Show THE SILVER QUESTION fia an eloquent Plea For the white metal 1 1 by R W sloan bloant SOME interesting statistics showing tha the relationship of the two tw 0 metals metal in the financial world the ratio found in nature the following is a full report of a speech delivered by R W gioan aloa n before tho the members of the utah D democratic m club on saturday evening evening 0 july as published tho the awret of august 1 in years up to 1880 there has been produced in nil all the world tons of gold and in silver tons taking it at actual weight there has been produced a trifle less than times it as much silver as gold if both metals are to be reco recognized Z nihed as money money is not the logical way to make the ratio as it is found in nature about ounces of silver to one ounce of gold the latest statistics I 1 have been able to find disclose that there was in gold money GOO and in silver i crin cr in all the world as money about one twelfth more silver than gold estimating the value at 16 of silver to one of 1 gold this makes a difference of one and one third so that on oil this basinas basis as money there should be in every dollar of silver 17 and one third oz to I 1 oz of gold from 1819 1849 california gold days and up un to 1870 the united states produced produce a more gold than silver production the of silver has has however in the last few years rapidly gained on gold in ill the united states it has also gained on oil the production of gold in all the world from 1793 to 1891 the value of gold coined it the united states was 1 l of silver considerably over fa 2 in gold for every dollar in silver despite the fact that there has been an illion increased product production of silver in lato late years ns as compare compared 1 with gold the united states has 1006 in g gold old and in silver for each inhabitant it has already V been shown chown that of money in the world there is ono more silver tha n gold yet aul norm ol 01 is suggested how comes q ly aften en that a ours 0 of a all na nations ions is f the lie only one whose financial sufferings 0 are to be charged to the coina coinage c of silver when others that feces necessarily scarily have more silver than gold do not suffer from this cause franco france has ii 2052 in got gold I 1 and practically 1800 in silver per head of population she lias has 10 per cent more gold than silver while we have 25 per cent more gold than silver we do not hear that franco france is perishing because of the silver she owns it must also be remembered in this connection that france has coined all the silver at a ratio of oz of silver to I 1 of b gold old whereas the united states has coined at and ag gozs of silver to one of gold or given more silver for gold th than an france yet we are arc in th roes of ruin while france with irith 10 more per lead head of silver is pursuing her even course if the theory theor y of anti balver men is carreca then franco france should bo be irredeemably ruined for she has more silver per head for population than any other oilier nation on earth ail and d barring arx the netherlands she has parti cally twice as much as any other nation of the earth the united states coined for tile the fiscal year ending june over in gold and about in silver or 18 in gold for each 1 of silver yet the production of gold in the united stated for 90 was but while of silver it was we imported gold for coinage and we left of the native silver to bear the market and become a drug on the world to its own distraction truc tion every man is this country who borrows money from a regular loan agency 0 signs a note payable in gold E very corporate state county or municipal bond is payable in gold the national debts of the world aggregate it his has been jeen roughly estimated that the other oilier debts banking private cor portions states territorial county city railroad etc amount to at least four times as much I 1 have no knowledge that would enable me to vouch for these last figures but certainly the debts other than national nation almust must aggregate agg rogato a vast deal more than tho the national debts every dollar of all this money is payable in gold principal and interest in all the world there is not over in gold that is in money if the indebtedness of the world were divided evenly and the gold were owned evenly it might be conceded that that tho the frightful indebtedness referred to could ho be liquidated by this in gold but of the national referred to 80 per cent or it is alleged is due clue the bank of england and the of frankfort on the maine and of Ameter amsterdam dam theme theao lenders it is asserted own 3 of the fi gold that constitutes tho the whole gold currency of the world the united states has in gold and but in silver she owns as a nation approximately f in g gold old f t abing aying nothing of state territorial county and city and private indebtedness payable in gold if tho the dank of E england aud and the could demand their money today the united states would be insolvent if tile the money lenders of the world should force upon america her gold payable and gold interest bearing so securities curi ties there is not gold enough in in all tile tho world outside of what these money lenders themselves own to tako take up tip the securities yet financiers assert