Gov. Boies' Views

If the recent utterances of ex-Governor Boies, of Iowa, upon the silver cuestión are of value to him ihrough the personal advertisement accruing from their pubHeatlonj they will also be of value to the country grom the fact that they demónstrate that theIowa man does not Itnow what he 's talking about aiH n will be difficult for the would-be oracle to build uu a personal following within the Democratie party until he bases his discussions upon sound and recognized fundamental princij In Governor Bries' latest he would have the country redcem ita pledi; gold or silver at the cptlon of the government but at the eurrent markei value of the chosen metal ;it the time of redemption. At first glance this seems to be a fair and rationa] proposition. But when we investígate the natural laws which govevn the commercial value of g ild and silver anl! subsequently learn that it is by skillful adaptatior of those laws to exis".ing conditions that the prusent disparity between gold and silver has beer brought about in interest of the creditor class, w e shall see that such propositions are not only absurd but inimical to a successful solutlon of the proble-m of bimetalliim All concede that the eicchange valui of the precious metáis is fixed. like the exchange value of everythintf clse. by the laws of supply and ilnvind, But the great demand for the pre-, cious metáis is now, snd has been since the dawn óf civilizatlon, a de-raand for use as money. Over fourflfths of the world's stock of both geld: and silver is devoted to monetary uses.. primary or subsidiary. It follows then thnt the exahange value of the precious metáis is fixed by the demand for them for use as inoney. The quantity used ior ornament and display is an incident only, and its price is fixed by the larger demand for use as money. But this demand for use .is money is a demand created by law, created! by the "fiat" of grovernments eonfer- ring upon the chosen materia) a monopoly of the debt-paying funct'.i :.- nothing more, nothing less. It is evident that were gold deprlved of the exclusive privileges whicb it now enjoya in the monetary system of many of the greai commercial countries, its exchange value srould fall cordingly, for the large dem.ind for it would be gone. But for any commodity whieh is i by law a legal tender for the payment of debts ar n. üxed rat there is :it all times a demand limittd only by the necessities of the society i S the l'unction. It' that authority be international ;ird world-wide the demand. will be praotically unlimited. If then the chief value ftttoiebed to the precious metáis arises from the demand for them for use as money. and that is a monopoly value created by law, it follows that the ability of governments to fix absolutely by international agreement the relative values at which they will be allo.ve-J the privilege of exercising the monetary function, cannot be questioned. Il' - ver be given equal debt-paying ' with gold, at a certain fixed ratio, ratio at once becomes the commercial ratio between uncoined gold uiiJ tiïvr bullion, for it establishes the best price that may be obtained for either ir If the ratio should be fixed by Int ■ national agreement at ten to one, thcit ten grains of silver becomes :is valuable as one grain of gold f' ir the ment of debts and will coinm;ind as much of other commoditie.1-; the world : over. So much for the relation of gold? and silver to each other. But this re- lation must not be confused with the relation which both, when used as money, bear to other commodities. General prices will be determined by the available quantity of the material, or materials, which the private attizera can at will convert intn leg.xl tendel money, and will be high i.r low ucco.-.lingly as that quantity is great es smp.n. In discusslng the question i f a ratio for a basis of international bimetalli. m it is silly to eonsider other tnan the natural ratio, both of production and oL stocks in existence, which haa sub ed, with slight variations, between gold'i and silver for many centurles. And this line of reasoning need r.ot be essentially modlfled to meet the conditions involved In independent limetallism for the United Staten. Tht demand for the exportable surplus' fixes the price of all commodities. A,, nation whose com-merci.il no. .-. iUt-.are suffleient to absorb the world'a surplus silver can cstabltsh binietalllain and maintain ,. paiity betweiïn the metáis at the natural ratio. The exportable surplus of silver is conl to a fraction of the annual production which has never exeeeded 160 millions junces and over one-third of which ís the product of American mines. Fi H will dispute that, at the rate our counry is growing, we cannot safely adJ 00 millions yearly to the volume oí our currency. Should we coiii ihat. much in silver annually at the raiio of 6 to 1 we would make that ratio vor'.dwide for it would lix the best pri hat could be obtained for either metal. Those Republicans who would llke o sever the union which now subsista between Pingree and the Republlcan )arty on the ground of too great an ntimacy with Democratie doctrines, nly hesitate on the account of th arge alimony which the divorcee mar e expected to ask.