A 596592 Base Coin Exposed HG 529 •M 742 UNIV of MICH ARTES 1837 SCIENTIA VERITAS LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN E-PLURIBUS UNUM TUEBDR SI-QUAERIS PENINSULAM AMOENAM CIRCUMSPICE BASE "COIN" EXPOSED BY SILAS HONEST MONEY" Any one can tell lies. E. A. WEEKS & COMPANY CHICAGO The Melbourne Series. No. 33. March, 1895. Issued Monthly. Subscription price, $3.00 per year. Entered at Chicago Post Office as second-class matter. MANZ THE MARGUERITE SERIES Romance of Two Worlds · No. 1. No. 2. Won by Waiting. No. 3. The Second Wife. No. 4. The First Violin No. 5. Old Mam'selle's Secret No. 6. Her Girlhood Lover. No. 7. Foiled by Love No. 8. No. 9. 9. No. 10. No. 11. No. 12. No. 13. · • For the Term of His Natural Life • Was She to Blame? When a Woman Loves A Pair of Brown Eyes. Humors of the Fair The Owl's Nest • No. 14. That Fair False Woman Thelma Lucile.. • • No. 15. An Unwilling Bride No. 16. No. 17. No. 18. Dodo No. 19. The Chaplain's Daughter No. 20. In The Depths ... No. 21. Ships that Pass in the Night. No. 22. No. 23. No. 27. No. 28. • • · • * · Love Letters of a Worldly Woman Regine ... No. 24. A Yellow Aster No. 25. A String of Amber Beads No. 26. The Workingman's Wife. Vendetta No. 29. A Man of Mystery No. 30. The Umbrella Mender No. 31. Not Like Other Girls No. 32. Wormwood No. 33. Her Shadowed Life No. 34. The White Hoods Ardath · ... No. 35. No. 36. Only the Governess Micah Clarke • • ► • · 12mo. Paper Covers • • ❤ • No. 37. At the Green Dragon, and other Tales No. 38. The Fireman's Heart. No. 39. No. 40. Eyes Like The Sea The Princess of the Moor. • 4 • • • No. 41. The Sign of the Four • No. 42. A Study In No. 43. A Study In Scarlet. The Captain of the Polestar. No. 44. The Firm of Girdlestone No. 45. The Deemster. · · • • • • D D • • • • MARIE CORELLI EDNA LYALL .E. MARLITT JESSIE FOTHERGILL • • E. MARLITT BERTHA N. CLAY BERTHA N. CLAY MARCUS Clarke MRS. ALEXANDER .BEATRICE MAREAN • · · BERTHA N. CLAY JULIAN HAWTHORNE • E. MARLITT MRS. M. A. HOLMES MRS. M. A. HOLMES • » MARIE COrelli OWEN MEREDITH • · E. F. BENSON W. HEIMBURG W. HEIMBurg BEATRICE HARBADEN MRS. W. K. CLIFFORD . HERMANN SUDERMANN • • IOTA AMBER F. FREDERICKS MARIE CORELLI MARIE CORELLI • • LEON LEWIS BEATRICE HARRADEN ROSA NOUCHETTE CAREY * ...MARIE CORELLI BEATRICE MAREAN MAX EKING ROSA NOUCHETTE CAREY • ..A. CONAN DOYLE BEATRICE HARRADEN • BEATRICE MAREAN • MAURUS JOKAI .E. MARLITT A. CONAN DOYLE · A. CONAN DOYLE No. 46. The Bondman... (List Continued on Third Page of Cover.) • A. CONAN DOYLE 4. CONAN DOYLF .HALL CAINE HALL CAINE BASE "COIN' EXPOSED 3 MOA & GDERY. CHA A FITTING RETRIBUTION. BASE "COIN" EXPOSED 5-1041 BEING THE ARREST, EXPOSURE AND CONFESSION OF W. H. H. MONEY, AND THE DISMISSAL OF THE SO-CALLED "COIN'S FINANCIAL SCHOOL" BY "SILAS HONEST MONEY" CHICAGO: E. A. WEEKS & COMPANY 521-531 WABASH AVE. 1895 COPYRIGHT 1895 BY E. A. WEEKS & COMPANY "It is'nt calling your neighbors names that settles a question.” -Benjamin Disraeli. "Think wrongly, if you please, but in all cases think for your- self."-La Bruyère. Gold! * * Gold! * Gold! Gold! * Price of many a crime untold: Good or bad a thousand-fold! How widely its agencies vary. -Thomas Hood. "Those who approach these [financial] questions for the first time, decide them at once. Those who study them with care, hesi- tate. Those obliged to decide them are overwhelmed with the weight of enormous responsibility." -Senator Dumas in the French Legislative Chamber. "Pin thy faith to no man's sleeve; hast thou not two eyes of thy own?"-Thomas Carlyle. "I protest against attempts to array without cause, without a color of pretext or plausibility, the different classes of society against one another."-H. S. Legaré. “God give us men! A time like this demands Men who can stand before a demagogue And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking— Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog In public duty and in private thinking." -J. G. Holland. PREFACE. The financial question is beyond all argument—THE question of the day. It will continue to absorb public attention for months. It may form the contending ground of the next Presidential campaign. Abstruse problems of political economy and finance are thrust before the people at large, and in the midst of their deliberations arise the howls of the paid agitator of those pecuniarily interested and his brother "howling dervish" the political demagogue. Above all one hears the vapid mouthings of the "crank" school of philosophy. Talleyrand, that great French master of diplomacy, is said to have impressed on those whom he selected for his political missions, "above all things gentlemen, no heat." None knew better than he that the man who loses his temper almost invariably is the loser in the argument. The question of the finances of our country is essen- tially one for calm philosophical discussion, for reduction to the simplest possible terms, "so as to be understanded by the people" and for impartial decision in the ultimate tribunal-the ballot box, in the interests of the entire nation and not in favor of any particular locality, class, industry, or section of people at the expense of the rest. The battle must be keen, it should also be bloodless. Mere enunciations of visionary theories, supported by garbled extracts and ridiculous and inflammatory attempts at illustrations are not the kind of arguments to adduce in 7 8 PREFACE. a crisis of such momentous importance. "Any one can tell lies " was a conversational and caustic criticism, once applied to Bellamy's Looking Backward. How accurate and appropriate such a criticism would be to the alleged utterances of the sixteen year old boy who poses as the garrulous mouth-piece of the free silver party the following pages will endeavor to show. But "it is'nt calling your neighbors names that settles a question" as Widow Carey tells us. This momentous question is purely one of governmental policy and must be discussed from the standpoint, and settled upon the basis of the country's, and the entire country's best interests and welfare. How puerile, weak and ill-advised was it therefore for this little alleged philosopher in knee-pants to obscure real issues by mis-statements and to inflame party feeling and national prejudices with the old worn-out bogey, "Beware of England the ogre !" In the following pages an attempt has been made to reduce an abstruse question to its simplest propositions and defining as one goes along to disclose the true character of the men who used a precocious youth as a stalking horse and for their own personal and pecuniary ends. The true history of the "Schoolmaster abroad" (in his facts) is herein related. "SILAS HONEST MONEY." CHICAGO, May 16th, 1895. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER. I. THE ARREST OF (C PROFESSOR COIN " II. IN DUBANOE VILE III. SILAS MONEY TALKS FINANCE PAGE. 11 • 23 48 IV. THE PRINCIPLES OF HONEST FINANCE 70 V. SILAS MONEY AGAIN TALKS FINANCE VI. WHAT WAS THE UNIT OF VAalue? 99 124 VII. "THE AWFUL CRIME OF 1873 " 155 VIII. THE RESULT OF FREE SILVER 178 IX. THE CONVERSION OF PROFESSOR COIN" 206 X. EATING Crow, and THE END 218 APPENDIX. "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL" 231 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. CHAPTER I. THE ARREST OF PROFESSOR COIN. "INSPECTOR, I want your assistance in getting hold of my son. Here is my card, and now I guess you know the young man I am after.' "} The speaker stood in the Detective Bureau at Police Headquarters in Chicago on Thursday, April 25th, 1895, and as he spoke placed a business card on Inspector Shea's desk. It bore this inscription: FACTORY: SPRING VALLEY, ILLB. SILAS H. MONEY FLAGS, BUNTINGS AND TENTS TELEPHONE, South 9899 1599 MICHIGAN AVE. CHICAGO The police official glanced at the card and then looked his visitor carefully over. Before him stood a man of fifty- five years or so, of typical American appearance; a hard- headed successful graduate in the school of experience; clear, 11 12 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. + keen eyes dispelled all doubts, but anxiety was written on every line of his countenance; on the brow the white line of a saber-cut gave an inkling of heroic deeds in the days of long ago. "I'll get that story," mused the Inspector to himself and then aloud. "Well, sir, its no unusual task for me to seek for mis- placed or stolen money. Tell me your story and I'll do what I can for you. One moment though, and I'll have one of my men in who will take up the enquiry if it is anything in our line.” He touched a bell and directed a messenger to tell Detective-Sergeant Lawson to come to the Inspector's office. A smart, clean-shaved young detective officer stepped into the room. "Lawson," said the Inspector, "this gentle- Lawson Delective Sergt man, Mr. Money, wants us to find his son. he has to say so as to save time. Listen to what Now, Mr. Money, give us some particulars as to denomination, date and disappear- BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 13 ance. How old is the young man? Why did he leave you and what is his personal appearance?”’ 'Well, Inspector, my story is briefly this: My lad, Will H. H. Money, a particularly bright boy, was abducted by a gang of men who are profiting by his peculiar memory for figures. Now, I don't mean to say that he is another Jedidiah Buxton or any kind of a calculating freak, but he has always had an extraordinary memory for figures from his earliest years. He was born near Bureau in the state of Illinois, February 5th, 1878, and was abducted on January 10th, 1890, from a school at La Salle, Illinois, where I had placed him. I have spent hundreds of good hard honest dollars in searching for him, but have been unable to locate him until a few days ago. He is my only child, and the loss of him sent my poor Mary, his mother, in sorrow to her grave." Mr. Money's voice failed him. Sitting down beside the Inspector's desk he drew out a well-worn pocket book, and from its contents extracted an old time photograph which he placed in the veteran detective's hand. "That is my lad, Will; the one the boys used to call Honest Money' at school, though some did call him 'The Figure Juggler.' He is now at the Palmer House, registered as Professor W. H. H. Coin, and is to be found there or at an office on Monroe street, in this city." "You say he was abducted in 1890 from La Salle, Illinois," said the Inspector. "Yes, sir." "Well, Mr. Money, as far as criminal proceedings are concerned it seems to me you are too late, for as abduction of a minor under twelve is a misdemeanor, the indictment must be found within eighteen months of the commission of the offense." "There are two good replies to that objection, In- 14 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. spector. In the first place the statute of limitations has not run, so my lawyer tells me, as my son and his abductors have until recently been continuously absent from DETECTIVE INSPECTOR JOHN D. SHEA. this state, and, secondly, as early as February 1st, 1890, I obtained war- rants for the arrest of his abductors from Justice Cassidy at La Salle, and also went before the grand jury of La Salle county, obtaining indict- ments against the three men con- cerned. Look at your records for 1890 and you will find a notice offering $250 reward for the arrest of F. S. Brown, D. C. Williamson and A. J. Smith, alias 'Wild Cat,' and the recovery of W. H. H. Money." "Lawson, go and fetch the bulletins for February, 1890," said the Inspector. "We can soon trace this matter up, Mr. Money." The sergeant soon returned with a huge folio volume, whence projected a piece of blotting paper. "The notice is here all right enough, Inspector," said he, placing the book on his superior officer's desk, "and the portraits of all the persons wanted are on file. I know that fellow Smith, myself. He used to be round town in the '80's. A foxy, smug-faced sneak, ready for any dirty work that had a dollar of any kind in it. He has been known to 'shove the queer' too.” "Circulating counterfeits as well as conveying honest money, eh?" muttered the Inspector, and then turning to his visitor. "Now, Mr. Money, I find everything is in order. The notice was sent us by the Chief of Police at La Salle, and an indictment appears to have been obtained in regular course. This officer will go with you and find your son BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 15 and, if possible will arrest the men that took him away from you. As soon as we get these people I will wire the Sheriff of La Salle county to send an officer with the capiases for their arrest. It will be the safer plan for you to swear out disorderly warrants so that we can hold all parties until the sheriff gets here. Take him around to Judge Bradwell's, Lawson, and have the warrants with you. Get one for the boy as well in case he doesn't want to go home. A day in the 'cooler' often works wonders, Mr. Money. It is nearly always a kindness in disguise. Now, I think I have fixed you up satisfactorily. I wish you luck. 