The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1920-01-03
BR%YAN--CAND|DATE
WRITES ON SILVER

ciated Press dispatch announcing the
candidacy of william Jennings Bryan
for President of the United States.
the Reno Gazette prints an article
from the pen of the champion of the
old Silver Party. The story, which
traces the history of silver from the
time when a fight was waged. twenty
years prior to 1896. for the remoni-
tization of silver, to the present date.
when the large demand for basic
brings silver to the front
again, follows:
The fight, waged for twenty years
prior to 1869 for the reconciliation of
silver, was forced upon the world by
falling prices. Three international
conferences were held during that
period to devise some way of escape
from the bankruptcy that threatened
the debtors of all lands, and, through
them, business in general.
Even in 1896 the Republican party
pledged itself to international BIZ
metalism and one of the first official
of President Mckinley was the
appointment of a commission to So
licit the cooperation OF the leading
nations of Europe in opening the
minis to the white metal.
Former Vice-President Stevenson
and Senator Wolcott of Colorado, were
members of this commission, and the
latter, speaking in the United States
Senate, charged that the failure of the
commission was due to the fact that
Secretary George of the treasury de-
partment, was making speeches in
favor of the gold standard, while the
commission was appealing to Europe
for aid in the re-establishment of the
double standard.
Then general objection raised by
the inanciers to bi-metalism, whether
Independent or international, was that
it is difficult to maintain an exact
parity between the two metals, but
this argument was conclusively
answered by international bi-metal-
lists who c%ontended that a joint agree
ment between nations would reduce
fluctuations to a fraction so small as
to create no disturbance to business,
and they pointed out that a continual
rise in the value of the dollar was
more injurious to the world than any
slight variation in the relative value
of the metal under international BIZ
metalism could possibly be.
The theoretical objections to the
double standards, however, had but
little influence compared with the
practical objection raised by Great
Britain's opposition. Being the great
creditor nation of the world, Great
| Britain threw her influence on the
| side of a rising dollar, her financiers
| being short-sighted enough to imagine
that she could permanently prosper
| by a policy that did injustice to other
| nations and it was injustice to COM
| pei debtors to pay in a dollar that
| constantly deprecated because OF
| legislation that gave to gold a mo-
nopoly of the privilege of mintage.
Conditions are now entirely
| changed. An abundant currency has
| been secured from other sources. but
| while the debtor class is no longer
| suffering from a rising dollar and
| falling prices, as it was prior to 1896
the chief argument against ssilver
coinage has disappeared and new ar
| guments bring a demand for bi-metal-
| ism from the very classes that pre-
viously opposed it.
Now that the bullion in a silver dol
| lar is worth more on the market than
the bullion in a gold dollar Ia situa-
ton produced, not by legislation, but
| in sipte of it, we hear no more of
| the dumping ground bugbear or of
the melting pot test"
The silver dollar is no longer a
cheap dollar; it is the gold dollar
| that is cheap, if we may borrow the
| phraseology employed by the finan-
| ciers twenty-five years ago.
And, Just as the objections to silver
are being silenced by the unprece-
| dented demand for that metal, the
world awakens to a need for basic
money so great that gold will not sup
| ply it, and the situation in Europe is
made still more acute by the fact that
we have absorbed much more thar
our per capita share Of the gold coin
of the world.
During and since the war the vol
ume of paper money has been swollen
to fabulous amounts and no resump-
ton of specie payments can be
thought of without a very large in
crease in the quantity of standard
money. Gold is a fair weather friend
To use a familiar phrase, often ap-
piled to individuals. it is 'invincible
in peace and invisible in war" 1t goes
into hiding when it is most needed. II
it had silver for a companion il
would be more bold, but gold an6
silver together might not have been
sufficient to meet all demands made
upon them during the conflict through
uvb;oh wa have iuct nasCpd