The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1923-03-01
THE PRICE OF SILVER
AFTER THEP|TTMAN ACT
FIX PRICE AND ALLOW DEBTOR
NATIONS TO PAY US
IN SILVER.

everyone in the western states anC
most especially to the Occur d'Alene.
where the production of silver is one
of our basic assets
From a period dating back as early
as we have any recorded history OF
the human race, and its earliest at
tempt to establish medium of OK
change, silver and gold have been SC
used. Various attempts have been
made, however to utilize substitutes
Some of these have had fair success
until the shock of war or general
stress of conditions brought their
monetary value into question.
During the reign of Henry VIII
SOLE of his advisors persuaded him
that the monetary circulation of Eng
land could be trebled by simple act
of the crown. Acting upon this ad-
vice, a great quantity of English
crowns were melted down. Two parts
of tin were added and the metal re-
coined. AS a consequence of this, a
general exchange of new coins for the
old, that had not been debased was
eagerly sought The real consequence
of the experiment was that all coins
not having been debased by the in
PRODUCTION of tin, were soon in hiding.
so that under Elizabeth all the coins
bearing the tin were melted down and
the tin taken out. l need not go fur
Their into detail, but merely call at
tention to the experiment of law, the
tulip craze of Holland and the Miss
issippi bubble as a sufficient warning
against the dangers of over initiation.
In the early history of the colonies,
and our experiment with continental
currency, Thomas Payne made the
automatic remark that paper is pa
per and specie is specie" The truth
of this statement was brought forc-
bly, before us during the world war
when the governments were securing
the earth for the discredited silver
dollar. Lord Overstone, one of the
brightest monetary minds England
ever produced headed a commission
to study the monetary systems of the
world and TO give England the best
that could be had, and after a very
thorough and exhaustive study of the
subject this rule was laid down, the
truth of which is beyond challenge:
THAT all issues of money of whatever
kind or nature, in excess of the specie
displaced by it, is a debasement of
the currency" and whether gold is
the sole standard of redemption, silver
and silver certificates are likewise a
debasement of the currency At the
beginning of the European war there
were seven billions outstanding, I'M
covered paper money in all the coun- |
tries Of the world. Near the close of
this terrible conflict there were near
~ 81 billions of uncovered paper, ex-
elusive Of Germany, Austria and Rus |
STA. No sane person will attempt to |
estimate the amount of uncovered pa
per in these countries. 1 am calling |
attention to this terrible stress upon |
the single gold standard and 1 wish |
to warn the banking fraternity |
throughout the country of the dan
gers of a complete collapse of their
credit structure. To minimize this
danger, both silver and gold should |
be stabilized, if necessary by govern
mental action, and a gradual retire
ment of the excess of fiat money, now
in circulation, to a saner and safer
horizon.
America is no longer a provincial
land. We have become world pow
err buying and selling in the markets
of the world. Not only this, but Am
erica is the greatest silver producing
country in the world, but if we are
not careful, shrewd and long headed
financiers of England will fix the
price upon our silver, as they have
done in the past, at soc On ounce, and
with this silver she will complete her
exchanges, finance India, back her
banks and trade houses in South Am
erica, Russia and China, and in a few
years England will not owe us a dol
lar. On the contrary, we again will
become the debtor nation. They come
to us and ask for long extensions up
on our loans. Let us say to them, you
choose to discredit silver and fix the
price at soc an ounce, therefore you
must have abundance of it. Let us
give the European credit for one dol
lar on their Indebtedness for every
ounce of silver that they can bring to
us. Make this for a period of TWEEN
ty-fve years, that they may begin
the immediate cancellation of this in
debtedness. Immediately someone
will raise the question that we are al
lowing them to pay their indebted
ness with cheap silver, but be not
disturbed England must have silver
to finance her oriental trade and if
she is forced to come to us to buy it
under these conditions, as she certain
ly will be, need we sell it to her for
less than we have paid? Not only
this, but let us use this silver to as
sist our own tradesmen in the pur-
chase of Indian rubber and Chinese