'Honest money' is a good find any day." As he concluded, Silas Money stood up and grasped his hand. "Inspector, I'm greatly obliged to you for your help and I'll take your good wishes as an omen of good luck. We shall see more of one another and I know that your good advice to my lad, if we can catch him, will be more than a help to me." Lawson held the door open for him and they passed into the squad-room. Groups of officers waiting for orders looked up as they passed. In a corner a frowsy, hand- painted drab sat sullenly in the custody of an officer in uniform making the air heavy with her curses against her captor and his informant, a well-dressed citizen who had lost his "roll" in a disreputable resort. At the door of the squad-room Lawson's side partner, McGarry, joined them. "Come on Mac" said Lawson, "This is my partner, Mr. Money. We travel in pairs. I'm the long and he's the short of it." Into the rattle and whirl of Washington street they plunged, turning into Clark street to ascend the stairs of Justice Bradwell's dingy court. The informations were drawn, signed and sworn, the four warrants issued by the 16 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. justice, and towards the Palmer House the trio made their way. As they went Mr. Money plunged into the story of his loss and told the officers many details. Reaching the Palmer House, they crossed the crowded hotel rotunda. As they did so Lawson's keen grey eyes noticed a smug-faced man edgir g towards an exit. "Do you see that man by the door, Mac; the one with the silvery hair and the soft hat? That's 'Wildcat' Smith. Don't make a fuss here but go round on Monroe street and grab him directly he gets outside." McGarry shot through the crowd on his task as his partner and Mr. Money reached the desk. now the election is over. The register clerk held out an immaculate hand. "Well, Lawson, how are you? We don't see you around so much What can I do for you?" Professor Coin registered here?” "Why, certainly. Mr. Smith and he have suite 401. What's the matter? He's the little wonder who does the financial lecture business." "Have you a Mr. or "This is his father, Mr. Money, Mr. Vidal. As against the boy there is little or nothing, but if we get Smith I guess he will take a trip with a deputy sheriff. up and see young Coin." I'll go "Front!" yelled the clerk, "take these gentlemen up to 401." The "imp incarnate" who knew every detective in the city and who divided his time between dime novels and ice-water carrying, grinned with delight at the chance of seeing an arrest, and scurried in front of the detective and Mr. Money to the elevator. A moment or two later he was knocking at the door of 401. "Come!" shouted a sharp, shrill, boyish voice and the bell boy ushered the two visitors into the room. BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 17 "Two gentlemen to see you, professor," he said, and lingered by the half-open door for fear of missing the arrest, which according to that masterpiece of detective stories, "Diamond Dick," would surely be ushered in with huge revolvers and be accompanied by pails full of gore. "Come in gentlemen," began the voice, but there was a sudden catch in it as the elder Money entered-the doorway. Lawson shut the door on the expectant bell boy and walked toward the center of the room. The room was one of the best the hotel boasted of and was simply, but richly furnished. In one corner stood a blackboard with some calculations on it; in another a luxurious couch held the youth whose features had become so familiar to some sections of the community. Coin lay on his back nervously puffing at a cigarette. His father kept in the background. It cost him a supreme effort to do so. "Professor, I'm a detective officer and have here a war- rant for your arrest. I presume that you do not deny that you are Will H. H. Money alias Professor Coin ?" At this the youth jumped off from the couch. His lips quivered. He tried to assume an air of indignation, but as his father stepped forward the failure was complete. "Let me send for my friend Smith," he gasped, "he will soon settle this business. I'm white and free if I am not twenty-one. How dare you do this, father? I am earning my own living and doing well at it." "H'm-telling lies for others' benefit. That's a fine way of earning an honest living," muttered Mr. Money. "Well, Professor, when I last saw your friend, as you call him, he was a traveling man," said Lawson, "that is, he was traveling about a half a block ahead of my partner and trying to increase the distance. The game is up as far 18 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. * THE ARREST. JMANK NG CHI. BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 19 as he is concerned. I don't think you will see much more of him if his wind lasts." (( Young Coin or Money flung himself angrily on the couch. Well, what charge have you against me, Mr. De- tective ?" "You are charged with disorderly conduct, sir; an offense against the ordinances of the city of Chicago; the sta- tutes do not contain any anti-Ananias or Sapphira sections. It seems a pity they do not, if half of that which your father has told me, as we came along, is true. Now, Pro- fessor, I'll read the warrant and you will have to come to see the Inspector." In the monotonous voice peculiar to police officers when reading legal documents, Lawson read the justice's war- rant. "What have I done disorderly?" muttered the captive. "Well, I reckon you can settle that matter with the judge," rejoined his captor. "Officers do not usually argue the case when they arrest. All I've got to do is to turn you over when the warrant is executed and to get hold of your so-called friends, if I can. I'll just look around for any traces of them, while you get ready to walk to the City Hall with me." The detective went slowly round the suite of rooms. On a table a pile of books invited his attention: "Coin's Financial School," "Up to Date," "Bimetallism and Mono- metallism" and a few more yellow-backed pamphlets of similar title. A copy of "Mulhall's Dictionary of Statis- tics" laid open on the table with a page of figures scored along with pencil. "Laughlin's History of Bimetallism' rested in a corner of the room all covered with yellow- backed pamphlets. On it laid a pile of Lawson moved to a writing table. mail addressed to F. S. Brown, D. C. Williamson and A. J. 20 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. Smith. One letter, intended for the second of these, had been opened. The detective picked it up and read: Mr. D. C. Brown, THE SILVER MINE OWNERS' ASSOCIATION OF COLORADO AND THE WEST, 99 Arapahoe St., DENVER, COL., April 1st, 1895. Palmer House, Chicago, Ill. DEAR DEPRECIATED CURRENCY: Your favor of 20th ulto. to hand and contents noted. Our parties are delighted at the progress you people are making. Its as old Barnum said, "The people liked to be fooled." Keep the youngster hard at work. He is a gold mine to the folks out here. It is inadvisable to reply to the arguments of the opposition papers, as it shows the weakness of one's own case. Say they are subsidized by British capital and yell "Bogie" as loud as you can. This is a sure scare. It works like a charm. Drag in all the prominent men's names possible. Folks who do not know them will believe you. Get some more pictures. Bring in all the horrors of the strike and be sure to charge it all to the want of free silver. Some good cuts of the occupation of Nicaragua by the British will do good if this is also charged to the want of unlimited coinage of silver. Have a good illustration made of the murder of Lincoln and label Booth as a "gold bug". Get some caricaturist to portray the execution of Nathan Hale by the British soldiery. Label Hale as the apostle of free silver, and put one of those "16 to 1 jokers" on his breast. Mark all the British troops as "gold bugs of King George." These things stir up the people. A sketch of Lincoln, Grant, Harrison and Cleveland all being bribed by British "gold bugs" to sell the Republic into financial bondage will take with some people. Ask Governor Altgeld to write one of his attempts at sar- casm. Depew is a "gold bug" and doesn't know which side of a coin the head is on. Now that Mayor Hopkins is out of city politics he can help us with that "howling dervish act" of his. Tell him to read Trilby, and go and call Postmaster Washington Hesing a "verfluchter schweinhund." These gentle amenities (of Eatanswill) please some people and in some places pass for arguments in favor of our grand and glorious cause-free and unlimited coinage of silver and to h-1 with the Republic! Tell Hopkins I will "fix him up" as soon as I get to Chicago. He will know what you mean. The Hon. Davis H. Waite, Mrs. Mary Ellen Lease, Hon. J. S. Coxey and Carl Browne will reach you shortly for a rousing series of meetings to support our young friend's facts. If we can only keep on as we are doing now, and if the opposi- tion will refrain from answering Coin's figures and arguments, the silver mines will all be in full blast before long, and friend Smith with you and I, will be able to settle down on our pile (no silver dollars for us though-in case of accidents). Make special prices on the books for Eastern States. It will repay us ultimately if we only get the cost of printing now. Keep the young sucker at work good and hard, If his scruples turn up again a few extra packages BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 21 of cigarettes and a trip on some one's steam yacht will keep him quiet. Its a great game, friend D. C. Lord, how we can fool them. Sincerely yours, FREE SILVER Brown, Secretary, S. M. O. A. TO DURANCE VILE. Lawson handed the letter to the old man, saying as he did so: "Here is a little corroborative evidence for your case, Mr. Money. This is just as you suspected. Well, I hope McGarry gets his claws on our friend Mr. Smith." But it was a crest-fallen fellow officer he met a few moments afterwards at the main entrance of the Palmer House as he emerged with the sulky "Professor," and the silent but satisfied father. "Be gorra! but that slob could run, Lawson," were the other officer's first words. "It took me all my time to keep behind him. I took him across Monroe street and he slipped through Calhoun place like a flash. After him I went, and ran right into the bread-basket of that fat old sinner, Ben Confield. Lord! how 'his whiskers' did gasp 22 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. and gurgle. Then 'Wildcat' did a skip along south and jumped on a Lake Shore train just as I got in the depot. I 'phoned to Captain Aldrich at Englewood to head him off there, and our only hope is that he keeps on the train until the Englewood 'fly cops' go through it." "I'm afraid he's too foxy. He will be off to the wilds of Iowa and will lay low for some time. yet through some of his women friends. man for the girls." We will get him 'Wildcat's' a great Then to the City Hall the detectives led a somewhat shame-faced young man. The Professor's bubble reputation was about to be severely punctured. CHAPTER II. IN DURANCE VILE. "Yet prisons-though it is too true They're evils-still are blessings too For, without them this world would be One scene of crime and anarchy." As the detective ushered the captive "Professor" into Inspector Shea's office, the boy's father stepped across the squad-room to a telephone instrument on the east wall. "Give me '1423 Main,' please, Central." ( Hello, 1423. Is that you, Mr. Richberg? This is Silas Money. Well, we have the young man at the City Hall. I shall be glad if you can act as my attorney in the matter I mentioned to you, and if you will appear for me in Judge Bradwell's court. I expect he will be taken there You will come round here? Very well, that will be the better plan." at once. With that Mr. Money followed his companions into In- spector Shea's office. The quondam and somewhat shame- faced "Professor" sat by the inspector's desk. Lawson had just introduced him and reported Smith's escape. "Well, Mr. Money, you have been pretty rapid in your circulation," jocularly said the genial and experienced offi- cial. "Now, my young friend," said he, turning to the pseudo-Professor, "You had better take a few words of mine to heart and seriously think them over. This is your own father who has had you arrested. He brought you into this world, and you are by birthright a citizen of the 23 24 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. greatest and grandest nation under the sun. It is reason- able to presume that he has formulated in his own mind plans for your usefulness to that country. If you only become half as good a citizen as your father has ever been you will be a very respectable credit to the nation. Your father fought some for his country's welfare. He is enti- tled to your respect and obedience by virtue of laws of higher and more divine origin than those which I am sworn to execute as a police officer. I want you to listen very carefully to what he has to say to you, and to be guided by his advice. This tom-foolery of yours, posing as a Pro- fessor at the age of sixteen, is making you the laughing- stock of the entire community. I would bet a little that it hasn't benefited you very much. Now, let's see what you have in your pockets. Turn the contents out on my desk." Rather sulkily the professor obeyed. First came a well- worn copy of "Coin's Financial School," whereat the old man sniffed somewhat indignantly; then a package or two of cigarettes, a page of statistics from "Mulhall's Diction- ary" with a pencil heading, "Learn this by heart at once," endorsed on it; two $5 gold coins and some small change, with a small letter case, completed the youth's personal effects. "You ought to have practiced what you preach and car- ried ten silver dollars, my son," said the elder Money. "How do you know that those two gold pieces were not coined from the British gold you and your associates have howled at?" "Wait until you hear my story, father, and I fancy you will not be so hard on me.” The professor was beginning to wilt a little. At this juncture Mr. Richberg, the well-known Chicago attorney entered the room and shook hands with Inspector Shea and Mr. Money. BASE "COIN" EXFOSED. 25 "Inspector," said he, "my friend, Mr. Money, hast asked me to act as his attorney in this matter. I think it will be a good plan to take this young man before Judge Bradwellat once, and take a continuance for a week or ten days so that your men may have a chance to get hold of the real criminals, the men who took this lad away from home and made a catspaw and tool of him. He will be a very material witness on their trial if they can be arrested. While JOHN C. RICHBERG. as regards the lad himself, probably all the interests of justice and the ultimate benefit of all parties will best be served if he gets into his father's hands for a week or so for a little plain horse sense to be instilled into him." "I agree with you, Mr. Richberg. I will do all I can to get the three principals in my dragnet if they are in town. Sergeant, take the professor to Judge Bradwell's court with these gentlemen and make a return to your war- rant. Look in, whenever you are passing, Mr. Money. shall be glad to learn how the matter ends." I The parties filed out and reached Justice Bradwell's court, finding the well known judge at liberty, smiling, and as ever ready to administer justice between the parties. As the principals grouped before him several new- comers entered the room. Mr. Money grasped one gentle- man by the hand and said to his son: "Will, this is Mr. W. S. Forrest one of the ablest criminal attorneys in this city. He has been a close student of financial questions and will, in my judgment very capably represent you. I propose to retain him to act for you and for that purpose 26 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. sent a messenger from the Palmer House asking him to meet you here." The "Professor" bowed to Mr. Forrest, saying: "Well, it's immaterial to me. Father seems to be running the entire business. He has had me arrested, so I suppose it is in order for him to provide my defense." Mr. John C. Richberg then addressed the judge. "Your honor, I appear in this case on behalf of Mr. Silas Money, the complainant. The charge as you see, is one of disorderly conduct. The defendant is a most material witness for the state on the trial of three separate indictments which have been duly found by the grand jurors of La Salle county. In the particular charge against this young man, who has been arrested but a few moments ago, the prosecution for good and valid reasons, which are known to my learned friend, Mr. Forrest, is not ready to proceed. I ask your honor, therefore, to continue the hearing of this case for ten days, and to parole the defendant in the custody of his father, or to accept his father as bail for his due appearance." At this moment Mr. C. S. Darrow, of counsel, pressed