Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, February 3, 1892, Page 5

.y SHALL WE HAVE UNUIMITED FREE SILVER CONAGE by Edward Joint Discussion Rosewater and Jay Burrows. PART I1. | Mr. Rosewater's Argument. 1 fully agree with Mr. Burrows that fhe vital point at issue in the present discussion is the expediency of free and unlimited coinage of silver as it affects | the welfare of our prople. T cheerfully concede thut we ought to have free and unlimited coinago if thereby the wel- | fure of our people could be promoted. If & mere increase in the volume of | money. regardless of its l-hl-h:\n;_n- value ¢ purchasing power, would insure gen- oral |,~nup.\.-|i‘\‘ it would be manifestly the duty of every government to bend | all its energies toward incrensing the volume of its stock of money. If, as Mr. Burrows insists, the intrinsic or com- mercial value of metallic mondy cuts no figure, every nation could at pleasure enormously inereaso its volume of money by reducing the weight and quality of its coins, What Mr. Burrows means by saying that the volume of money “involves the question of prices ov tho relutive pur- chasing power of products or labor and money” s not y clear. If he had eaid that the volume of money regulates 10 u cortain extent its purchasing power of products and labor I would concur, but the form in which he states his proposition is as mislending as is the declaration that “‘in this issue the inte: ests of the money-lender, or the rd income class, or the creditor class, ar at variance with the interests of the produy , the merchants, the me- chanies, the debtor class.” The advocates of fre coinage assort that unlimited and free coinage will enormously increase the yvolume of monoy and thiat an_increuse in our stock of money would make money | cheaper. In other words, they assume that money is governed by the same law that govéras all other commodities, which fall in price when abundant and riso in price whon scarce. But this is not true as regards the price or “rato of interest” which money com- mands in the loan market. A la volume of money aiways beg increased speenlation. When mon. plenty men are willing to venture upon enterprises that promise large return and the money-lender finds no difficulty in raising his intevest rates. During the inflation period following tho war the money-lending and in- come class were in high clove Cheap money loaned on choico ci property and farm mortgage securitie: at from 10 to 12 per cent & yoar, while what is termed dear monay at the present time can bo had in abundance on the same class of securities at from 6 to 7 per cent por annum. Every intelligent person knows that the money loaned by bankers is chiefly other neople’s money. Whe thera is a money stringency or prospec of u panic every prudent banker hauls in his sails by cutting down his line of louns or refusing to loan at any price for fear that the depositors may make a run on hisbank. When business is dull and money scarce, deposits run low and legitimate banking yields much smaller profits than in flush times, when loans are made freely and mercantile failure less frequent. The hue and cry that the opposition to free coinnge 15 in the interest of the income cl is also un- founded. The fixed income eclass, if that means the bondholders, were much better off when gold was at a high premium and paper money was supor- abuadunt. Money was chéap then. Ton por cerit state, city and county bonds sold at a discount and Uncle Sam paid 5 and 6 per cent on giit-edged, nontaxable Londs. Today, with what is called dear money, state, county and city bonds drawing 34 t0 5 per cent command premium and national bonds sell readily at 2 per cont. The bloated bondholders have suffered a greater shrinkage of their fixed incomes during the past awenty years than would have paid the principal of our entire war debt. The anly bondholders that have made large profits are those who have bought their onds at a discount. There is one class of fixed income people who would suffer by the unlimited coinage of 73-cent dollars, and that is the veterans of the late war and their widows and orphans on the national pension voll. It is to theiv interest to have a sound cur- rency that will enable them to buy the largest amount of things with the money they eet from Uncle Sam. Conceding that free coinage means tho raising of the pr of commadities, it becomes sel evident that the soldiers and soldier: widows on the pension roll would suffer a shrinkage of their incomes, unless they could induce the government to raise their pensions in proportion, which of course would be improbable, Assuming, however, that the government might incrense these pensions, it would simply mean u forced increase of the pension roll by from ten totwenty millionsa year und a corresponding ineroasn of taxes The advocates of unlimited coinage nevi tire of holding up the men and women who rely for their livelihood upon fixed incomes as o dangerous class, They forget that hundreds of thousands of those persons ave widows and orphans | whose putrimony and herituge has been invested in securities by administrators and guardians, And who are the debtor class and who will profit by the proposed unlimited coinage of silver? The Union and Cen- tral Pacific railroads owe the govern- ment over $100,000,000, which bogins to fall due in 18093 and must all be puid within the next seven years unless the debt is oxtended. Will it promote the | welfare of our people to allow Juy Gould and Leland Stanford to pay that debt in deprecinted silver dollars instead of money that passes current in all parts of the worla? ‘I'ne Union and Central Pacific are not the only