The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1900-10-12
THE TASK BEFORE BRYAN.

A correspondent inquiries why tn
United States. with its wonderful re-
sources. Its vast commerce and its srea
population. cannot by itself. as Mr.
Bryan says it can. restore and main
tain a himetallic level of prices by tht
free coinage OF both gold and silvei
at the ratio Of 16 to /. He admits sha
in times past the dual system OF meas
uring values failed 10 work. but h,
pcints out that the nations were snail
then and their commerce was insignifi
cant as compared with the present day
He goes on to argue that the situation
is changed now. and that the Unitet
States. with population Of nearly
eighty million. foreign commerce ol
over $1,000. .eOO, 900 annually and a domes.
tic commerce of almost untold proper.
tions. is in a position to exert an in.
fiuence in the commercial world never
exerted before. Therefore, might moi
the result be. as Bryan predicts. the es-
tablishment Of an American financial
system without the aid or consent OF
opx, nfbar rotionu9
Barring the obvious reply that moth
ing can be restored which never ex-
isted-and successful bimetallism is not
recorded in history-the answer is sim
pie. The United States is indeed a
great nation. Of vast powers and re-
sources. but the rest Of the world has
not been standing still while the United
States has been growing. The popula-
ton OF the United States. large as it
is, is less than one-tanth Of the total
population Of the gold standard nations
Of the world; it is less than one-seven-
teenth the total population Of the prin-
ipal commercial countries Of the world;
The United States owns more than one
fifth Of the gold money of the world;
it owns nearly one-sixth Of the coined
silver Of the world. As matters are at
present. with the gold standard as
sured. its position is impregnable.
If an effort were made to equallze
the value of silver and gold at the ratio
Of 16 to l by advancing the price Of sill
yer from its present commercial value
Of 81 cents an ounce to its coinage val
Tie of S1.29 an ounce. the herculean task
would be presented TO the United States
not only Of more than doubling the
metal value Of the ss4s, 100000 of coined
silver in the United States and the
50, 200, 100000 Of coined silver in the rest
Of the world. but Of more than doubling
also the value Of all the silver bullion,
silver plate and utensils and silver or
naments in the world and the future
output of the silver mines. The mere
statement Of the proposition shows its
impossibility.
But, it may be urged. the equalization
process would work both ways-gold
would depreciate as silver advanced
and the two metals would meet on mid
die ground. The worlds supply Of gold
money is. in round numbers, S4,8OO, ,O0O,-
900, worth its face value The worlds
supply Of silver money is, on its face,
SO, S54 100000. worth in gold approx
mately 10000 OO0-a total for both
metals Of $G,7O10OOOOO actual value at
the present commercial ratio. To
e1ualize the value Of the metal in this
enormous quantity Of coin money 1t
would be necessary to reduce the value
Of the gold 20 per cent, or 100000 900,
and increase the value Of the silver 80
per cent, or $95O,OOO,OOO. This wonderful
transformation. If it could be accom-
Dlished independently Of the other
gold and silver in the world. would re-
duce the worlds coin money supply by
20 per cent Of the face value Of all the
silver used In gold standard countries,
for under free coinage silver coins could
have no fiat value from their govern
ment stamp. as they now have, but
must stand on their bullion value, as
all gold coins do. And, furthermore,
1t would take 20 per cent from the face