forward. "Judge," said he, "I have been retained in this case to look after the interests of Pro- fessor Coin. His arrest is an outrage. Ex-Mayor Hopkins is here to be bail for him in any amount. The Professor is booked to address the 'Orpheus C. Kerr Lodge of the Hinky Dink Associa- tion of the First Ward,' this very evening." O. 8. DARROW. "Your honor," broke forth Mr. Money, "this gentleman appears in reality for the men who abducted my son. Will, speak up for yourself. Have you retained Mr. Darrow, or do you desire his services ?” BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 27 "You have retained Mr. Forrest, father, I have no wishes to express. "Well, Judge," said Mr. Forrest, "on behalf of my client I agree to a continuance, and think it much the better for him that he remains in his father's custody." "That seems to settle the question," said Judge Brad- well. "I will continue this case until the 15th of May, and will accept Mr. Silas Money's bond in two hundred dollars for his son's appearance. Discomfited and defeated, Mr. Darrow and his bondsman, Ex- Mayor Hopkins, with- drew from the court. The necessary papers were filled out, and leaving the detec- tives to pursue their JUDGE BRADWELL. IMANZ search for the three others wanted, Mr. Money and his son accompanied the two lawyers to Mr. Richberg's office in the Opera House block. When they sat down, the elder Money pulled out two letters. "Look at these precious documents, gentlemen. They account for those people offering bail for my boy. Sergeant Lawson found them in Will's pocket-book." The first ran as follows: EXECUTIVE MANSION, SPRINGFIELD, ILL., April 1st, 1895. Professor W. H. H. COIN, Palmer House, Chicago. MY DEAR SIR:-"Public office is a public trust" once wrote an obese politician bound hand and foot by British bondholders. Holding (at present) an important public office it is my duty to help your crusade. Early next month I hope to send you an able financier, Mr. L. A. Hilliard. He will assist you much in preparing 28 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. statistics and explain why it is that all rent for my Unity Building in Chicago is payable in "standard gold coin." In practice I always take "garden sass" at market price. The real root of all the finan- cial distress is the unwarranted federal interference in the so-called railroad strike. Had our friends, the strikers and the sympathizers, been allowed to have their way trade would be booming again in building fresh cars and depots. To rebuild brings work for all. Fraternally and socially yours, JOHN P. ALTGELD. The second was from an equally distinguished Ameri- can statesman. It read as follows: SECORD & HOPKINS, GROCERS. KENSINGTON, CHICAGO, ILL., April 1st, 1895. MY DEAR PROFESSOR:-Herewith please find 2 lbs of our cele- brated "World's Fair" candy for your own consumption. You take the candy, we do the rest! I enclose $5 in silver for copies of that statesman's vade mecum-Coin's Handbook. My friends, Hon. Hinky Dink and Bath House John are desirous of purchasing same in car-load lots for circulation in the levee district and in Okla- homa among the Choctaws. Please quote them best prices. Have it translated into "Banana English" for the Dago laborers on the Drainage Canal.. (We vote these people in blocks of five hundred and five.) We statesmen swear by your masterly treatise. It's so plain. It says a thing is so and that is all there is to it. No unne- cessary words about it. Rub it into Grover. The "old stiff" sent those troops here to protect the British bondholders' interests in the railroads. I had everything fixed. In another week Pullman's name would have been Dennis and every railroad track in the town would have been ripped up. Always admiringly yours, JOHN P. HOPKINS, Mayor of Chicago. P. S.-The ideas in the above are all my own, but I have had one of my former experts lick it into readable English. The lawyers read them carefully, smiled pityingly and returned them to the professor's father. "They certainly seem to show why some of the peanut politicians are interested in Professor Coin," said Mr. Money. "Now, Mr. Money," said Mr. Richberg, "I will sug- gest to you that you take the lad down to your farm near Bureau and give him a week's fresh air and simple food. You You and he can then discuss your own affairs BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 29. FREE SIL SILVER • DEMOCRAC CLEVE FORMULA SOUND MONEY JOHN P. HOPKINS, HIS AOT. 80 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. together. Possibly you may care to consult us, and if so you can easily run up to Chicago any day. What do you say, Mr. Forrest ?" "I agree with you, Mr. Richberg. Now, Will, listen to me for a moment. I advise you to go with your father, and talk all these matters over quietly and sensibly with him. You need have no fear that he is bribed by British gold. That scar on his forehead tells the story of Chica- mauga. In his blood and yours runs some of that strain which was victorious at Bunker Hill and Bemis Heights. It is instruction you want and in the most elementary prin- ciples of political economy. Above all things, remember, my lad, that mere assertion is not argument, though a well illustrated and simple lie may often catch a stray fool or two." A few hours later Mr. Money and his son sat in a chair car of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway bound for Bureau, Illinois. As they jolted over the ties of the "Great Rock Island Route" at the moderate speed which in general passenger agents' advertising diction causes the train to be called "Our Fast Flyer for Council Bluffs," the boy's father began to talk more freely and to make friendly advances to his returned and prodigal son. "Well, my lad," said he, "I do not bemoan the money that I have spent searching for you. All I did hope was to find you before your poor mother said her parting words to When you were last in my care you were a bright, talkative little fellow. I suppose you have been so busy studying political economy for the last four or five years that you have forgotten all your simple, unaffected ways ?" me. "Studying political economy? Well, if learning fig- ures by heart constitutes political economy, I certainly was an earnest student." "Do you mean to say, Will, that you let other people BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 31 fill you full of alleged arguments and then you posed as a professor who knew all that was worth knowing about the financial system of your own and a score of other coun- tries ? " "I guess I may as well plead guilty, father, without any further fuss about it. You know I always was fond of figures and used to amuse myself at school by committing to memory long-columns of calculations. Well, those fel- lows treated me pretty fairly. I had plenty of traveling about, always lived at the best hotels and had all the cigar- ettes I wanted. It was peculiar though that while they all preached silver they always carried gold coin with them- as they said, 'in case of accidents.'' Now, Will, I have studied financial questions a little myself. You know that I have been pretty successful in business. There is a steady demand for 'Old Glory' yet, and aside from personal advantage or self-seeking I hope the demand for American flags will never diminish. Many a dozen have I shipped free of cost to little red school houses. I followed it from Atlanta to the sea, and I let fall a manly tear on its silken folds as they shrouded 'Old Te- cumseh's' coffin. Your great grandfather fought for it in the valley of the Hudson, and for it bore without a murmur the cold and hunger of Valley Forge. Have you any idea of the literature of Political Economy, of the numbers of the most thoughtful men of all ages who have given it their life long attention or the standing of the men you so glibly stood up to confute? "No, father, I never thought of that. All they told me was 'tell your audience that nothing English goes. That will fetch them every time and effectually stop all awkward questions."" "I shall have a good deal to say to you on that score, Master Will, before I get through. Meanwhile remember 32 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. that Nicoli Oresme, president of a fourteenth century college, a political economist of note, Count Bishop of Liseux and councillor to Charles the Wise of France, seems to have been the founder of the science of money. His work on the question was written as long ago as 1366. I'll wager you never heard of it. Did you?" "No; I can't say I have." 'Well, briefly, Oresme in his twenty-six chapters for- mulated the five following principles, after explaining the true nature and uses of money: "1. He concluded that the sovereign (or state) has no right to diminish the weight, debase the purity or change the denomination of the coinage. To do so, in his opinion, was robbery. "What was robbery in 1366, my lad, is robbery or worse to-day, for "In vain we call old notions fudge And bend our conscience to our dealing, The ten commandments will not budge, And stealing will continue stealing." "2. He decided that the sovereign (or state) could in no case fix the value or the purchasing power of the coins. If he could do so, he could fix the value of all other com- modities, which indeed was a fallacious idea of monarchs in the middle ages. "3. He held that the legal ratio of the coins must strictly conform to the relative market value of the metals. "4. He was convinced that if the fixed legal ratio of the coins differs from the natural or market value of the metals, the coin which is underrated entirely disappears from circulation, and the coin which is overrated alone remains current. "5. He decided that if degraded and debased coin is allowed to circulate along with good and full-weighted BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 33 coin, all the good coin disappears from circulation, and the base coin remains current to the ruin of commerce. "Copernicus the great astronomer, Canon of Frauenburg and adviser of Sigismund I. of Poland, also wrote on the question in 1526. The famous astronomer had no know- ledge of the treatise of Oresme, written 160 years before his time, but he came to exactly the same conclusions. They were: "1. That it is impossible for the prince to regulate the value of the coins, or of any other commodity. “2. That all the prince or the law can do is to maintain the coins at their full legal weight, purity and denomi- nation. "3. That it is robbery for the prince to change the de- nomination, diminish the weight, or debase the purity of - his coins. "4. That it is impossible for good full-weighted coin and base and degraded coin to circulate together; that all the good coin is hoarded, melted down or exported, and the de- graded and debased coin alone remains in circulation. "5. That the coins of gold and silver must bear the same ratio to each other as the metals do in the market. Oresme and Copernicus quite agreed that it is impossible to keep gold and silver coins in circulation together in unlim- ited quantities at a fixed legal ratio differing from the mar- ket value of the metals. "6. That when good coins are issued from the Mint, all the base and degraded coins must be withdrawn from cir- culation, or else all the good coins will disappear, to the ruin of commerce. "The early English sovereigns did not debase their coin- age, but immense quantities of base and degraded coins were in circulation, and consequently all the good coin dis- appeared as soon as it was issued from the mint. Edward 3 34 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. boin's Financial Fool A LITTLE OBJECT LESSON. BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 35 the First was the first to diminish the weight of the coin. He coined 243 pennies out of the pound weight of silver, and by successive diminutions the pound weight of silver was coined into 744 pennies under Elizabeth. The instant disappearance of the good coin as soon as it was issued from the mint was the subject of repeated debates in Par- liament for some centuries, and was an inscrutable puzzle to financiers and statesmen. But they had no Oresme or Copernicus to explain it to them, and the only remedy they could suggest was to enact severe penalties of mutilation to those who exported good coin. "At last Sir Thomas Gresham explained to Queen Eliza- beth that good and bad coin cannot circulate together, but that the good coin disappears and the bad coin alone re- mains current. As Sir Thomas Gresham was the first in this country to explain that permitting bad coin to circu- late was the cause of the disappearance of the good coin, H. D. Macleod, the eminent economic writer, suggested in 1858 that this should be called Gresham's Law, which name has now been universally accepted. But as Oresme and Copernicus had both declared this law before him, it ought to be called the law of Oresme, Copernicus and Gresham. "This great fundamental law of the coinage soon became common knowledge. It is thus stated in a pamphlet in 1696: 'When two sets of coin are current in the same nation of like value by denomination, but not intrinsically [i. e., in market value] that which has the least value will be current, and the other as much as possible will be hoarded,' or melted down or exported, I may add. "This great fundamental law of the coinage has been found to be universally true in all ages and countries, and 36 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. was henceforth recognized and acknowledged in all subse- quent discussions on the coinage. "It applies in the following cases: "1. If the coins consist of one metal only, and clipped, degraded and debased coins are allowed to circulate to- gether with good coins, all the good coins disappear. They are either hoarded, or melted down, or exported, and the bad coin alone remains in circulation. "2. If coins of two metals, such as gold and silver, are allowed to circulate together in unlimited quantities at a fixed legal ratio which differs from the market ratio of the metals, the coin which is underrated disappears from circu- lation, and the coin which is overrated alone remains current. "3. As a necessary corollary, it follows that it is im- possible to maintain a fixed par of exchange between countries which use different metals as their standard unit. "This law is not confined to single and separate states; it is not limited in time or space; it is absolutely universal, and it is equally impossible for the whole world to maintain coins of two or more metals in circulation together in un- limited quantities at a fixed legal ratio which differs from the natural or market value of the metals, as it is for single and separate states to do so. "These may be said to be the fundamental principles of the science of money, which are now accepted by all sound economists. Of course, there are some irresponsible cranks who will yell' Well, let us change it.' These are the kind of people who would have the day consist