Currency Reform And Silver

To the Editor: I believe that it is generally conceded that the unparalleled depreciation in the value of all producís of human industry as well as land, the basis of all wealth, is the cause of our present business depression. The prices of 1893 averaged only 72.76 per cent of the prices of 1860; the prices of 1894, 68.73 per cent of those prices. This reduction has cut off the spendable income of the farmer, reduced the earnings of the artisan, and increased the burdens of the debtor. And it is not unreasonable, when trouble like this comes upon us at a time when all natural torces are working in harmony for general prosperity, that we should seek sonie artificial source of the evil, and, first of all, examine that current which pulsates through the veins of commerce and industry - the currency. But those reformers who demand a voluminous issue of government paper, as well as those who seek to enlarge the functions of banks of issue, lose sight of the fact that it is the unit of measurement that concerns us more than the artificial currency erected upon that unit. It is not so much the amount of variouskinds of currency in circulation as the size, and, above all, the stability of the legal unit by which all balances must be settled, that affects business conditions. Li the recognized unit is manifestly too large and yearly becommg larger, it follows that the debtor must suffer, trade become cramped and industry falter. Por ages commercial nations have by general consent used gold and silver as measures tor all other kinds of property, and the experience ol those age.i demonstrates the facl that thos.' metáis possess the two essentiai features of sound money - elasiicity and stability. Elastic, because they may be converted at wil! froin money into other useful forms, and back again into money, as the occasion demands or the exigencies of trade make profitable. Stable, because the sources trom which they are derived barely supply the current demand and render sudden inflation impossible. VVhen the commercial world is allovved the unrestricted use ol' both of these metáis as ful! legal tender money, the average prices of all other commodities must bear a direct relation to the combined stocks of gold and silver in the world's possession. To illustrate, let us suppose that we might gather at some convenient place the world's stock of both metáis, and also gather certificates representing the sum tal of all other kinds of property, lands, merchandise, chattels, etc, Then let us divide the sum of these two piles of metáis, the yellow and the white, by the sum of these certificates of other property and the quotiënt will be the prices of a bimetallic standard. Let us then remove the stock of silver from our calculations, as Great Britain removed it in iSióand our own country in 1873, an(i effect a new división of the remaining pile of gold by these same certificates of property used in our former división. Our new quotiënt is obviously a much smaller number, the prices of a single gold Standard, the prices which affect this country today - prices which will continue to contract to the detriment of the debtor and the producer so long as expanding business makes increasing demands upon our inadequate supply of gold. And this demand will continue to increase until civilization comes to a standstill and population ceases to multiply. Therefore, I seriously question whether any reform of the .currency, n'o matter how expansive may be the paper circulating medium, can afford permanent lelief if it is based upon a single gold standard. There is no question but what the rapid decline in prices during the two decades which have elapsed since the demonetization of silver by the United States is almost entirely due to that act. The transfer of the enormous national, state, county, municipal, railroad and private debt of this great country from a bimetallic to a old basis would have no other efFect than to enhance the price of that metal, or what is the same condition expressed in different language, put down the price of everything else.and as more and more old has been required for liquida;ion the price of that metal has rapdly advanced. Interest bearing securities and fixed incomes alone ïave held their ovvn through this wholesale destruction of values. The only measure that will bring a return of fair prices and prosperty or even arrest the decline in values is a return to the unrestricted coinage of silver, on equal terms vith gold, at a ratio of not less than 16 to i. This is no new ment. Froai the settlement of America until 1873 silver did equal duty with gold in the colonial and federal monetary systems. Then no one doubted the virtues of silver money and it is only since its demonetization hasadded an unearned increment to the profits of the creditor that the right of the people to its use has been questioned. A legal tender silver dollar or a silver certifícate based upon such a dollar will need no government guarantee other than a certifícate of weight and fineness evidenced, by the stamp of the mint. It needs no guarantee fund to secure its redemption, nor banking corporations to secure its circulation. The restoration of this dollar to its time honored place in our monetary system will relieve the enforced demand forgold. Tt will enable the government to go out of the credit money business and relieve the reasury of the strain of maintainng an enormous volume of credit loney. It wiil do away with the ecessity for banks of issue and )lace the control of the volume of ur money where it properly beongs, in the hands of the people. I am aware that many objections o the coinage of silver have been aised, and with your kind permisión I will discuss some of them in future communication. Respectfully,