corporations that belong to the debtor class. he lowest estimate of the debt of the railroads of the United States exceeds $6,000,000,000, W hat benefit will the people derive from scalin *1 that colossal debt, unless in- deed thoy buy up the railroads entirely | with an irvedeemable paper cur- | ney? Every large corporation, the Standard oil” monopoly, the Whisky trust, the Brewery trust, the Sugar trust, the Steel Beam trust and ali the | big and little trusts that have been built | p by combination of capital have plas- teved their 'poumuiuns with mortgages to the tune of millions upon millions, and therefore they rightfully belong to the debtor class, And then there ave the coal barons, the iron and copper mine specula- tors, aud the silver bullionaires and | gold quartz millionaires. Every produ tive mine in America is bonded for all or more thaniv can produce. Tho owners are among the most grasping of our capi- | taltsts. Will it promote the public welfare | to give this imperious class of debtors the right to scale their honest obligations? Last, but not least, why should the silver mine bullionaire ve given the privilege of selling the product of his mines at 30 per cent above its commercial value and | paying his debt in money worth 30 per cent less than its face value? | My, Burrows’ gouception about the ! | 000,000 more. function of mints is, to use a mild term, decidedly crude. The oim of all gov- | ernments hus been to issue coins of woight and fineness corresponding as | near as possible in their value to the commercial value of the metal contained | therein, Very slight fluctuations have been unavoidable, but whenever the variation of standard coins is material, they are recoined. Subsidary coin is usually below standard and intended only for local circulation in limited quantities, Kvon these are recoined periodically when reduced below stand- ard weight by wear and tear. At the risk of being branded as very reckless and superficial, I take issuc with Mr. Burrows when he declares that a coin cannot be said to be debased unless it contains less metal than the law requires, The doctrine that the king can do no wrong has long since been exploded. It is o matter of history that kings and | parlinments have by decroes and laws arbitrarily raised the face value of coing above the commercial rating of | the metal they contained. Such coins did not contain less metal than the law required, but they were denominated all tho world over asdebased coin, the same if they haa been fraudulently alloyed or reduced in woight by the sweating process, Mr. Burcows lets the fiat cat out of the bag when he asks: “Suppose the silver and gold coins of this country shouid be diminished ju one-half, what would result? Pricesin this country, measured by our coin, would be doubled, but it would have no offect whatever upon our foreign tr Gold and silver would pay balan exactly the same basis as Dbefor: their commodity value,” Well, what woula be the Would it be anything else than natioy repudiation by n debased currency? If we can increase the volume of money by a simple fiat that will convert ever fifty-cent piece into a dollar, why not go astep further and decreo that a di shall be a legal tender for one dollar That would increase the price of all commodities tenfold and make deht- paying so much easier. But what would become of the poor man who has noth- ing to sell except his labor and has overything to buy? Wages are always the last thing to advance and the first to go down. What would become of the wage- worlkers who have, by hard labor and thrify, saved up the surplus of their scanty earnings and placed it in savings banks with a view to buying a home or meeting want and distress in a rainy day? it is passing strange that no champion of free silver has yet discovered the fact that several millions of workingmen and working women belong to the income class. The indebtedness of the savings banks and trust companies to a great multitude of wageworkers is computed at over $2,500,000,000. How would these industrious toilers fare if they were paid back in depreciated mono; the hard-earned savings which reprs sent labor paid for at gold standard wages? Would it not be downright rob- bery to pay back these working people in dollars that would buy only 50 cents worth of commodities? 2 T boldly assert that any party or indi- vidual that would advocate alaw that would give the savings banks the pri loge of paying back honest savings in depreciated currency simply advocates legal robbery. Mr. Burrows denies that the govern- ment stamp does not_add to value and be cites the facl that 3714 grains of pure silver when stamped (coined) as 31 will pa; dollar of debt while 8714 grains of unstamped pure silver will only be taken by your ereditor at its commodity prico 73 cents. What is the differenco exclaims Mr. Burrows. *‘One bears the evidence that the law has said it shall pass current for a dolla The other does not. Col soquently coining has added value, Now what is the difference? Would not a piece of tiu or a piece of leather with a dollarstamp paya debt for 31 if madea logal tender? Would not a paper dollar perform the same function, although 100 paper dollars reduced to pulp would not pass current for a favthing? Why then does the cent silver dol- larand the vulueless paper dollar pay one dollar of debt? simply because these dollars ure redeemable for 100 cents in wold at the national treasury, and there- fore they are as valuable ‘as the gold dollar for which they can be ex- changed. Why is our government able to exchange the depreciated siiver dol- lars at their full value 1 gold? Simply and only because the coinage of silver