of twenty-five hours because Europe and the rest of civilization obeys natural laws in using the entire twenty-four; who would deny the law of gravitation' because a Britisher discovered it, and would in their mental wanderings evolve mechanical appliances for causing the sun to rise and the moon to set BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 37 as and where they and not their Creator willed. And yet these lunatics have followings of those who will not think for themselves. "This problem of the proper relation of gold and silver is so important and so abstruse that it has interested many of the greatest minds of the last five centuries. Charles the Wise as you have seen, referred it to Oresme, the ablest political economist of his day. Sigismund of Poland employed the great Copernicus to investigate it. James the First of England consulted Bacon and Coke about it. John Locke, the noted philosopher, gave it all his profound abilities. The British government referred it to Sir Isaac Newton, one of the greatest philosophers the world has ever seen. Sir Thomas Gresham, Petty, Harris, Adam Smith, author of "The Wealth of Nations," Pole, Herries, Hankin- son, and John Stuart Mill are but a few of the great minds which have grappled with one of the greatest problems of the age. How puerile, how pitiful on your part to pose as teacher when you never heard of these men, much less read the results of their years of labor." "Well, father, I read what Governor Waite, Governor Altgeld and my friend, Mayor Hopkins, said on the ques- tion." "My lad, their unsupported assertions always remind me of General Josiah Limber's resolutions: 'Resolved that our party is a towering monument of public virtue; resolved that the other party is a festering slough of political slime.” ” "You should read what Nicholas Biddell, a true Ameri- can, says of men like those in his 'Our Political Demagogues.' Here it is: " Their pursuit of place has alienated them from the walks of honest industry-their anxiety for the public fortunes has dissi- pated their own. With nothing left either in their minds or means to retreat upon, having no self-esteem, and losing that of others, when they cease to possess authority they acquire a servile love of 38 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. sunshine, a dread of being what is called unpopular that makes them the ready instruments of any chief who promises to be the strongest. They degenerate at last into mere demagogues wander- ing about the political common, without a principle or a dollar, and anxious to dispose to the highest bidder of their only remaining possession, their popularity. "Now let us examine their inmost motives. As for Governor Waite, he is the man who wanted to 'ride in blood up to his horse's bridle.' Nice respectable Christian sentiment was it not? A greater American than he once had this chance, and this is what happened. I refer particu- larly to the dispute over the Maine boundary, when the hot- heads were calling for war. Throughout the country and all along the frontier fiery spirits were eager to rush to arms. Said Mr. Everett on the occasion of the presentation of Daniel Webster's statue:" Suppose Mr. Webster had caught up that sentiment. Why, at the end of Mr. Tyler's administration he might have floated into the White House triumphantly borne on waves of blood, as the great war secretary! A more brilliant prospect of glory rarely offers itself to republican statesmen. Mr. Webster knew better. He knew that the torch of war as it sweeps over kindred nations, however it may dazzle or warm at the moment, leaves behind it a terrible train of woe. Not merely the wounds and deaths of thousands who can ill be spared to their country; not merely blasted fields and ruined families; not merely the cost of millions, which a peace of tenfold duration can hardly repair, but the rankling passions and unsatiated vengeance of mighty nations, which God made to live together in unity, peace and concord. "Worse than wicked were those who put such firebrand words as the following in your foolish little mouth." A war with England would be the most popular ever waged on the face of the earth.-Coin's Financial School, page 132. In such a war as they would wage the United States would grow wealthy and prosperous-as all nations do when there is an expan- sion of currency. From A Tale of Two Nations, by W. H. Harvey, the author of Coin's Financial School. "Did you never hear of international arbitration or the proceedings of the International American Conference, held during Mr. Harrison's administration under the presidency of James G. Blaine, secretary of state? Well, this conference BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 39 assembled at Washington, October 2d, 1889. It remained in session under the presidency of Mr. Blaine till April 19th, 1890. On the 17th of April it adopted a project of a treaty for the settlement by arbitration of all international disputes with one exception, which exception was in the following words:" Art. 4. The sole questions excepted from the provisions of the preceding article are those which, in the judgment of any of the nations involved in the controversy, may imperil its independence; in which case, for such nation, arbitration shall be optional, but it shall be obligatory upon the adversary power. "The plan was supported and voted for by the repre- sentatives of all the conferees except Chili. In its preamble it recited that war is the most cruel, the most fruitless, and the most dangerous expedient for the settlement of inter- national differences; that the growth of moral principles among civilized peoples has created an earnest desire for the amicable adjustment of such differences; that the conference considered it a duty to lend its assent to the lofty principles which the most enlightened public sentiment of the world approves, and accordingly did solemnly recommend' all the governments there represented to form a treaty of arbi- tration on certain lines, which it proceeded to indicate. "The next day, April 18th, the following proposition was reported by the committee on arbitration, and was adopted:" The International American Conference resolves: That this conference, having recommended arbitration for the settlement of disputes among the republics of America, begs leave to express the wish that controversies between them and the nations of Europe may be settled in the same friendly manner. It is further recom- mended that the Government of each nation herein represented communicate this wish to all friendly powers. An additional resolution was adopted declaring, That the prin- ciple of conquest shall not, during the continuance of the treaty of arbitration, be recognized as admissible under American public law. "Finally Mr. Blaine, whom you surely will admit was American to the backbone, declared that this was a new 40 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. Magna Charta, and the greatest work of the conference. He said in his concluding speech:" If, in this closing hour, the conference had but one deed to cele- brate, we should dare call the world's attention to the deliberate, confident, solemn dedication of two great continents to peace, and to the prosperity which has peace for its foundation. We hold up this new Magna Charta, which abolishes war and substitutes arbi- tration between the American Republics as the first and great fruit of the International American Conference. That noblest of Amer- icans, the aged poet and philanthropist, Whittier, is the first to send his salutation and his benediction, declaring, "If, in the spirit of peace, the American Conference agrees upon a rule of arbitration which shall make war in this hemisphere well-nigh impossible, its sessions will prove one of the most important events in the history of the world. "Another thing, my boy; you will find when you grow older that which I saw with mine own eyes. Many who howl the loudest for war are the first to allege 'urgent private affairs' as a reason for their permanent location in the rear of the battle smoke.” "What is the reason for the free-silver party refusing to settle this question by international agreement and arbitra- tion? As recently as April 28th, 1895," E. O. Leech, director of the Mint under President Harrison, and now vice-president of the National Union Bank, said:" It looks as if Germany would call an international monetary conference, and England has decided to participate in it if called. France and the states of the Latin Union, which are burdened with large quantities of overvalued silver, would naturally take kindly to it. In the United States public sentiment is strongly in favor of international bimetallism, and as Congress has already made pro- vision for delegates to the conference, it follows, as a matter of course, that this country will be represented, and its voice, as in all previous conferences, will be unmistakably in favor of the largest use of silver money. I believe that if the great commercial nations of the world should agree to coin gold and silver at a uniform ratio, the value of silver would for a long period of time be maintained at approxi- mately such coinage ratio. At any rate, I believe the experiment would be well worth trying, and I am quite sure that if the leading commercial nations were willing to try it, the sentiment in this country would be very strong in favor of the experiment. It is true that the free-silver agitation here, and the saturation of our currency with silver money has done much toward creating a sentiment in BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 41 favor of the gold standard, but I believe that a vast majority of our people would favor international bimetallism. "So we may assume that the fourth silver conference is in prospect. At all events, it is in shape to be talked about. A few words on the subject of the previous ones are there- fore in orde. and may be instructive to you. "The first monetary conference was called at the instance of the United States, and met at Paris, August 16th, 1878. All the great powers of Europe except Germany, and most of the lesser ones, took part in it. The conference remained in session till August 29th. On the day before the adjourn- ment the European delegates, except those of Italy, joined in a collective answer to the propositions of the United States saying: (1) that it is necessary to maintain in the world the monetary function of silver as well as of gold, but that the selection of one or the other, or both simulta- neously, should be governed by the special situation of each state or group of states; (2) that the question of the restriction of the coinage of silver should be equally left to the discretion of each state or group of states; (3) that the differences of opinion which have appeared exclude the discussion of the adoption of a common ratio between the two metals. The representatives of the United States dis- sented from these conclusions. Thereupon the conference adjourned sine die. "The second conference was held at the instance of France and the United States. It met in Paris, April 19th, 1881. In this conference Germany and British India par- ticipated, in addition to the countries represented in that of 1878. It remained in session till July 8th, having taken one intermission from May 19th to June 30th. No conclu- sion was reached and no vote was taken on the main ques- tion. The conference adjourned to April 12th, 1882, but never reassembled. 42 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. The third conference assembled at the instance of the President (not of the Congress) of the United States, at the city of Brussels, November 22d, 1892. The same powers were represented as before, with Turkey, Rouma- nia and Mexico added. It remained in session till Decem- ber 17th, when it adjourned, without taking any action, to May 30th, 1893, but did not reassemble at that date or at any other time. In this it followed the valuable precedent of the conference of 1881. "You now see, my son, that the question of silver coin- age has been fairly well debated and considered by the great minds of the age. Let us now consider your two other Gamaliels, Messrs. Altgeld and Hopkins. The first is a most consistent personage. For while Governor John P. Altgeld considers an apparent advocacy of free silver good politics for the time being, the thrift of Landlord John P. Altgeld prefers a gold standard for his personal use and benefit. He may preach free silver to mistaken monomet- allists from the hustings and in the press, but the leases which his numerous tenants in the Unity Building at Chi- cago have to sign and conform to demand payment of their rents in gold. "Some time ago the Chicago real estate board adopted a form of lease, and after the word 'payable' there is left a blank. The board did not consider it necessary to insert a clause that payment should be made in gold coin of stand- ard fineness; but John P. Altgeld, landlord of the Unity Building, with that foresight which distinguishes him as a business man, refused to use the form of lease prescribed by the real estate board. "His lease blanks are printed by George E. Cole & Co., of Chicago, and each one contains the words 'payable in standard gold coin of the United States.' Thus if the country is plunged into disaster by reason of the silver epi- BASE COIN EXPOSED. 43 demic preached by Governor John P. Altgeld, still prudent Landlord John P. Altgeld is protected. "It may also be observed that while Governor John P. Altgeld approves the income tax upon the thousands of his fellowmen who have no income in either gold or silver from rents, the rent Landlord John P. Altgeld collects, not in sil- ver, but in gold alone, escapes the mulct of two per cent • LEASE LITT BULDOVA PAYABLE 198 STANDARD GOLD COIN OF THE UNITED STATES ADP ANLOLO WARD TO LANDLORD ALTGELD GOVERNOR ALT GELO MR. FACING-BOTH-WAYS. PRIE 1257165. which other men must pay. Governor Altgeld has his own reasons for being a free-silverite. It assures him a noisy if transient and not over-numerous following and it does no injury to Landlord John P. Altgeld's pocket." "Are you sure these are facts, father?" asked the lad. "I never heard of these charges before." "They have appeared without contradiction in the public press, my son, and are vouched for by a leading citi- zen of Chicago who has seen the leases. Besides, you know how fond the Governor of Illinois is of writing let- ters to prominent personages. It is reasonable to presume he would have denied the charges were they unfounded instead of true to the letter. 