Evils Of Free Silver

The following letter, which eloquently shows the evils of f ree BÍlver, bas been received froui Luther F. MvKininy, United States minister to Bogotá : As the money quostion acema to be the important question ia the present poUücal contest iu the United States, I thought it might be of interest to kuow what effect siiver legislation has liad opon the people of Colom uty years ago, in 1STG. gold and j silver were coined in the niints of lombia, both being a legal tender for all debts, and at that tiuie, owing to the of the white metal, silver was at a premium over gold of about 3 per cent. About 18S0 gold was at a premium. because the imports exceeded the exports. and as the balance had to be pa il in gold it required a small premin: get the gold for the parpóse, i the governnient continued to coin gold and silver. and at that time gold was at a premium over silver of about 20 j per cent. In 1SS5 Congress psssed a law tliat : made paper mouey a legal tender for all ; debts, the paper to be payable in "gold i or silver at the option of this government," this being au attempt to make silver at a par with gold. Gold 190 Per Ceut. Premi nm. This was an impossibiliiy, for at once the sold all went out of the country and the government was on a silver basis, in spite of its efforts by legislatiou to keep gold and silver at a parity. From that time to this there has been no gold in circulation in Colombia. The effect of this was to raise the premium on gold from 20 per cent. in 18S5 to 190 per cent. in 1895. At the present time exchange on New York is 140, the price of exchange depending wholly upon the nuuiber of drafts upon the market and the demand ! for theni. As the coffee erop is being j shipped at this time aad the merohants Í for certain reasons are not importing largely, the price of exehanjre is low. In the department of Panama paper j fnoney is not used. silver being the only i medium of circulation, the result being that silver in the other departments has ■ entirely gone out of circulation, and paper is the only money used. If one goes to market in Bogotá and offers silver for his dinner it is refused. As eschange is lower in Panama than in other parts of the country speculators l buy all the silver they can find at a ; premium of from 5 to 10 per cent. and send it to Panama and make a profit. Now, to show the effect of this upon the people of Colombia I will give facts that are weü authenticated. Prices Soar Upward. In 1S85, when gold was at a premium of 20 per cent., wages of workingmen on the plains of Begota were 40 cents a day, and ,in the hot country 60 cents a dav. At the present time wares are 60 cents and 90 cents respectively, an advance of 50 per cent. All provisions have increased in cost about 200 per cent. Meats at that time were telling for from 12 to 15 cents per pound. At the present time they sell for 40 snd 50 cents. House rents have increased from 100 to 200 per cent. Small tenements. such as poor people occupy, could be had in 1S85 for $3 a month; now the same tenements bring 58. In 1SS4 and 1S85 the Protestant minister of Bogotá oceupied a house for which he paid $50 a month; at the present time the same house brings 5200 a month. Mean Quality of Goods. In 1SS5 table board could be had at the best hotels for $1 a day; now it is $2 a day. and the proprietors all say there is much less money in the business then when Ihey reeeived $1. Wearing apparel has not increased in price in proportion to provisions, but this is because the people are too poor to buy the goods they were in the habit of wearing before and the merchants have placed upon the market the poorest quality of goods made in Europe for the market. The reason that merchants give for not buying more goods in the United States is that the goods are too good and the people cannot afford to buy them. It seems to me that if the workingmen of the Cnited States will study this object lesson they will readily see that what they want is an honest dollar that will buy as much in the markets abroad as the dollar of any other nation. Two Dollars for One. If silver is coined in the United States at the ratio of 16 to 1. while the gold in a gold dollar is worth 100 cents in any country in the world, and the silver in a silver dollar is only worth 50 cents, is it not plain that the experienee of Colombia, and, in fact, all South American countries where it has been tried, will be the experience of the United States? The gold will all leave the country, and it will require two dollars of silver to buy one dollar's worth of gold in the markets of the world, where gold is the Standard. The next question is. will the wages of labor be increased in proportion to the increase of the cost of living? The Drice of labor will always be governed by the law of supply and demand, while the cost of living will be governed by the value of the dollar that the laborer receives for his toil. Free Silver Mean Poverty. Silver lesislation in every country where an effort has been made to make a silver dollar equal to a gold dollar has resulted in poverty to the man who labors, and the attempt in the United States can but give the same results. Three years in this country has giTen me practical knowledge of the effect of a silver and paper curreney, and I send you the above facts. as they are well kuown to the people here.