is resuli? al limited. If it were free to all owners of bullion” the treasury vaults would be drained of gold in" less than twelve months and the country would be on a silver basis like Mexico, China, Jupan and India. Mr. St. John, president of a New York bank toat is reputed to be largely in terested with the bullionaires in hooming mining stocks, points triumphantly to I'rance, is cited by Mr. B, as saying: After 27 years of widely varying average relative prices of goid and silver, under mod orate variations of relutive production barely avoraging 4 per cent, the mints of France alone for a period of sixty-two years, to 1565, under variations of relative production ex ceediug 19 per cent, maintained a practically unvarying average relative price in markot for gold and silvar 1 spite of divergent coin Yy e e A e e e e Under equally free coinago for zold and sil- vor, owners of either bullion sought the wints of Francoat a value fixed for them, price paid for them in_purchasing power do creed by law. In consequence in the period 1521 to 1840, $442,000,000 of the world’s abuu dant silor was welcomed into tho legal tan- der silver coin of France, What are the historic fact In 1726 the vatio of gold w silver was placed at 11148, An ounce of gcld was worth more than 148 ounces of silv and consequoently gold soon disappeared from circulation, Adam Smith, having visited Feance in 1764, said? It is there difficult to get move gold than what is neeessary to carry in your pocket.” In 1785, Louis XV, in an edict, calls attention to the fact that the legal ratio of gold to silver differing from the com- mercial ratio, had as to tae gold coins “orignated the specuiation of selling | them to the foreigner, and offers the temptation of a great profit to those who may allow themselves to melt them down.” He then ordains that “every gold mark of 24 carats fine shall be wurli\ 154 marks of silver 12 deniers tine.” This established the French ratioof 154:1 still existing. In 1790 the revolutionists had control of Franee. They had confiscated the lands of the clergy the year before. They wanted money. S0 they concoived the “ingenious idea of using pa mouney, which they calied ussignat basing their value on these confiscated lands. In April they issued 400,000,060 franes in assignat In September 800,- This they declured would be ‘the lust. The assignats worked heautifally. Everybody received and exchanged them at full value. Then some one said, just as the greouback inflationists said in the | for six year: | cut up the confiscated lands THE OMAHA DAILY BEE: saventies and just as silver men say now. [ dollars from 1792 to 1874 f this franc is as good as any other | According to the franc, how can we have too many of | thority of Director FSech of the United them? The law makes the valus of | States mint and sevéiifl of his prodeces- money.” So the presses were set to | sors the coinage of fl’l\'r‘r dollars for the work, and within a fow years they had | eighty years was oAl§ a fraction over issued over forty-five billions of those | 8,000,000, or in rourtd Wumbers $139,000,« paper francs. The government scemed | 000 helow Mr. B.'s cyglonte computation. surprised that any one should make a [ am not up to My, Burrows in hocus difference between a coin franc and a | pocus omnibus Latin, but in plain Anglo- paper franc—and a law was passed that | Saxon | repeat back—false in one, false any one making such a difference | in ali! in" teade should be imwrisoned [ The whole fabric of false dedu They could jail | on which Mr. Burrows bases hi ouldn’t jnil nat- | ments relating to silver coinage, ural laws. No cne would exchange one | prove not to be facts; falls to thoe g coin franc for less than near )0 paper | with his facts, 4 francs, Then in 1796 these political econ- | T am amazed that a man of Mr. Bur- omists tried another experiment. They | rows’ penetration should be led into into exact | such inexcusable blunders. The figures parcels, exchanged the ignats at | T have cited have been time and again about 8 per cent of their face value for | quoted in both houses of congress and what they called mandats, and pro- | nofree coinage advoeate has ever before claimed that the holder of mandats | dared to call their accuracy in question. could select any parcel of this land and Inwsmuch us this is a friendly disc pay in mandats. Within a few months | sion of an important economic issue I the mandats were worthone-seventieth of | entertain no doubt but that Mr. Bur- their face value. and they were soon | rows will do me justics by a manly and wiped out altogether. frank admission” that my historical In 1803 the ratio of 15}:1° was re- | statement concerning the coinage of enacted. Mr. Chevalier, the eminent | standard silver dollars is correct. French economic authority, writes: In the yeur 1503, when the ratlo of 1:1515 ba M tween the metals was established, this ratio actuully existed in the commercial world; but | _The question of the volume of money little by little it changed, and soon gold came | (s6e Mr. R.'s first paragraph) is the vital to be worti ordinarily o litle more than 15'; | question nt issue. But not “‘regardless of its exchange value or purchasing timos as much as silver. This discrepancy suficed to rotire gold from circulation. A | power.” Its volume determines. its ex- few years after tho passage of the law of | change value. If this were not so Shy- 1503, gold bocamo so scarce that people had | |0k \would never have conspired to de- to buy it of the money changers when they VBSAIGSFEANY. thapeby ‘HElve. it wanted to carry that kind of cask on their [ MOnotize silver, and thereby halve its journeys. In fact, the