44 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. "Now let us look up the record of the third and last of your authorities, Mr. John Patrick Hopkins, once (for our sins), but no longer (thanks to a benign Providence) mayor of the city of Chicago. "The zeal displayed by Mr. Hopkins, who likes to be known as the head and front of the free-silver boomers in Chicago, has rather surprised his fellow citizen, perhaps because few of them imagined he had delved deep enough into the question of national finances to form any opinion on the subject. Even those who know him best credit the ex-mayor with having a more intimate acquaintance with running primaries and manipulating conventions than he has with the currency question. "He has recently figured as betting ten dollars on the accuracy of the statement in your so-called 'Financial School' that from 1792 to 1872 the silver dollar was the legal standard-money unit in the United States, and that gold coin was measured in values of silver money. Mr. Hopkins named as his authority your alleged 'Financial School,' and so the bet became a test of the veracity of that lively but unreliable pamphlet of the free-coinage propaganda. "The question was referred to Judge Vincent to decide, and though I do call to mind Hudibras' famous lines 'Quoth she, I've heard old cunning stagers Say fools for arguments use wagers,' the subject of the trifling bet is far more serious. 'Coin' has become the gospel of the advocates of free silver, who regard it as the holy writ of currency literature, and a decision for or against one of its propositions by a man of Judge Vincent's standing as a lawyer means a great deal. "One of the arguments advanced with persistent itera- tion in 'Coin' is the alleged fact that the silver dollar of 3714 grains of pure silver was the unit of American money BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 45 from 1792 until 1872, and on this is based the conclusion that the Sherman law of 1873 was a wrong and an injustice, because it reversed the positions of gold and silver as money metals. "But the reason for Ex-Mayor Hopkins' activity is not so hard to seek. He has a large and robust grievance against President Cleveland. When the currency question came up the ex-mayor saw an opportunity to grind his axe, and he lost no time in doing it. JUDGE W. A. VINCENT. "The break between President Cleveland and the ex-mayor occurred a little less than a year ago. Up to that time the two had been as close together as a string of fish. Mr. Cleveland was deeply grateful to the young and ambi- tious leader, and seemed inclined to give him most of the credit for swinging Illinois into the democratic column in 1892. The President regarded Hopkins as the young Lochinvar of the west and petted him much. He even agreed to submit all appointments for federal positions in northern Illinois to Hopkins for approval, and showed him more attention than was bestowed on either the democratic senator from the state or the democratic congressman from Cook county. "When, under well-meaning but misguiding leadership, life, property, peace, were at the mercy of the rabble that make use of strikes for unlawful purposes, John P. Hopkins, then Mayor of Chicago, utterly failed to enforce the laws, President Cleveland, single-minded in his determination to protect life, property and peace, performed for the people of Chicago the duty John P. Hopkins betrayed. It became necessary last summer, in the opinion of the President, to 46 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. send federal troops to Chicago to preserve the peace. He did this without consulting the mayor, and thereby subjected Mr. Hopkins to much annoying criticism. “The ex-mayor attributes his eclipse in local politics to President Cleveland's action last July. He has told a number of his friends in confidence that only for the sending of federal troops to town he would have been able to re-elect ITEMS PRANCIAL kombi CLOSED [ØY #RBER OF DORAN COMoty SENSE 'SHERIFF OF TRUTH (ISFIFTY' AS IT OUGHT TO BE. himself mayor. He regards the President as his political 'hoodoo,' and intends to devote what influence he now has to embarrassing President Cleveland in carrying out the financial policy of the administration. "If these are the kind of men you instance as your political teachers and advisers on questions of political economy, I would only parody Pope as regards them and say: 'They thrive in politics on fools like you!' "Well, here we are at Bureau, father; suppose we defer our further arguments until to-morrow. I have had a pretty long day of it, and do not feel equal to any further debate." And so the quondam "Professor" slept that night at his father's quiet farm, far out of the free-silver arena. All BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 47 the silver that bothered him was the refulgence of the silvery moon as it smiled serenely on his window pane, as if pitying the discomfiture of the whilom prophet of "sixteen to one or bust." CHAPTER III. SILAS MONEY TALKS FINANCE. "What is now needed more than anything else is a plain and simple presentation of the argument in favor of sound money. In other words, it is a time for the American people to reason together as members of a great Nation, which can promise them a continu- ance of protection and safety only so long as its solvency is un- suspected, its honor unsullied and the soundness of its money unquestioned. These things are ill exchanges for the illusions of a debased currency, and groundless hope of advantages to be gained by a disregard of our financial credit and commercial standing among the nations of the world." GROVER CLEVELAND. Bright and early next morning was Silas Money astir. For over half a century he had practiced as well as preached the good old maxim: ( Early to bed, early to rise, Makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." Accustomed from his youthful days to a six o'clock break- fast he imagined that his son would be "a chip of the old block" and would be on hand promptly, with a face bright from the beneficent virtues of clear cold water. But city ways had changed the would-be Professor. After waiting half an hour, the old man hurried upstairs to find his son still fast in the arms of the drowsy god of sleep. "Hey up there, Will!" he shouted on entering his son's bedroom; "half-past six and breakfast getting cold. We have a good deal to do to-day, and there is nothing like starting in good time.” 48 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 49 The lad turned over drowsily, muttering, "Its a pity to wake any one up this time of the morning. I was dreaming that I was coining silver dollars all night long that cost me fifty cents each, and I sold them for a hundred cents as they ought to be sold.” "Not much difference between that game and the green goods business, my boy, so far as morality is concerned. AMERICAN FACTORY DRAFT FOR 10020 SILVER RECEIPT FOR $50.00 GOLD } NO! SAYS THE IRISH-AMERICAN. One operator ends in the penitentiary and the other in absolute bankruptcy. It's 'bust' in both cases. The end is the same, the only difference being in the method of reaching it." Change of air had done no harm to the Professor's appetite. He did ample justice to a substantial breakfast 4 50 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. and having done so, curled up in a corner with his insepara- ble friend, a-cigarette. "Now, my lad," said his father sniffing contemptuously at the cigarette, "let us start seriously to discuss this silver question. You are too young to vote, but you are not too young to learn where the various parties stand on this vital question. There are some who yell 'I am a Democrat,' and swallow democratic doctrines no matter how distorted or how debased. Like my friend, John Richberg, said at that rousing rally for Civil Service Reform in Chicago. 'I am not that kind of a Democrat.' How they did cheer that ringing declaration! Read this, Will. It is the Republican platform adopted at Minneapolis, June 9th, 1892." The youth read as follows: DECLARATION FOR BIMETALLISM. The American people, from tradition and interest, favor bimet- allism, and the republican party demands the use of both gold and silver as standard money, with such restrictions and under such pro- visions, to be determined by legislation, as will secure the mainten- ance of the parity of values of the two metals, so that the purchasing and debt-paying power of the dollar, whether of silver, gold or paper, shall be at all times equal. The interests of the producers of the country, its farmers and its workingmen, demand that every dollar, paper or coin, issued by the government shall be as good as any other. We commend the wise and patriotic steps already taken by our government to secure an international conference to adopt such measures as will insure a parity of value between gold and silver for use as money throughout the world. "Now read the Democratic platform which was adopted at Chicago, June 22d, 1892." The youth complied: COINAGE. We denounce the Republican legislation known as the Sherman act of 1890 as a cowardly makeshift fraught with possibilities of danger in the future, which should make all of its supporters, as well as its author, anxious for its speedy repeal. We hold to the use of both gold and silver as the standard money of the country, and to the coinage of both gold and silver without discriminating against metal or charge for mintage, but the dollar unit of coinage of both metals must be of equal intrinsic and exchangeable value or be BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 51 adjusted through international agreement or by such safeguards of legislation as shall insure the maintenance of the parity of the two metals and the equal power of every dollar at all times in the markets and in the payment of debts; and we demand that all paper currency shall be kept at par with and redeemable in such coin. We insist upon this policy as especially necessary for the protection of the farmers and laboring classes, the first and most defenseless victims of unstable money and a fluctuating currency. AND ON THIS THE PARTY STANDS. Upon this statement of principles and policies the Democratic party ask the intelligent judgment of the American people. It asks a change of administration and a change of party in order that 116101 OR DUST WEST AND EAST FREE SILVER THEY THINK THEY ARE IN THE BAND WAGON. there may be a change of system and a change of methods, thus assuring the maintenance unimpaired of institutions under which the Republic has grown great and powerful. “And this, Will, is the platform of the People's party adopted at Omaha." FINANCE AND CURRENCY. We demand a national currency, safe, sound and flexible, issued by the federal government only, a full legal-tender for all debts, public and private, and that without the use of banking corporations, a just, equitable and efficient means of distribution direct to the people, at a tax not to exceed 2 per cent. per annum to be provided as set forth in the sub-treasury plan of the Farmers' alliance, or a better system; also by payments in discharge of its obligations for public improvements. 52 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 1. We demand free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1. 2. We demand that the amount of circulation medium be speedily increased to not less than $50 per capita. 3. We demand a graduated income tax. 4. We believe that the money of the country should be kept as much as possible in the hands of the people, and hence we demand that all state and national revenues shall be limited to the necessary expenses of the Government, economically and honestly adminis- tered. 5. We demand that postal savings banks be established by the Government for the safe deposit of the earnings of the people and to facilitate exchange. "The Prohibition party also mentioned this all important question at their convention at Cincinnati. They conclude": AS TO MONEY. The money of the country should be issued by the general government only, and in sufficient quantities to meet the demands of business and give full opportunity for the employment of labor. To this end an increase in the volume of money is demanded, and no individual or corporation should be allowed to make any profit through its issue. It should be made a legal tender for the payment of all debts, public and private. Its volume should be fixed at a definite sum per capita and made to increase with our increase in population. "Nor have the various states failed to express them- selves in the past on this point. State conventions will shortly be held, but the silver-planks in the platforms adopted in 1894 are worthy of perusal. Read these epitomes taken from the New York World Almanac for 1895." Mr. Money handed his son the following: DEMOCRATIC CONVENTIONS. Alabama.-While there are differences of opinion among us in matters of detail, we all believe in the free coinage of silver when- ever it can be done consistently with the maintenance of a sound and safe currency. Arkansas.-We still consider the act of 1873, whereby silver was demonetized, as the greatest legislative crime of the century, and demand the free and unlimited coinage of both silver and gold at a ratio of 16 to 1 as it then existed. We believe the constitutional power to borrow money should be exercised by Congress only in the event of great emergencies when the power to levy and collect taxes commensurate with the requirements of the occasion cannot be BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 53 enforced without manifest oppression of the people. Therefore we are opposed to the issue of bonds in time of peace. California.—We favor the retirement of all gold coins and paper currency below the denomination of $10 in order to restore silver to its full use as a circulating medium. We also favor the re-opening of the mints of the United States to the coinage of both gold and silver without discrimination on such basis as will maintain their parity, thus giving both metals such recognition as they enjoyed prior to the Republican demonetization of 1873. Connecticut.-We congratulate the country upon the successful efforts of President Cleveland to restore the currency of the country to a better condition than it has enjoyed for more than thirty years. Delaware.-In accord with the National Democratic platform of 1892, we declare that "we hold to the use of both gold and silver as the standard money of the country, and to the coinage of both gold and silver without discriminating against either metal, or charge for mintage, but the dollar unit of coinage of both metals must be of equal intrinsic and exchangeable value, or be adjusted by such safeguards of legislation as shall ensure the maintenance of the parity of the two metals and the equal power of every dollar at all times in the markets and in the payment of debts; and we demand that all paper currency shall be kept at par with and redeemable in such coin." Florida. We recognize with feelings of pride the unswerving integrity and patriotism of President Cleveland, his executive ability, his wisdom in maintaining a sound and stable currrency. Georgia. We demand the immediate passage of such legislation as will restore silver to its constitutional position as a money metal, and will secure at once the free and unlimited coinage of gold and silver on a parity and give to every dollar in circulation, whether coin or paper, the same debt-paying and purchasing power. Illinois. We again declare our loyalty to that time-honored principle of the Democratic party which favors honest money, the gold and silver coinage provided by the Constitution of the United States, and a currency convertible in such coinage without loss to the holder. We insist that justice to all citizens requires a strict adherence to this democratic principle, and we demand that the Government shall spare no effort to bring about a proper ratio between the values of gold and silver so that parity may be main- tained between the two metals and all mints thrown open to free coinage. We declare that this has for years been a cardinal doctrine of the Democratic party, and we denounce the Republican party for its constant and persistent efforts to demonetize silver and thus increase all public and private debts. Indiana.