that to preserve pr eserre our credit we must enter into obligations ta to make payments which cannot be ba mot met authorities declare that 95 per cent of all the business done in in this countr country is transact transacted edon on credit if we re move silver we destroy nearl nearly yi of our value measure and in order therefore to transact the same business it would be necessary to increase the credit transactions still SO 80 per cent more or for every dollar in cash transaction we TO would do business in credit or on it a promise to pay iu in a money have not and of which in i all the world there here is note not enough there will be found no one to dispute the statement that confidence decreases and failures increase in business in exact ratio with the extent or of credit we ive call it by bv that seductive appellation speculation it is over speculation or boom or inflation we are tola told that provokes provoked panics panics are followed by protracted periods of liquidation which result in industrial distress often in financial ruin the the ci circulating medium th oless credit there is and thele I 1 all olis s liability to failure t As I 1 liose 4 who hold to john B randolphe Randolp hs philboo pliers stone go 0 o are aver never ruined triem solves and what I 1 is more to the point geirk nevA compass fiA 17 bof others 1 1 better 0 vid of the lack 0 of wisdom iii not to say inhumanity in in proposing in an increase in the credit sy temby destroying half of our cincu circulating medium need be shown chown than now finos finds daily illustration tra tion life men n of largo large wea wealth alth are forced to the they cannot liquidato their obligations in what we c all money there abut three things that 1 1 a people in 0 our u condition can do first increase lie he stock of money or second increase tho the amount of credit or third decrease tho the volume of bubin bubince cB to increase credit is to augu argument ment the opportunities tuni ties for more frequent panics and attendant ruin and to t give money gamblers additional op opportunity por for ari amassing lassing still greater wealth than legitimate trade transactions afford to decrease the volume of business is to brin bring about like results by other methods and what would be the effect of increasing the volume of money it would both increase business and decrease credit does docs not the proposition thus considered present a very simple solution and an at aspect it must be borne in in mind that the supply of gold or silver cannot be increased at will let lei me recur to the condition of france in the sense that great britain germany and tho the united states are commercial nations france mav may not fairly be included france ha has 1050 of money for every man mail woman and child in her population of this amount is paper or government promise to pay the united states estates has 2515 2315 per capita and of this amount one fourth or 62 1 is government 7 credit 25 per cent of our circulating medium is paper only 5 per percent cent of money in france is paper As aa has been said before france has twice tho the silver and twice the gold that we have while she has but one fifth the paper currency despite this calamitous condition we nye do not hear that she is on tho the verge of general ruin france has a national indebtedness of about five times that of the united states for a population of about one ona half that of tho the U united n cited st states a to S T the h e national indebtedness ot of the united states is 1463 per capita while that of france is per capita despite this france is today in t the b e better financial condition the united state is young with the agrical tural wealth of ages in her lions and in her mountains lie boundless mineral resources this cannot bo be said of france our country had a war it is true yet france since that time lias has lost large territory and paid indemnity to germany and still lias has more than 2 in circulation for every one that thai germany has franco france has the largest per cr capita of circulating medium ili in the world when it comes to the per capita of paper in circulation the united states is in ill the society of such highly commercial nations as greco grece spain belgium switzerland aus tria hungary netherlands south america canada cuba and hayti china has neither paper nor gold she has per capita of ilver in circulation the per capita paper of great britain is about one fifth that of the ilia united states of germany m adv about one third yet both laati nations ons have nearly the same specie circulation I 1 say nothing about the fact that thero has been a reduction ili in necessary commodities corresponding correspond ing with the purchasing power of silver undoubtedly the degradation of silver v er is partially responsible for this condition as would have been the case h had ad gold been de it is however equally undeniable irble that labor saving machinery has aided to produce wheat arid and cotton a at less cost than in former years just as labor saving machinery lias has aided to reduce the cost of producing both gold and silver nor can call I 1 seo see that to destroy one half of circulating cu medium of the united states is equal to destroying ono one half the national wealth w I 1 cannot believe that statement