Thus Mr.. Kerr alleges that the demo
cratic party. OF which he is member. is
for "bimetallism," and that sixteen 10
one" is "bitmetallism." Neither OF
those statements is true. Mr.. Kerr,
who is "A reasonably intelligent man, 10
aware OF the fact that neither Of them
Is true. lie makes them AMPLY be-
cause he hopes some of the readers Of
the magazine in which those state
ments are made will believe them TO be
true. and. being deceived, Will vote the
democratic ticket next year.
The democratic national platform Of
1896 defines the status Of the party on
"the financial question" That plat
form demands specifically "the free and
unlimited coinage Of both gold and sill
yer al the ratio OF sixteen to one" But
free coinage az that ratio cannot be "bi-
metallism," when the present CONNER
cal ratio is more than thirty-four 10
one. Until "A cents in silver can be
shown TO be the equivalent in value Of
100 cents ia gold there can be nothing
savoring Of "bimetallism" in a scheme
which contemplates the free coinage Of
silver dollars worth "A cents and gold
dollars worth leo cents AMI assumes
that they will circulate coneurrcntly.
There can be no "bimeiallism" with an
impossible ratio. Not even the plat
form of the democratic party can ac-
complish ilnpossibilities.
4 III Mr.. Kerr believed that the demo-
cratic party favored "bimetallism"
there are some questions which might
properly be put TO him in order TO find
out what his conception Of "bimctal-
lsm" was. lie might be asked whether,
because there once was time when
the free coinage Of 10 ounces of silver
as the equivalent in value of one ounce
Il OF gold was "bimctallism," that free
coinage at the ratio Of sixteen 10 one
must be "bimetallism" always. no mat
ter how much the value Of silver may
decrease. He might be asked in other
i words, whether he believes that be-
cause S7lA grains OF silver once ex-
changed freely in the market for % Ia
grains OF gold that exchange can be
made now anywhere on the face Of the
earth IL not, then all monetary poll
cies based on the former equivalence In
value Of 16 ounces Of silver and one
ounce Of gold must be abandoned.
The democratic party Is for 'sixteer
10 one Therefore, IL is against "bi
metallism" and for silver monometal
ism, which is what free coinage al the
ratio Of sixteen to one implies. The re
publicans are bimeiallistS only 10 the
extent TO which bimetallism is possible
when the commercial ratio Is de
parted from. The republicans com
bined the free coinage OF 20 l-5 grains
gold dollars with the limited coinage Oh
government account of 37iA grains sill
yer dollars. They have been able y
keep in circulation at par nearly 500,
100000 OF 371h grains legal tender SIT
YER dollars, or the certificates which
represent them and are redeemable il
them.
But when in 1899 the volume OF th
silver dollars in circulation and Of tn
treasury notes paid out for silver bul
lion grew alarmingly large, and tn
business men feared that the process
OF silverizng the currency would con
tinue indefinitely, frightful PAM
broke out. The panic, due TO the fea
that excessive doses OF silver would de
; base the currency. cost the countr.
three times over what all the silver y
, the United States was worth. II too
} four weary years for the country TO re
cover from the fear that it was goini
10 be plunged into what Mr. Kerr men
daciously calls "bimetallism."
1t would be impossible to impanel
jury, except in some peculiarly DE
nighted part OF the United States
which would bring in a verdict TO III
: effect that the free coinage OF gold an
silver al the ratio OF sixteen to one
|; "bimetallism." A jury which returne
[ such n verdict would have TO decide tina
. there is no difference between n ratl
) Of sixteen 10 one and thirty-four TO one
or, In other words, that two is equal
: four and fraction over. An unlettere
= jury would stick AZ doing that. But a'
D cording 10 Mr.. Kerr this manifestly al
l surd proposition that sixteen TO one
e "bimetallism" is TO figure in the demo
e cratic campaign in i00O.--Chicago Tril
une.
tTIt will be a gloomy task for th
, democratic party to attempt 10 divid
:. politically within year nation whic
!. at present Is not divided. The mort