-We indorse the repeal of the purchasing clause of that cowardly Republican makeshift, the Sherman Silver act of 1890. We reaffirm our belief that both gold and silver should be used as the money standard of the country, and that both should be coined without discriminating against either metal and without charge for mintage. We believe it absolutely necessary to the welfare and pros- perity of the great producing masses that silver should be restored 54 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. to the place it occupied in the currency systems of the world a quarter of a century ago, and we hail with delight the many signs of a revolution in public opinion in the great commercial nations in favor of a restoration of the bimetallic system. We pledge our hearty efforts to secure the adoption of every measure for the complete restoration of silver to its proper place in our monetary system, either through international agreement or by such safeguards of legislation as shall ensure the maintenance of the parity of the two metals, and the equal power of every dollar at all times in the markets and in payment of debt; and we demand that all paper currency shall be kept at par and redeemable in such coin. lowa. With the National Democratic convention of 1892 we hold to the use of both gold and silver as the standard money of the country and the coinage of both gold and silver without discrimin- ating against oither metal or charge for mintage, but the dollar unit of coinage of both metals must be of equal intrinsic and exchange- able value, and we demand that all paper currency shall be kept at par with aud redeemable in such coin. And we favor such legislation as will faithfully carry out these pledges to the people. Massachusetts.-We hold that the currency troubles which, during the last twenty-five years, have brought industrial stress upon this country, are evils for which the Republican party is directly respon- sible. In 1870 a Republican President, with the assistance of a Repub- lican Congress, packed the United States Supreme Court to reverse the decision that the making of greenbacks a legal tender was uncon- stitutional, and thus opened the way for unlimited inflation. One of the results of the false ideas thus inculcated was the Bland-Allison act of 1878, which compelled the purchase of silver bullion to the amount of $2,000,000 a month. The evil done by this law was greatly increased in 1890, when, in pursuance of a recommendation of a Republican Secretary of the Treasury, a Republican Congress passed, and a Republican President signed, the Sherman act, com- pelling the purchase of silver bullion to the amount of 4,500,000 ounces per month. These various measures have all been in direct violation of the constitutional functions of the government, accord- ing to the historic principles of the Democratic party. On the other hand, the only financial measure during this generation for which, as the party in power, the Democratic party is responsible, has been the repeal of the Sherman act as the first step towards a healthier financial condition. We reaffirm our allegiance to the great financial principles which guided Jefferson, Jackson and Secretary Walker; that it is the sole function of the Federal Government in monetary matters to provide a standard of value and to coin metallic money, every dollar of which shall be of equal intrinsic value; that nothing but this coined money shall be a legal tender, and that the govern- ment shall not carry on a banking business. We demand that the untaxed notes of State or National banks shall be the only paper money, and that the Government shall, with the development of a banking system adequate to the demands of trade, retire as rapidly as possible all its legal tender paper money. Michigan.-We declare in favor of the free and unlimited coin- BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 55 age of silver at a ratio that will permit the debtors to pay their debts upon the same basis in which they were contracted. We demand that henceforth the issuing of all circulating medium be made under the acts of Congress, through the National Treasury, in such amounts as the business wants of the country may require, and it shall be fuil legal tender. Minnesota.-We are in favor of the free coinage of silver when- ever it can be accomplished consistently with the maintenance of a sound and safe currency. Missouri.-Whereas the Constitution of the United States pro- vides that Congress shall have power to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coins; and also provides that no State shall coin money or make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; hence we declare it to be a duty enjoined upon Congress to coin both gold and silver money for the use of the people of the States; that Congress has no rightful power to refuse the coinage of either metal. We therefore demand the free bi- metallic coinage of both gold and silver and the restoration of the bimetallic standard as it existed under our laws for over eighty years prior to the demonetization of the standard silver dollar in 1873, and should it become necessary in order to maintain the two metals in circulation to readjust the ratio, it should be determined whether gold has risen or silver has fallen, or whether there should be a change of the gold dollar or of the silver dollar, or of both, to the end that whatever ratio is adopted the rights of both creditor and debtor shall be preserved alike, having in view the demands of the people for an adequate circulating medium. We declare that we are not in favor of gold monometallism or silver monometallism, but that both should be coined at such ratio as will maintain the two metals in circulation. We insist upon the democratic doctrine of Jackson and Benton that all money issued by the authority of Con- gress shall be issued and its value maintained by the Government. That we are opposed to farming out to National banks the right to issue circulating notes. That we are opposed to any further increase of the interest-bearing debt of the Government.-Adopted by a vote of 423 to 109 after a substitute by Governor Francis was voted down. Nebraska.—We endorse the principles of faith as set forth in the national democratic platform adopted at Chicago in 1892, including the money plank, and we accept the construction placed upon that plank by Grover Cleveland as a sound interpretation, and insist that every dollar issued or coined by the Government shall be as good as every other dollar.-Independent Democrats. We endorse the language used by Hon. John G. Carlisle in 1878, when he denounced the "conspiracy" to destroy silver money as "the most gigantic crime of this or any other age," and we agree with him that "the consummation of such a scheme would ultimately entail more misery upon the human race than all the wars, the pesti- lences and famines that ever occurred in the history of the world." We are not willing to be parties to such a crime, and in order to undo the wrong already done and to prevent the further appreciation of money, we favor the immediate restoration of the free and unlim- 56 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. ited coinage of gold and silver at the present ratio of 16 to 1, with- out waiting for the aid or consent of any other nation on earth. We regard the right to issue money as an attribute of sovereignty and believe that all money needed to supplement the gold and silver coinage of the Constitution, and to make the dollar so stable in its purchasing power that it will defraud neither debtor nor creditor, should be issued by the general government as the greenbacks were issued; that such money should be redeemable in coin, the Govern- ment to exercise the option by redeeming in gold or silver, whichever is most convenient for the Government. We believe that all money issued by the Government, whether gold, silver, or paper, should be made a full legal tender for all debts, public and private, and that no citizen should be permitted to demonetize by contract that which the Government makes money by law.-Regular Democrats, adopted after voting down a minority report by a vote of 392 to 159. New Hampshire.-We congratulate the party and the national administration upon the substantial redemption of their pledges to the country upon which the last national election was won. The "Sherman silver law," an insidious cause of the recent financial panic, has been repealed. New York. We therefore rejoice that, by the repeal of the Sherman law for the purchase and storage of silver bullion, all fear of a depreciated currency has been allayed and faith has been restored in the ability of the Government to maintain a constant parity between its gold and silver coinage.-Regular Democracy. North Carolina.—We hold it is the duty of the law-making department of the Government, now in the hands of the Democracy, to take immediate steps to restore by legislation the equal privi- leges of silver with gold at the mints, by free and unlimited coinage of both gold and silver at a ratio of 16 to 1, such being the ratio of coinage which heretofore has held in the United States. North Dakota.-We demand the free bi-metallic coinage of both gold and silver, and the restoration of the bi-metallic standard as it existed for over eighty years prior to the demonetization of the standard silver dollar in 1873, and should it become necessary, in order to maintain the two metals in circulation, to readjust the ratio, it should be determined whether gold has risen or silver has fallen, and whether there should be a change of a gold or silver dollar, or both, to the end that whatever ratio is adopted, the rights of both creditor and debtor should be preserved alike. Having in view the demands of the people for an adequate circulating medium, we declare that we are not in favor of gold monometallism or silver monometallism, but that both should be coined in such a ratio as will maintain the two metals in circulation. Ohio. We dissent from the President's views, construction and treatment of the silver question, and, therefore, believe that silver should be restored to the position it occupied as money prior to its demonetization by the Republican party, and to that end we favor the unlimited free coinage of silver at the legal ratio of 16 to 1 and with equal legal tender power.-Adopted after defeating a minority resolution by a vote of 468.4 to 319.6. BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 57 Pennsylvania.-We declare that the consistent, courageous and inflexible determination of a Democratic President to maintain the credit of the Government terminated a financial panic, restored confidence, and composed disturbed values. We are opposed to the reckless inflation of the currency to $10 per capita demanded by the Republican State Conventions of 1893 and 1894; and, while wə favor the circulation of constitutional money, gold and silver, at a parity of value, we are unalterably opposed to any debasement of the currency or to the depreciation of any dollar issued by the Gov- ernment to the people. South Carolina.-We demand that the Government shall estab- lish sub-treasuries or depositories in the several States, which shall issue money direct to the people at a low rate of interest, not to exceed two per cent per annum, on unperishable farm products, and also upon cultivated land, the quantity of land and the amount of money considered. We demand that the amount of the circulative medium be speedily increased to not less than $50 per capita. We demand that Congress pass such laws as will effectually prevent the dealing in futures of all agricultural and mechanical productions, pro- viding such stringent system of procedure in trials as will secure the prompt conviction and imposing such penalties as shall secure the most perfect compliance with the law. We condemn the silver bill recently passed by Congress, and demand in lieu thereof the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1.—Tillmanites. Texas. We hold to the use of both gold and silver as the standard money of the country, and the equal coinage of both metals without discrimination against either metal or charge for mintage; but the dollar unit of coinage of both metals must be of equal intrinsic and exchangeable value or be adjusted through inter- national agreement or by such safeguards of legislation as shall insure the maintenance of parity of the two metals and the equal power of every dollar at all times in the markets and in payment of debts, and we demand that all paper currency shall be kept at par with and redeemable in such coin. We insist upon this policy as especially necessary for the protection of farmers and laboring classes, the first and most defenseless victims of unstable money and a fluctuating currency. Vermont.We recognize the fact that the progress of civiliza- tion has made the large nations of the world dependent upon each other financially, and we demand a currency that shall be of its face value in every part of the globe. We believe in gold and silver as a circulating medium, and that they shall be made of equal value, as demanded in the National Democratic platform of 1892. Wisconsin.—By the repeal of the Republican measure known as the Sherman silver law the money of the country is restored to a sound basis, and no proposed legislation should be entertained which does not provide that every dollar issued by the Government should be of equal intrinsic and interchangeable value REPUBLICAN CONVENTIONS. Arkansas.—The American people from tradition and interest favor bimetallism, and the Republican party demands the use of 58 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. both gold and silver as standard money, with such restrictions and under such provisions to be determined by legislation as will secure and maintain the parity of values of the metals, so that the pur- chasing and debt-paying power of a dollar, whether of silver, gold or paper, shall be at all times equal. California.