The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-08-14
Liberal Viewpoint
-BY DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNEs

THE order of the President Matchmaking sill
I yer and calling in the existing stock at SOL
cents an ounce should not be misunderstood in
its bearing upon our monetary system. 1t is
the elimination Of earlier developments in the
Roosevelt administration and no reconciliation
Of silver in the sense Of establishing birnetallic
standard.
The United States legally operated on bime-
tallic standard from the days of Washington TO
those Of Mckinley, but in practice it usually
was on a single standard because of the diff
Guilty Of maintaining a coinage ratio which tai
lied with the market values Of these two pre-
cious metals. If one Of them was relatively
more valuable at the mint than in the market,
it went into money.
For example, the first ratio-that of 1902
overyaIued silver in the coinage ratio and silver
drove gold from circulation. Then in 1884 gold
at the mint was made more valuable than sill
yer in relation to their market ratios and silver
disappeared slowly but surely.
The silver interests made strenuous efforts
to keep silver in circulation through such favor
able legislation as the Coinage Act of 1853, the
Bland-Allison Act of 1873 and the Sherman Act
Of 1890, but their attempts met with little sue
cess. OF the s215000000 of silver coined under
the Bland-Alison Act during twelve years. only
s50000,OOO was in circulation in 1890.
THE next great effort to rehabilitate silver
l. came in the campaign of 1896, when the
proposal was made by Bryan and the siverites
to coin silver at the ratio of 16 to l, though the
market ratio about 80 to l.
If this program had succeeded it would have
meant that silver would have driven gold from
have resulted. 1t failed and the gold standard
was adopted in 1900.
The subsequent efforts of the silver interests
have been divided between attempts to get sill
YER remonitized-that is, to restore the bime-
tallic standard-and drives for more extensive
coinage of silver as token money The latter,
even if it does not remonitize silver, means a
greater demand for silver and, hence, relatively
higher prices for mined silver.
The depression brought renewed efforts to in
crease silver coinage. Senators Thomas, Pitt
man and Wheeler have led in this battle. Failing
to achieve anything under Hoover, they won at
least paper victory early in the Roosevelt adj
ministration when the Thomas bill was signed
authorizing the receipt of war debt payments in
silver and allowing the President to coin sill
yer money in generous amounts at his own
discretion.
DUT this did not suit the silver interests. They
ID kept up the battle as a part of the inf1a-
ton drive of the fall and winter of 1888. first
victory was the executive silver purchase order
of Dec. 81 1888, providing for the purchase of
24142 600 ounces annually at 641a cents an
ounce and the coinage of half of this.
Much more expensive was the Silver Purchase
Act of June 49, 1884, which allowed the President
! to purchase up to 1OOO,OOOO0O ounces of silver
at not to exceed so cents an ounce
1t is in partial fullfilment of this act that
the President has nationalized American silver.
1t had reached a market quotation of 495 an
ounce at IL o'clock on Aug. and the govern
ment acted Immediately to call in silver at
5001 cents.
This will help the silver interests, even
though the fixing of the price by the govern
ment will prevent the great silver boom and
speculation that many silverites had hoped for.
In 1882 an ounce of silver worth only 282
cents in gold. 1t is somewhat less than the 582
cents an ounce that silver sold for in 1928 before
the depression hit u.s.