circulation of the two [ Volume and doubleits purchasing power. metalsside by side had ceased to exist shortly | My supposition as to making our dollars of half their present weight was a mere illustration. Mr. R. has chosen to reply after tho year 1803, and twenty-five yoars after that date the circulation consisted of toitasan argument. As 1 used the illustration it is correct. silver only. Siv Gl B, Al In paragraph second Mr, R. attacks the interost problem, and shows an_ en- of England, w In the year 182 [ spent some time in tire misunderstanding of the principles which control 1t. He says ‘“a large was 2147,500,807, ions, individuals but they round rrow’s Reply. the royal astronomer France. The gold coin was a little too rich, and uo gold coin could be got. The better class of farmors went to market followed bY | voluwme of money always bogots incrensed franc pieces, 'Tn 1830 1 again passed through | Speculation.” This is one of tho Frunce: T wished for gold, and obtanod ity | common nssertions that will not bear payiug a hoavy prime. investigation. A large volume of money In 1848 came the increased production | increases all legitimate business enter of gold in Russia, in 1849 in California, | Prises. There is always a cortain pro- in 1851 in Austealin, Silver soon rose | bortionof men who prefer speculation to a value higher than 154:1 and, conse- | [n prosperous times this proportion is quently, silver rushed out of Franco at | fairly maintained. Butin times of de- such a'vate that a commission even re- | pression, like the present, the propor- ported the advisability of placing an | tion of speculators is much greater than port duty on silver. in times of prosperity. In stringent Jarly in'the '60s Gresham’s law had [ times legitimate business languishes, pushed out from France even the frac- | money accumulates at financial conters, ent | and secks speculative enterprises where tional _silvor coins to such an e 3 > that it became a areat public incon- | rewards may be large and time of in- venience, Investigalion showed that | vestment short. In such times, also, interest on long-time loans is nominally low, while on short-time ioans it is ab- normally high. That is exactly the sit- uation at the present time ana for some time past. The past ten years has been peculiarly a speculative decade. I sup- pose there has never before been n de- cade when there wis 80 much specula- tion in proportion to legitimate trade. Nor has there ever been a decade when the burden of intergst was so great. In- terost, as well as all debts, is paid in products. The price of products deter- mines the burden of interest. With wheat ~ % 50 cents a bushel it takes just twice . much to paya given sum of in- Belgium and Switzerland were simi- larly troubled. The result was the or- ganization of the Latin Monetary union in 1865, comprising France, Belgium, Switzerland aud Italy. Later. Greec became a mem- ber aiso. All these countries use the franc system of money. They agreed on a basis of silver coinage, reducing the metallic value of the subsidiary coins. After 1859, silver had again taken the downward course which has character- ized its value through the centuries. In 1867, at the international monetary con- ference held at Paris under the presi- dency of Prince Napoleon, it was de- cided, without a disseating vote, | terest asitdoes av$1a bushel, though that gold should be the sole [ the nominal rate of of interest in ench money standard. The spirit | case is the same. Asa matter of fact of silver demonetization was | the 10 and 12 per cent interest in Mr. R.’s first period was lower and loss of a burden than the 6 and 7 per cent at the present time. One has only to consult the prices current: in the two terms to be convinced of this fact. T'he men who sts legislatively in the United States, | were borrowers then and are now will it is virtually abolished in practice, and | know this to be true, F hence the United States hus the gold Mr. R. says the fixed income class, standard alone.” In 1871, after the | “'if this means the bondholders, were Pranco-German war, Germany decided | much better off when gold was at'a high abroad. Silver had been out of civcula- tion so long in the United States that Mr. Ruggles, the American delegate, in reply toa question of Prince Napoleon, suid: “Though the double standard stili to place itself on the gold stand- | premium and paper money was super ard, and to demonetize silver. | abundant.” If that is true they did not Between 1873 and 1879 Gonmany | know when thay were well off, and made sold $140,000,000 of her silver. The | some gross mistakes. The bondholders astoned by the ecredit strengthening to change the terms of payment of $1,500,000,000 of United States bonds from lawful money to coin—they neighboring countries which up to that time, had always maintained the iree and unlimited coinageof goldand silver, became alarmed at the threatened influx ot silver and expulsion of gold. So | hastened to destroy the lawful money in 1874 the Latin union met, and | and come toa specie basis—they hastencd from that year on there has been | for the very purpose of diminishing the volume of money, to Gemonetize sil- ver at a time when the bonded debt of the world was the greatest at any period of its history. They showed Lhat they preferred to doubie the purchasing power of money and diminish the nominal rate of interest one-half. And if Mr. R. will no frec and unlimitee coinage of silver in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy. They limited the coinage of sil- ver. And in 1878 they stopped the coin- age of legal tender silver in toto, so that for thirteen years our much