-We favor the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1, and the making of silver, as well as gold, a legal tender in payment of all debts, both public and private, and we pledge our Congressional nominees to the support of the prin- ciples contained in this resolution. Colorado.-The Republican party of Colorado demands the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at the ratio of 16 to 1, and is opposed to making the policy of the United States await, or depend upon, the action of any other country. We believe that per- manent prosperity will not return to this country until silver shall be restored to its full use and highest position. We denounce the "People's party" as the most insidious foe to the restoration of the free and unlimited coinage of silver in that its platform demands an extensive use of paper money, not based upon or redeemable in either gold or silver. We believe that free coinage will only come from the hands of the Republican party. Connecticut.-The Republican party, now as always the party of honest money, and opposed to any debasement of the people's cur- rency, holds that American silver as well as American gold should be used as standard money under such international agreements as will insure the maintenance of a parity of values, so that the pur- chasing and debt-paying power of every dollar issued by the Gov- ernment, whether of gold, silver or paper, shall be at all times the same. Delaware.-We favor bimetallism and demand the use of both gold and silver as standard money at such ratio and under such con- ditions as shall be fixed by international agreement. We believe that the commercial welfare of the world is seriously prejudiced by the dislocation of the parity of value between silver and gold, and that full prosperity will not be re-established until silver is restored to its proper place as a money metal of equal debt-paying power with gold in the currency of the nations, and we urge such a policy upon the part of the United States as will finally bring about this most desirable end. Illinois. We favor bimetallism, and believe in the use of gold and silver as money metals upon a parity of values, with complete incontrovertibility, under such legislative provisions as shall make the purchasing or debt-paying power of any dollar coined or issued by the United States the absolute equivalent of that of any other dollar so coined or issued. Indiana.-We believe in a currency composed of gold, silver and paper, readily convertible at a fixed standard of value and entirely under national control, and we favor the imposition of increased tariff duties upon the imports from all countries which oppose the coinage of silver upon a basis to be determined by an international congress for such purpose. We denounce the avowed BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 59 1 purpose of the Democratic party to restore the era of "wild-cat" money. Iowa. We adhere to the declaration of the National Republican party in 1892 upon its monetary policy. We reaffirm our belief that the interests of the country, its farmers and workingmen demand that every dollar, paper or coin, issued by the Government shall be as good as any other dollar. We favor the largest possible use of silver as money that is consistent with the permanent maintenance DEMOGRATIO PARTY И وغیرہ نہ جو ہے EPUBLICAN PARTY THE DANGER TO BOTH PARTIES. of equal values of all dollars in circulation. We do not desire mono- metallism either of gold or silver, and we pledge ourselves to con- tinue to work for bimetallism to be brought about by all fit means within the power of the Government. Kansas.-The American people favor bimetallism and the Republican party demands the use of both silver and gold as standard money with such restrictions and under such provisions, to 60 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. be determined by legislation, as will secure the maintenance of the parity of the values of the two metals, and that the purchasing and debt-paying power of the dollar, whether of gold, silver or paper, should be at all times equal. The interests of the producers of the country, its farmers and its workingmen, demand that the mints be opened to the coinage of silver of the mines of the United States, and that Congress should enact a law levying a tax on importa- tions of foreign silver sufficient to fully protect the products of our own mines. Maine. We advocate a financial policy not in favor of mono- metallism, either of gold or silver, as the basis of a financial system, but international bimetallism to be secured by strenuous efforts of the national power. Now, and in the future, all dollars should be of equal value, to the end that a suitable currency, abundant for all wants, shall secure to all the people the full results of their labor. Massachusetts.-The platform declared for "Every dollar paid by the Government, both the gold and silver dollars of the constitu- tion, and their paper representatives, honest and unchanging in value and equal to every other." Michigan. We believe in the use of gold and silver as money metals, to be maintained in circulation on a perfect equality and interconvertibility. We recognize the so-called silver question as one of the paramount political issues of the day, and believe that the people of this State and country can and do look to the Repub- lican party-the party of ability and progress-as the only party that can give a wise and adequate solution of this problem. We, therefore, pledge the Republican party of Michigan to use every effort in its power to restore silver to its proper position in the United States as a money metal. We pledge this in the bolief that permanent prosperity will not be assured nor justice be done until silver takes its time-honored place side by side with gold as one of the two great money metals of the world. Minnesota.-The Republican party believes in the use of both gold and silver as money, maintaining the substantial parity of value of every dollar in circulation with that of every other dollar. It believes in bimetallism and that the restoration of silver as ultimate money to the currency of the world is absolutely necessary for business prosperity, proper rates of wages, and the welfare of the people. Holding these views, we believe it should be the policy of the United States to do everything in its power to promote the restoration of silver to the world's currency. Missouri.-We declare that the interests of all the pcople demand that every dollar, paper or coin, issued by the Government shall be as good as any other dollar. We favor the largest possible coinage of silver that is consistent with the permanent maintenance of equal purchasing and debt-paying power of all dollars in circula- tion. We do not want monometallism of either gold or silver, and we pledge ourselves to continue to work for bimetallism, to be brought about by all means within the power of the Government. Nebraska.—The Republican party of Nebraska has always been the consistent friend and aggressive champion of honest money, BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 61 and it now takes no stop backward. While we favor bimetallism, and demand the use of both gold and silver standard money, we insist that the parity of the value of the two metals be maintained, so that every dollar, paper or coin, issued by the Government shall be as good as any other. New Hampshire.-The Republicans condemn a Democratic fiscal policy which has created distrust abroad and apprehension at home, dissipated the gold reserve, emptied the Treasury, compelled a new issue of bonds, and, in its abject helplessness, has no measure of relief to propose except the "coinage of a vacuum." New York. We favor an honest dollar, and oppose any effort, whether by the removal of the tax on State bank issues or the free coinage of silver, to lower our currency standard, and we favor an international agreement which shall result in the use of both gold and silver as a circulating medium. North Dakota.-We are oposed to the paper fiat money doctrine of the Populist party, and believe in a metallic basis for our cur- rency, consisting of both gold and silver; the Republican party of North Dakota demands the use of both these metals as a standard money. We also demand that the mints be opened for the coinage of silver mined in the United States, with such restrictions and under such provisions, to be determined by legislation, as will main- tain the parity of values of the two metals. The purchasing and debt-paying power of each dollar must always be kept equal to that of every other dollar. Congress should levy a tax on all silver suf- ficient to protect fully the products of our own mines. Ohio. We favor bimetallism. Silver, as well as gold, is one of the great products of the United States. Its coinage and use as a circulating medium should be steadily maintained and constantly encouraged by the National Government; and we advocate such a policy as will, by discriminating legislation or otherwise, most speedily restore to silver its rightful place as a money metal. We denounce the avowed purpose of the Democratic leaders to restore the era of "wild-cat" and "red-dog" money by repealing the pro- hibitory ten-per-cent. tax on State bank issues. All money, of whatever kind, should be under National, and not State control. Pennsylvania.-We favor the expansion of the circulating medium of the country until the same shall amount to $40 per capita of our population, and approve the proposition to issue to National banks notes to the par value of the amount of bonds deposited to secure their circulation. We declare that the obliga- tions of the Government should be discharged in money approved and current in all civilized nations, to the end that a largely increased reserve of gold should be gradually accumulated and maintained. We declare our belief to be that no legislation can make our currency meet the needs of the American people unless it conforms to the following utterances of our last national con- vention (quoting the financial plank of the national platform). Rhode Island.-We believe that every dollar should be of equal purchasing power, and that the money of the greatest commercial nation of the world should not be inferior to that of other commer- 62 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. cial nations. We favor the system of National banks, and are unalterably opposed to the Democratic policy of the re-establish- ment of state banks. Tennessee.-The American people, from tradition and interest, favor bimetallism, and the Republican party demands the use of both gold and silver as standard money, with such restrictions and under such provisions, to be determined by legislation, as will secure the maintenance of the parity of values of the two metals, so that the purchasing and debt-paying power of the dollar, whether silver, gold or paper, shall be at all times equal, and we are in favor of a circulating medium of volume sufficient to meet the demands of business and commerce. We are opposed to returning to the wild cat state banking system, as advocated by the Democratic party, and as the same existed in Tennessee before the war. Texas. We are in favor of sound money, gold, silver and cur- rency, its volume as large as practicable, so coined and issued that every dollar shall be equal in value the one to the other. Wisconsin.-The Republican party is in favor of honest money. We are unalterably opposed to any scheme that will give to this country a debased or depreciated currency. We favor the use of silver as a currency to the extent only that it can be circulated on a parity of gold. Wyoming.—We favor the free and unlimited coinage of both gold and silver at a ratio of 16 to 1, with full legal tender functions accorded to each in payment of all public and private debts. PEOPLE'S PARTY CONVENTIONS. Conventions of the People's party in all cases reaffirmed the principles of the national platform adopted at Omaha in 1892, which demanded "the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1, without waiting for the co-operation of any other government.” "" The Alabama (Kolbite, Populist and Republican) convention demanded "the expansion of the circulating medium to $50 per capita.' The California convention demanded "the unconditional repeal of the National bank act, and that Congress shall issue treasury notes, legal tender for all debts, public and private." The Illinois convention demanded "the issuance by the general Govern- ment of legal tender notes in sufficient volume to meet the require- ments of the business of our country.' The Arkansas convention denounced the Democracy for "the passage of the infamous bill unconditionally repealing the purchas- ing clause of the silver act of 1890 at the dictation of Grover Cleve- land, John Sherman and Wall street, thereby contracting the volume of our currency many million dollars per annum, causing labor to go without employment, farms to go untilled, and suffering and distress entailed upon millions of American citizens.' The Kansas convention was "unalterably opposed to the issue of government interest-bearing bonds," and demanded instead "the issue of full legal tender treasury notes, and the payment of the same, together with silver money to meet the needs of the Govern- BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 63 ment." The Texas convention demanded "the abolition of private banks of issue of every character, whether state or national," and denounced "the issue of gold bonds in time of peace to meet current expenses of government." Other conventions of the People's party expressed sentiments similar to those above quoted. PROHIBITIONIST CONVENTIONS. Prohibition state conventions, when they touched at all upon the currency question, reflected, as a rule, the prevailing views of their section of the country. The Michigan convention favored the free and unlimited coinage of gold and silver at a ratio of 16 to 1, supplemented by full legal tender greenback and fractional cur- rency to maintain a circulation of $50 per capita. The Minnesota convention demanded "the remonetization of silver." The New York convention declared that "the currency should be issued by the Federal Government alone, and should not be delegated to private individuals or corporations. Every dollar, whether of gold, silver or paper, should be legal tender for the payment of all debts." The Tennessee convention was for a national currency that "should be issued directly to the people through Government banks," and favored the issue of "legal tender not less than $40 per capita." In addition to all these declarations, the situation has given birth to a new political party; for a manifesto has been issued by the Bimetallic League and independent silver men for the establishment of a new political party to be known as the American Bimetallic Party, on the single issue presented by the money question. The signatures of twelve prominent silver