true were 4 the money of the whole world destroyed instead of the fraction or of it rep represented resented by the silver col coinage inae ina e of the united states which is a little less than one seventh of the whole the wealth of the world is its surplus production in all pursuits that civilization of the race has made necessary to the convenience and existence of man gold and silver of themselves are only intrinsically valuable as they are necessary to satisfy the desires of the race for centuries however these metals have been invested by mankind with an additional value they have been established as a measure to td accommodate the demand of tile the ra race c fx for an easier exchange of pro auti U lf all the gold and silver of i orld ald were destroyed there would be no fewer buildings building the ille productive capacity of ortho the soil would not necessarily be steamboats railroads cattle and so on would remain q agn g ui v mv a US human family the ac emulation B ages acres would remain as before the only direct loss would be the amount of hui human n labor involved in the production of the articles in metals destroyed there would of course be consequential damages all it producers would surfer suffer and suffer materially just as wo we are now suffering sufferina erinc 6 because of the design 0 to destroy b half alf of our money or rather to rob half the measure of its measure character mankind would soon establish another there would not ion long be no representative of tato i wealth health which which was subject to barter but this wealth the surplus product of the ages would remain less valuable of course because more diffin difficult alt to of everything that facilitates trade promotes values confidence promotes motes trade therefore it enhances values this is the chief merit ment the of a gold standard ile he ar argues aes ues that the united states alone of all the advanced va no ed ii nations a tio a s in a c commercial orlin sense cannot force a bimetallic standard and that as other nations would distrust our securities the effect act would be a loss of confidence and consequently a decrease in domestic values the argument i is well taken and were it n not ot overcome by other conditions would be invulnerable europe might reject our securities yet our inherent inherent wealth would almain just the same the argument as to confidence would apply with more force did europe not already largely largel yown own our securities suppose we do declare that a legal tender for all debts in this nation shall bo be either gold or silver at a fixed ratio and suppose europe does object and declare that we ire have agreed to pay in g gold 01 d europe will not part with our securities curi ties under these circumstances as may timid bond holders li apprehend for the simple and yet effective reason that to force these securities curi ties upon this nation under the conditions that a metallic bimetallic bi standard must establish would be depreciate enormously their own holdi holdings moreover ovir our contracts as lias has already been shown can never be filled gold enough does not exist for this nation alone to meet its obligations with ever every y gold old debt is paid by contracting nother another if not a larger gold debt this is not alone true aruo of the united states stales it is true of all nations and of all people those that domand demand a single standard arn are placing on their children and their childrens children for untold generations a burden from which ll 11 they can call escape only by death or by repudiation in that day repudiation tion will be enshrined in loyal hearts as the hig highest ilist typo type of patriotism the farther we depart from a double standard the nearer we ap approach that condition when mankind at large will be the slave of a few in ill tile the stronger nations of the earth confidence is a great factor in human affairs but the absolute and unquestioned ability of a man mail to keep his contracts is vastly better if wo we sacrifice tho the confidence of europe and by reason oi of the high intelligence foresight 0 invention and industry of our people we still produce a profit it will serve us in in much bettor better stead than tho the wealth of usurers who lend to us that they may own us this nation is too rich to bo be destroyed her people too intelligent botelli 0 ent and add industrious dust rious to remain unclothed or hungered because a few european moneylenders money noney lenders have lost confidence in in us for the reason that wo we will insist on recognizing I 1 0 the value of ol 01 two measures for th the e wealth thit that under the blessing of rod god we have produced and saved to the world yet were it true that the loss of 0 confidence would leave leava us to go naked and without food what whal worse then than now Bu baine business ine S today is paralyzed because we cannot pay what wo we owe lias has the nation done too much business or has it gone too much in debt if it has done too much business then to curtail is essential to a re rc of confidence and to curtail means a continuance of existing isaim 0 conditions of enforced idleness to men and perhaps starvation if we have not done too much business then ue have 1 pone too much in debt wo we have had too much speculation |