applauded bimettalic France has not coined asingle legal teuder silver coin, recall his forgotten Dabold he will dis- Mr. Burrows takes mo to task for quot- | cover that they were very right. In ing historicai stutements in what he is | doubling the purchasing power of money pleased to call “the most appalling and | they doubled the value of their princi- reckloss munner.” He ventures o im- | pal, while if the rate of interest was only peach the correctness of the figures I [ hall what it was before its purchasing huve cited touching the coinage of stand- | Power was not lessened. If this is true R T el S e T ssertion that “the bondholders nis fourful misstatements in régard to suffered a greater shrinkage of silver coinage by supposing that he has ncomes during the past twenty never. studled coinage’ statiatics’ and s than would have paid the national made his computations from the wrong t7 s simply ‘absurd. —And facts columns of his financial abstract. prove thut it is”as absurd practically My figures were taken from the official | #8 it is in theory. The enormous con- centration of wealth in the past twenty years is well known. Who has got it? All the figures lately compiled show that the fixed-incomo class has got it. They have got it be- cause the people’s debts remained pa able in dollars, unscaled, while the pur- chasing power of dollars and the accu- mulative power of interest were doubled. The fucts are so plan that I deem argu- ment superflous. But when Mr. R. attompts to defino the debtor class he caps the climax of absurdity, and shows a beclouded mental Mr. Burrows asserts that during 1851 | condition that is amuzing. (See para- there were coined: silver dollars, #774,- | graphs 8 and 4.) He has strangely 807; minor silver coins, $00, In | omitted the national bankers from his ilver dollars, $99,410; minor coins, | list of poor debtors, ~ The creditor or 30,94, fixed-income class is that cluss which derives its income from rents and inter- report of Edward O. Leech, director of the United States mint for 1890, bound volume, pages 261 and 263, also the port of Director Leech for the fis year 1891, bound volume, pages 213 and bj Aceording to Mr. Burrows, the total coinage of silver dollars in 1850 was $1,- 866,100 and of minor coins $44,467.50. According to Mr, Leech, the coinaga of 1850 consisted of silver dollars, $17,500; half dollars, $ 1.500; quarter dollars, dimes, $244,150; half dimes, 850, The dirvector of the mint officially re- ports in 1851 ouly 1,300 silver dollars | est in their different forms, in mone; coined; coinage in hatf dollavs, #3014 That this class may owe bonds mak quarters, $62,000; in dime: no difference, In the case of the rail- half dimes, $82,050; in 3-cent piec roads thoso bonds are never intended to #185,022. In 1852 tho coinago of silver | bo vaid. This intdrest is an expense dollars was but $1,100; half dollavs, [ 8ccount, of the siyiie nature us opel #110,563; quarters, 68,205 dimes, | Aing or repaiv accounts. These co porations have ‘‘boplastered their pos- sessions with mortigzes™ s0 that they can more convenjontly and secretly bring to bear aguinsi the veople th ever-working, all-absorbing, silent B0 pi 50; half dimes, 3, $550,005, Mr. Burrows exclaims, ‘“Isn’t it strange that in stating the gold coinage for the samo year Mr. Rosewater should | eV bo correct?” " Why is it strange as rve | bipotent power of literest. They have gards gold when L'am also corvect on the | plastered them with mortgages repre- silver coinago? senting fictitious investments to conceal Mr. Burrows flatly contradicts my the enormous retuptts thoy receive on statement that from 1505 to 1835, during | capital actually invésted. “If the debt of a period of thirty yeurs, not a single | the Pas road is ever puid it will be standard silver dollar, or uny other sil- | paid in money earpiéd by the people B63,025; ver dollar, vas coined in tho United | And is it not better that they should ob- States, aud Mr., Burrows makes the | tain that money in fair prices for their reckiess ussertion that during that | products, such’ as'they would receive period there were coined $41,372,067 in than silver dollars, besides several millions in minor silver coins, which he had not taken the trouble to compute, This is decidedly rich. [ take it that the director of the mint ought to know under the double gtihdard, rathes in proauction at n{#‘yminn prices, as at prosent? The cheekiest thing connected with this silver controversy is found in the accusation that the free coinage men as much about the coinage us Me, Bue- | wish to scale their obligations and pay rows, and the director’s oflicial report | their dent in depreciated dollars. ory shows that nov a single silvor | mun us all posted an the question Knows that the money power of this country and the world performed on 0 occasions the most gigintic job of scaling the world has ever seen—first when it changed the standard of pay- ment of fifteen bundred millions of bonds. dollar was coined between the years 1805 and 1836, but that thero were coined in half doflars $38,452,398; in quarters, $720,337.75; in dimes, $922,469.4 5, in hulf 1,383, says that i 1836 3,606,100 stand- ard silver dollars were coined. second when it*demonetized silvor. It Director Leech reports only 1,000 | doubled the yalue of e dollar and standard silver doilurs coined in 1836, doubled the ‘burden of every debt by those acts, We never had a depreciated ures vouched for by Mr. Burrows as ex- | silver dollar uatil congress, at the bid- act facts would exceed iy ullotted | ding of that power. aemonetized silver, space. Suffice 1t to say that he has | We would have a depreciated gold massed