The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-09-24

VINO VIII read the discussions IN Congress
from 1865 to 1873 will see that the question
of the standard was the crucial question.
Should they copy the financial systems OF
Mexico and China. or follow the example
or the most progressive and enlightened
nations of the earth and adopt the gold
standard? Congress chose wisely, as sub
sequent events have proved Then was
committed what Mr.. Bryan calls THE
crime OF the centuries" The act OF Feb. L,
1850. was passed and silver was practically,
tnough not In express terms. demonetized.
l must not take the time l had intended
10 speak of this act in more detail. Its
ooJect was 10 guard the finances from the
CONFUSION fnseparable from a double stan
GARD IL made no provision for the coinage
OF the silver dollar. 1t only authorized the
coinage of silver into half and quarter
uonaIs ana dimes. according to the reduced
standard OF 1858, and prohibited these
coihs from being a legal tender for more
man 20 In any one payment. Thus the
Ilee coinage OF silver was abolished and
, Uae currency nut on basis OF gold. In
e.s the coinage of the silver dollar was
Go eSSuuaileu, but the amount restricted 10
s-,"V,VW month. BY thus restricting the
use OF silver IL was thought that IL might
De Kept at parity with gold
IL is not in the province of this article
10 trace the subsequent legislation bv
wnicn our currency has been brought TO
rs present nearly perfect condition. I
nave only sought TO show, by reason and
history, that the idea OF double standard
Is delusive dream, and never has. and
from the nature of things never can be
a reality. Here 1 ought to close but 7
cannot forbear a single reference to =
period in our history while we had the
Double standard, and that is within the
memory OF many who perhaps will read
TINS. | refer TO the period between 1910 and
1906. L would like to ask any one whose
memory extends that far, whether in all
that time they ever saw an American sill
vel ner aonar. except as a curiosity. or a
hooded with the output of foreign minis,
ana instead of the coinage of our own
m l11 u refer to the silver coinage, as
sou was coined freely, We had currency
made up or Mexican, Peruvian and Spanish
mllied dollars, French franc pieces Ger
man thalers, English crowns, Italian soldi,
Russian kopeks. etc. Every merchant was
MANUAL or he would not have known the
Vaiue OF half the coins rendered him in the
course of trade. This Manual was a
nontniy publication, and needfully so, as
the Value or coins of the different countries
was constantly fuctuating. A German
tnaier; Tor instance, might this month be
quoted e m,vs at 81 cents, next month
younger generation Of business mem enc
accustomed as they are to the stable cur
rehcy. can have no adequate conception of
tne almost infinite annoyance and perplex-
ity caused by the shifting nature of our
silver currency. Our civilization is sadly
marred by the habit OF profanity, but I
am not certain but IL Is legacy handed
Hc"H 10 US from those troublous times.
II there is man who reads this who was
In business in 1854, ask him If he does not
remember what relief IL was, when Con-
sress' after earnest petition, supplied the
business world with subsidiary coinage
that, instead of being 4 per cent above the
Iegal ratio was per cent below it. This
was done, as / have already explained by
decreasing the amount of pure silver in the
hdIVes, quarters and dimes. Every bust
ness man will remember what a blessin-
IL was when the mongrel issues of foreiga
mlnts was replaced by our own beautiful
t taireS ana as a 5o-cent piece only con-
tainso 10 cents worth of silver, there was
exported. -
THE CRIME" AGAINST SILVER.
wish now to call your attention to an
extract from speech delivered by Mr..
Bryan at Omaha recently: Now. nv
irienos' what does the Republican party
stano Tor on the money question? 1t
STANDS Tor the gold standard And what
does the gold standard mean? 1t means
that one of the two metals used from the
beginning OF history is to be stricken down.
and only one metal left to do the work that
should be done by two"
Will you please read this again. that Won
may absorb all its sweetness and beauty.
and listen while reveal the full infamv
| OF the crime" which the wicked Repub-
mean party perpetrated on the long-suffer-
ing american people. 1 shall conceal moth
ing, put snail give you to the full the dire
results OF the crime 1 shall show how
silver has been stricken down" and how
We nave got along with s''only one leg.
Inc ngures l shall give you are all from
pubic documents and are accessible to any
| one who desires TO examine them. n is
impossible to gainsay them or to escape
| the force of the conclusions to which they
point. From the foundation of the govern.
4
| years. the total silver coinage amounted &c
| $o,USl, i34. Then the crime was commit.
ted, and during the next twenty-sever
years there was coined over 1890 600 600 IN
silver. Much more than half the time pre-
| Vious to 1913 the silver dollar was coy and
refused to be handled. and was not In cir.
| culation. But since 1879 (when specie pay.
| ments were resumed) there has not been 2
day when every dollar of the coinage was
| not available for circulation. In 1874 the
entire currency of the United States wal
Si26,sSl,S0s. This currency was entirely pa,
| per, and compared with gold was at dis
count of 80 per cent Making the abov,
amount equivalent TO gold, the entir.
amount of currency I'm 1878 was $500, 053 719
on the 3lst day of December, 1898, the pop
| ulation had increased from 40 OeJ in lg7
| to 100000. But the circulation had reached
the astounding figure of S2.179 019, 124 ans
every dollar of this vast sum was the full
equivalent of a gold dollar. and every dol
lar available for circulation. / have giyeI
the official figures to Dec. 81, 1885, Sine,
| then there has been continued and larg,
| increase, but have not the official figures
In 1913 the circulation per capita was SIS 04
or, to bring IL to a gold equiv alent, 81 ID
To-day the per capita circulation is so Is
These figures are eloquent. l should b.
glad to dwell on this point. but must con
tent myself with a few generalizations Ii
the United States We had over seven an,
a half times as much gold on Dec. 1. 1885
as we had both gold and silver in 1873.
our silver should be Stricken down" an,
entirely out we should have more thar
| seven and one-half times the amount o
metallic money than we had in 1873: an
this while the population has hardl
doubled. 1 ask any candid man who ex
amines these figures, and they are strictl
reliable, to decide between the single stand
ard of gold or the double standard II w
can be taught by experience, We have ha
both systems and the results are before US
From 1855 TO 1851 we had the free and un
limited coinage of gold and silver. Durin
that time there was period of about fou
years when the commercial and the lega
| ratio conceded, and both metals cfrcu
lated side by side. For only four years on
of seventy-six was this the case. For sey
evnty-two years there was no time whe
both metals We're in use. From 1861 10 18
there was no metallic currency. In 1873 tn
law was passed known as the crime, pre-
paratory to the resumption of specie pay
ments in 1879. We have had twenty-on
years experience OF the single standar,
with the results / have given above. w
have a currency adequate in volume TO a
the requirements OF business and the who
vast volume resting on a solid foundatio
, of gold. We have the unlimited" use
! silver so far we need IL. IL IL is NJ
free" This is real bfmetallism, and II
| h,t,