all his little torundoes into one | dollar wday if the sume neans were grand cyclone of inexactness when he | used to dapreciate it, and we will assorts that the total coinage of silver | bave no more depreciated silver dolisre To vecapitulate all the lictitious fig WEDN ESDAY, FEBRUARY uhimpenchablo au- | 1892, 1 | a8 soon as silver is restored to freo and unlimited coinago, | To connection with his sympathy with the railronds, whisky trusts, ete., | who Mr. Rosewater foars will be compelled to pay their debts in cheap money, he associates the poor working | peopie who are depositors in savings | banks. ~ While the savings account of | those banks aggrogate a large sum, by | the usual method of swelling deposit accounts, the amount of actual savings Nor oextont de- s0 deposited is many times less. is this money to any g pended upon for revenue. Only that part of it which is deposited on tima draws any interestat atl. As for the welfare of the working people, all men know that in times of so-called ch money, that is in times of aetive busi- L ness and prosperity, these people are all employed al good wages; while in times of dear money, like the pre many are idle or on snort tir thero is much suffering and advorsity. This isa well known fact. They crockodile tears that deplore the ¢ trophe of paying depositors in any money that is legal tendar, Mr. Rosewater asserts (paragraph 17) that the reason “‘the 73-cent silver dol- lar and the valueless paper dollar pass current is because they are redeemable for 100 cents in gold," etc. As a matter of fact the silver dollar and the silver cortificntes are legal tender for all debts public and private, “except whero otherwiso stipulated in the contract In the absence of a special contract sil- ver will liquidate any obligation, the same us gold. Place it on the same basis as gold and it will perform exactly o functions, as it did from 1792 The reiteration of the idea gn countries would mako this a dumping ground for silver, and so bring us a silver basis by taking our gold, is buseless. There not the slightest danger of any flood of silver, Our own production is not sufficient for our in- creasad foney requirement, and there is no country in the world that has silver to' spare us. India’s import of silver from 1846 to 1873 was $832,5800,000, or about six times our total production for the same period. India’s import for 1889 was $53,620,000, while our production for that year was only $64,646,000. There is no possibility of our getting more silver than we need for monetary purposes; and if we would | treat silver as real money, as four-fifths of the civilized world does today, there would be no such thing as cheap silver, Instead of refuting or answering the historical statement T quoted from Mr. St. John as to the achievement of France in maintaining a parity of gold and sil- ver, Mr. Rosewater shoots off on a tan- gent about French assignats, The assignats were simply promises to pay money which had no existence, promises issued in unlimited quantity to pay coin monny which was to bo derived from the revenues of confis- cated estates, the titles of which were in dispute, and which were producing no revenue. Theassignats were atl “in the ai and to ring the changes on their histery as an argument in favor of a singlo gold standard shows a deplor- able lack of good material. But I wish to say right here that this discussion has nothing whatever to de with paper money in any of its forms. It relates wholly to the expediency of restoring silver to a parity with gold in the United States, and the history of the French assignats has no bearing upon it what- ever. I therefore decline to burden the discussion with it. I admit that the ratio of commercial value of the precious metals may change, either from relative scarcity of either of the metals or from unjust legislation. T admit also that if either metal is undervalued in relation to the other in coinage it tends to d appear from circulation, These are good and sufficient reasons for a scien- tific adjustment of ratio, which has fr quently taken place in the world’s his- tory d a careful adjustment of rela- tive values in coinage. But they are not valid reasons for throwing one metal out of use as mon trating the world of the money Mr. serts that Ger- many demonetized silver in 1871 (See par. 27.) I repeat that Germany did not demonetize silver until July 9, 1873, nearly six months after the United States hud done so. Let the United States re- mounetiza silver and Germany would be the first country to follow her example, Mr. Rosewatér has appealed several times to the Gresham law, and at the sume time denounced the silver dollar as a 73-cent dollar, and the paper dollar as worthless. The Greshamlaw is little understood. Mr. R, broadly states it as a principle that bad money drives out good. I that is true we have no bad money in this country, and Mr, R’s, cent dollar” vanishes into thin air. In daily experience the United States now cireulat equally full legal tender money the coin and puper issned under the ‘acts of 1878 and 1890, silver $460,000,000, and, according to mint esti. mates, about $700,000,000 of gold. Be: sides these are $346,000,000 greenbacks nd 000,600 bank notes; these both redeemable at treasury option, or banlk option, in either gold or silver coin. In silver, gold or paper ench und every one of all these $1,630,000,000is a single- standard dollar of 100 cents or 1,000 mills, civeulating side by side at par all with each, 1 will thauk Mr. Rosewater to indicate where the Gresham lawsor the driving out process comes in. A radical difference in the under- standing of certain oflicial reports has arisen hetweoen Mr. Rosewater and my- self. 1 will say that the reports on their face are absolutely contradictory. M R. claims that the report of the sec tary of the treasury is a mistake aris- ing from its facts not being sufficiently subdivided. Ihave before me the officiul statistical abstract of the Treasury d partment for the years ‘87, 88 and 90, Tha facts as to silver coinage in all theso volumes are exactly as [ stated last week. Mr. Losewnier produces a single report of the divector, that for 1801, and I am frank to say that that report apparently confirms his position. He claims that the amount coined: was correct in its sum total, but that it was not in dollurs, but in minor coins, most- ly halfs. Now up to 1857, [ think, the coin weight of the halfs exactly cos reaponded with that of the dollurs— that is two halfs wers exactly equal to one dollar. This being the case the secretary’s report and my guotation of it is practically correct. Whether in dollurs or halfs, it is undeniable that siiver went into our circulation to the amount stated in my lasy icle in avery year numed, every dollur of which was ‘4 lawful tender for all payments whatsoever.” Mr. Rosewater was easily misled by the director’s officiai report, and T am willing frankly to exonerate him from any attempt Lo wisrepresent in the matter. His fault lies in not knowing the important fact thav I have staied s to the weight of the halfs, and in trusting too implicitly a subordi- nate officer who was probably & creature of Wall street. But this is a matter of nc importance. And [ regret to say that this discussion hus involved mostly side 1ssues, and had little todo with the real question. I propose briefly to refer to sowe of the real points of the controversy. First. Silver is today pra money of the world. The population of the silver standard ecountries is, in vound numbers, 770,000,000, of the | double standard countries 137,000,000, | of the gold standard countries 93,000,000, Even those countries which demonetized tically the ilvor retain in use the coinage thoy had, and maintain a minor coinage of that metal. Europe has $1,100,000,000 in silver coin, of which France owns 700,000,000, Nor could these countries spare this silver. They are already de- ficient, and desire more, ond. The combined annual pro- duction of both silver and gold is in- sufficient for the annual incroased de- mand of tho world for money. The actual money in the United Statos, and the bank credits based on doposits, show the amount actually needed to transact the business of the country. This amount is $4, 000,000, In the United Kingdom it 18$3,500,000,000. In France it is $2,550,000,000. This is credit money panic money, out of the use for which the bankers are laying by millions. 1t ismoney that shrinks with every ad- verse wind —that disappears vith ‘every financial shock. [t is the money of u system that brings periodical panics and bankruptey to thousands every vear. Bui it is indispensablo today to the busi- ness of the nations. Withdraw it and widespread disuster is inevitable. Tt is built in the United States on the small basis of $700,000,000 of gold, and the supply of gold is diminishing and population and business increasiog, There have been no more gold and silver produced since 1850 than wore required for monotary pur- poses, From 1840 to 1850 the annual supply of both metals did not exceed 240,000,000, When California gold was discovered there was a sudden increase, and then Australin increased the output to about $190,000,000. The disaster then predicted, and which mduced Germany to demonetize gold, never eamo. In fac,t the added supply was a blessing in- stend of a calamity. From that time the combined product has graduaily in- creased, until the annual supply is about $250,000,000. But the incroase has not hoon as great as the inerease of population, consequently not suffici- ent for the increased demand for mone, und the rejection of silver hus prac cally cut off the supply of the precious mel for money, nd inaugurated a money famine which has filled the world with woe. And this has been done to the avarice of speculators and greed of henrtioss Shylocks. Third. The demonetization of silver has caused incalculuble (o0ss to the peo- ple of this country. i give the following table showing tho immonse inerease of the public debt of the United States in commodities from the year 1867 to 1886, notwithstanding tne great nominul or face valuw decrease: Publicdebt. Iron, bar. tons.. ... otton, upland, 1hs anses, N. 0., kals.. .. The corn crop of 1889 oxc of 1888 by over 125,000,000 bushels, and sold for $79,500,000 less money. The wheat crop of ‘89 was greater than that of ’88 by 74,600,000 bushels and sold for $42,700,000 less money. The oats crop was greater in '89 than in 88 by 49,700,- 000 bushels, and sold for $23,600,000 iess money. The loss to the farmers of the United States for the eighteen years since sii- ver was demonetized, caused by that in- famous national crime. has not been less than $1,000,000,000 per year, or $15- 000,000,000 And as * a logical consequence the farmers of this nation are $18,000,000,000 in debt. Their industrial proportion of the nation’s debt is undoubtediy that much. There has been since 1873 a wide- sp eud depression in prices and a world- wide shrinkage 1n industr Find me the cause, Mr. R., if vou can. Is it overproduction, speculation, action and reaction, intemperance, licentiousness, extravagance, te of ware? No, it is of these. It is the direct result of sense that attacked us in 1873, in the ill-advised attempt to discard the use of silver as a full legal tender money. We are an exporting nation, yet wo adopted o financial policy direcily cal- culated to depress the value of our ex- ports. N AR nation, and yet wo adopted? a financial policy designed to compel Us to sell the maximum amount of products to pay the minimum amount of debt. We are a silver-producing nation, and yet we adopt a financial policy intended to depress the vrice of silver in the markets of the world. As a nation we have deliberately adopted a policy that would have causeil business man to be put into a alt jacket or under a gunrdian. Our greatest competitor in the mar- kets of the world, as well as the best customer for our products, is England —n creditor nation. We deliberately adopt ed a financial policy that would make our trade and our exports of the great- est value to our competitor and of the least value to ourselves, For twenty have values bheen shrinking, failures multiplying, suicidos and insanity increasing. [for nearly twenty years have the lines between classes become more sharply drawn—for nearly twenty years has the base, idiotic aristocracy of weulth been erecting its brazen images —for nearly twenty years has been go- ing on increasing “poverty amid un- paralleled production, and a coneen- tration of wealth through the agency of interest and increased purchusing power of money, grenter than wus over hefore known in the anzient or modern world. If there is any causo powerful enough to produce these dive resulls other than the one I have named, I ap- peal to Mr. Rosewater to show it Fourth. Monoy, under our present so- cial system, is the basis of civilization, It lays the steel muscles and stretehes the wire nerves of commerce over all the countr! of the world. It tunnels mountains, epans rivers, and dvives ocean greyhounds into every known 2. Its possession means heulth, plenty, luxury, leisure, culture—all, in short, that go to wmake life endurable and happy. Want of it means penury, suffering, ignorance, despair. For thousands of years silver and gold have been jointly money over all the world, and ‘since the prohistoric ages there has never been a day when there Hard to swal- low — the groat, riping old- fush: fonod "pill; and that's not the hardest part of @) )it, either. Your troubles are only % boginning when Y 2] vy, A\ e . " 1t"s all non- il wense. You cai got more good, and without hav- fog to sufferfor it, with Dr. Plerco's Pleasant Pellets, Not merely temporary good, but belp that lasts. In a perfectly easy and nat- ural way they cleanso and regulatc tho whola e and” keep it rogulated, Bick and lious' Headacho, Constipation, Indigestion, Bilious Attacks, and all J erangements of the liver, stomach and bowels are promptly re- lieved and permanently cured ‘They're the original Liver Pills, the small- cst, easicst und best to take—and thoy're the cheapest, for they'ro guaranteed . o give satisfaction, or your money is returned. You pay only for the good you get. This is true only of Dr. Pierce's medicines. A porfect vest-pooket remedy, in small vials, aud ouly one uccessary for o dose. ! 5 i —————————— s a sufficiont amount of metal monoy. he rise and decline of civilization from the dawn of history has been equal with the rise and decline of the supply of metallic money. In the palmy Augustan days Rome possessed 2,000, 000,000 of gold and silver coin, bosides her stores of plate which could be trans- muted into coin, But as mines w ox- hausted und metatlic monoy graduall disappeared, until the stock wns reduce 10 less than 200,000,000, the pall of the dark nges sprond its gloom over the world. Civilization suffered an eclipse, and its revival waited for the discovery of nd silyer in Mexico and South ndal hand that has stricken down one of these metals has been ani- mated alone by the spirit of greed. The men who have aimed the blow have been ignorant of the lessons of history and caroloss of 1ts results to mankind, T appeal to every patriotic Amoerican citizen to aid in averting these resulta and in establishing an American systom of finance that shall be, in the words of Hon. Willism M. Stewart, “independent of London speculators in Asiatic products or European investors in American se- curitles ™ MILK CRUST 0N BABY Kept spreading until his facs was a raw + He seratehed until blood ran. ians said no cure while teathe He was cured promptly by Catic Something over two yoars ago, our bog, then loss than ¢ arold. was troublod with an eruption on hix head, prononnced by our best physicians to bo m case of “milk crust or nfantile o They nlso sald that 1t would be | At until after ho hat o This malndy Keptaprondtag until ce way & raw soro, and o would draw his flagor ualls down ks, romoving tha senbs, and the blood running down on his ehin mado him prosent khastly sight. We commencod nsing the CUTICERA REMEDIES, and In two woeks wo notleed 8 wond: ful tmpro the his face was troshand falr, otly woll aver alnoa Wo unhostitingly give all eredit to COTICU I, C B WILLIAMS, Fort Dadge, lowa Scaly Humor 17 years 1 wasaftilcted for sovi and blotehy L would scras Best physi fng. to kiv wment us woll os 20 with one set of CUTL 3 ut two and u half woeks. That hns boon neiely Lwo years since, and 0o symptoms of roturn JACOR STORCKLE, 10 Palm Streot, St. Louls, Mo, Cuticura Resolvent the new Blood and Puri ntoranily, w1 Crricr Cure, and’ CUTICURA SA®, infaney o serofuln old evor where Price, OUTICURA. 500t ROAR, RESC 1. Prepared by the Porrer DiUG & CHEMICAL CORPORATION, Boston. §# 1ow to CureSkin Discasos,” 0F pages 50 itlustrations, and 10) tostimonials, mailed free. chapped URA SoAw. PIMULES, biack nheuds, rod, and oily skin cured by C 2 HOW MY BACK ACHES! Pains, and Woaknoss 8. 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