men, including Senators Jones and Stewart, of Nevada, and Representative McLaurin, of South Carolina, are appended to the manifesto, which contains an address to the people of the United States and the platform proposed for the new party. After a long argument in favor of bimetallism and the policy of postponing all other issues. to the predominant one of currency reform, the address. says: "No old party ever carried through a great reform. "New bottles for new wine." Therefore, no course seems possible but to subordinate for the time being other ques- tions and come together in a new organization to fight the great battle of 1896 on the one great issue on which the 64 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. prosperity and happiness of the people so largely depend. It is believed that this cause can be won in no other way, and that to continue to contend for it only within the lines of existing parties is to court defeat at the outset, and to lose the battle in the end.' "The platform consists of three planks, and reads as follows: First. We declare ourselves to be unalterably opposed to the single gold standard, and demand an immediate return to the con- stitutional standard of gold and silver, by the restoration by this Government, independently of any foreign power, of the unrestricted coinage of both gold and silver into standard money at the ratio of 16 to 1, and upon terms of exact equality; the silver coin to be a full legal tender equally with gold, for all debts and dues, public and private. Second. We hold that the power to control and regulate a paper currency is inseparable from the power to coin money; and hence that all currency intended to circulate as money should be issued and its volume controlled by the Government only, and should be legal tender. Third. We are unalterably opposed to the issue by the United States of interest bearing bonds in time of peace, and demand the payment of all coin obligations of the United States, as provided by existing laws, in either gold or silver coin, at the option of the Government, and not at the option of the creditor. "The name of Representative Joseph C. Sibley, of Pennsylvania, is suggested by the executive committee of JOSEPH O. SIBLEY. the new party as a proper candidate for President. Mr. Sibley is a wealthy farmer who was elected to Congress on a fusion ticket which received the support of Democrats, Populists and Prohibitionists. Two of his speeches. on the silver question attracted con- siderable attention. "The American Bimetallic League, so called, asks, as you see, for free coinage at 16 to 1, and hence its voice is for the single silver standard, the inevitable result of such policy in this country. 'Bime- BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 65 tallism' is simply a term used as a blind by them for silver monometallism. They want no currency whose money of ultimate redemption is gold. And so it is with the entire element calling for a new silver party. They want to revolutionize our financial system, overthrow the gold standard, by which our silver currency is now kept at full purchasing power, put us on the low level of the countries where international prices are governed by silver, and reduce the purchasing power of our currency MINE OWNER NATIONAL CALAMITY. MAN IN VAIN IS THE SNARE SET. one-half. That is the desire of these people-simply to enable dishonest debtors to cheat their creditors and pay off their debts in fifty-cent dollars. "The insincerity of the 16 to 1 silver men is evident. They cannot get any international conference to indorse their views. 5 66 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. "This party has but little following east of the Mississippi river, and it gathers its continued vitality further west to the 'desperate speculators who have blown everything into silver mines and become politi- cal desperadoes.' These have played on the cupidity of other politicians and on the ignorance of the masses who feel the stress of the hard times, but the silver fanaticism which they thus foster, will not be of long duration." “Now, my lad, when you see the country from Maine to California worrying over problems which have puzzled the ages, it seems to me that a sixteen-year-old lad should have had sense enough to hold his peace. Now, what is the first duty of an American, Will?" To maintain the honor of his country, father." "Yes, and as an inseparable part of that honor and dignity to maintain his country's financial credit, for if our monetary standard be not such as to command the con- fidence of investors, domestic as well as foreign, doubt and uncertainty will penetrate all avenues of business, and unless the disturbing cause be removed will result ultimately in national bankruptcy." “Well, father, what are the reasons for a gold standard in America ?" "That is a point too often overlooked by those who assail it. All the great nations of the world have adopted that standard, and insist upon conducting all business trans- actions in it. The main question must ever be with us, How shall we honestly preserve our prosperity and continue our progress? And you may well read what Chauncey M. Depew said at Detroit on May 2d, 1895. Surely the genial Chauncey is American enough for you. He was too Ameri- can for Governor Altgeld, who complained that he wrapped himself up in the American flag. Said Mr. Depew: BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 67 The drastic lesson of the last two years has taught us that this enormous internal commerce of ours, which includes all the pro- ductive elements which go to make it up, can be destroyed by dis- trust. Confidence and credit are the factors of American prosper- ity and progress. With confidence the spindles hum, the furnace is in blast, the miner is at work, the farmer is happy, labor has full employment, capital is active, and the wheel of the freight car is perpetually revolving. With confidence a business of incalculable magnitude can get along with notes, checks, warehouse receipts, telegraphic orders and other commercial appliances, and with very little currency. Without confidence there is not money enough in the world to conduct the business of the United States. We are all business men. Business men care nothing for featherheads whose stock in trade is epithets or phrases. By business men I mean every man who uses his money, his hands or his brains in any activity. The time has come when, without regard to temporary madness, or prejudices, or hard names, business men should calmly consider the dangers of our situation. We have been at the bottom, and we are on the up-grade of prosperity, but it is purely tentative so far because of doubt and distrust. Doubt and distrust about what? About the things concerning which among a commercial people there should never be any doubt or any distrust. We should have a revenue system so well defined that it could not be disturbed, except in minor details, for a generation. While not discussing tariff or free trade, we should have a revenue system which will meet the requirements of the Government and support it without direct taxation. There never should be any doubt as to the currency of the peo- ple. Their currency should be such that the world would recognize it upon a common standard. It is said that the debtor can pay his debts more easily in depreciated currency. There is an easier and quicker way, and that is not to pay them at all. The United States are a debtor, national, municipal, railway and individual, to the extent of about $14,000,000,000. We have developed our marvelous resources with this borrowed capital. Of this sum one-third is held abroad. A well-defined policy to pay our debts at seventy-five cents or at fifty cents on the dollar would lead to $2,000,000,000 or $3,000,- 000,000 of securities coming home here for us to take. The pre- sentation of them in our markets would endanger the stability of every bank, derange every exchange and paralyze every industry in the United States. The fiat of the Government cannot make paper of value, nor silver of value, nor copper of value, nor gold of value, though it may compel any or all of them to be taken in payment of debts within the limits of the United States. There can be but one standard of value, and that is a metal which will bring the same price whether it is in the bar or has the stamp of the Government upon it. If the promise of the Government to pay a dollar is to be redeemed at the treasury in a coin which is worth one hundred cents anywhere in the United States, and worth one hundred cents any- where in the world, then the dollar which pays the laborer for his work and the farmer for his wheat and the merchant for his wares 68 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. JHANZE LLOINS NANCIAL COIN'S ANCIAL SCHOOL OIN FINANCIAL SCHOOL COIN'S COIN'S FIN FINANCIAL 2 1 1 2 MAAN FREE SILVER NEAR THE END. OBLIVION ........ BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 69 represents the full value of the labor and of the product for which it is paid. Anything less as money ruins our trade with foreign countries, robs the wage-earner and producer and makes us a nation of speculators. I simply hint at this question as the one which, unless settled, will make impossible that prosperity for which we are all longing and praying. "I will explain to your after lunch the simplest proposi- tions of the silver question." The professor nothing loth then demolished his potatoes at the ratio of 16 to 1 of meat. CHAPTER IV. THE PRINCIPLES OF HONEST FINANCE. "Truth" said Corot, the great French painter, "is the first thing in art, and the second and the third. This proposition is, if possi- ble, of greater force and vitality as regards the science of political economy." "Pin thy faith to no man's sleeve; hast thou not two eyes of thine Own?"-THOMAS CARLYLE. The noon-day meal finished, Silas Money took his son for a walk towards the silvery Illinois river, and, seated on a huge bowlder that came from the Lake Superior district ages before Abraham "weighed the silver" for the pur- chase of the cave of Macpelah, the two resumed the inter- rupted discussion. "Now, Will, suppose there was no money in the world, and a farmer wanted a hat, and his wife a dress and his child a pair of shoes, can you tell me a good way for him to get them?" Why, he could trade off a load of potatoes or what- ever he might have at the store, I suppose." "Do you know the usual name for such dealings?" "It is called barter." "When is it customary?" "Only before people become civilized enough to have money." "Here is a clipping you may well read on that point, my boy:" The people who falsely hold that they have scriptural warrant for believing money to be the root of all evil, and sigh for a 'reform' which will enable the civilized world to dispense with its use, may 70 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 71 fancy they have legitimate cause for denouncing the conduct of the British army in Chitral. Up to a short time ago the people of that country had lived in a moneyless Eden. They had no money and no use for it. They did not know the want of it till the British red- coats went among them, and then they fell. The fact and the man- ner of it have been related in some lectures delivered in London. The British officials wished to have a considerable amount of work done by the natives and tried to hire the people to do it. The Chitralis were glad to take the offered rupees, but only in limited quantity, as they knew no other use for them than as ornaments. They soon grew tired of working and it became necessary to try other tactics. A lot of peddlers were sent for and distributed among the Chitralis. They offered them beads, looking-glasses, knives, and other articles attractive to such people, but they would not part with them except in exchange for rupees, which could only be obtained from the British in pay for work done and labor per- formed. So the natives succumbed. Many began to toil who never had toiled before, and those who already had toiled now toiled all the more. The Chitralis not only learned to work in carrying sup- plies up the mountains for the British but have shown a willingness to toil in other lines of effort when they can get silver rupees in payment. They have taken on a new cast of thought, are trans- formed from a primitive people, contented with little, into a semi- civilized folk who want more, and undoubtedly ere long will want much, for the process is one of the kind that grows by what it feeds on. But it is not less strange that the change has been brought about by the use of British silver, not 'British gold.' Evidently there must be some mistake on the part of those who preach that the English insist on gold monometallism in all dealings with others as well as among themselves. So far as reported the Britishers have introduced silver monometallism into Chitral, though for ought that is said to the contrary they may have been wise enough to use gold in gaining the good-will of the chiefs among these simple peo- ple who live on the skirts of the Himalayan mountains. The silver extremists in this country should approve the change, seeing that it brings an increased use for silver as money. "Now suppose there were within reach of our farmer only city stores where they don't keep all sorts of things at once ?" "Then he would have to cart his potatoes till he could find a village store where they deal in everything he wants, and would barter with him." "But they don't have good country stores near the cities, because people prefer to deal in the cities. It might 72 EXPOSED. BASE "COIN be a day's journey to one. Couldn't he do something else in the city near by ?" "He might go around till he found a shoemaker who wanted just potatoes enough to pay for a pair of shoes, BARGAIN DAY UNITED ONE RESULT OF FREE SILVER. and a batter who would take just potatoes enough to pay for a hat, and a dry-goods man who would want just pota- toes enough to pay for a dress." "But the city storekeepers wouldn't bother with such dealings, would they?" "No, probably not. He might spend a week, perhaps, without finding one who would. They would all laugh at him for asking them to." BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 73 "Still, of course, all this trouble would be necessary only if we have no money. Now, as we have money, what would the farmer naturally do?" "Take his potatoes where they buy potatoes, and then take his money where they sell shoes or hats or dresses." "So the mere fact that we have money would save him as much trouble as, probably, his potatoes cost. Now think this over in regard to all sorts of dealings, and you will get some idea of the very great usefulness of money. Suppose, though, that our farmer got paid in poor money?” "Then he couldn't do anything; but any man giving another poor money deceives him and robs him." "Very true! And what would you think of a man who tried to make all the money in the country poor?" "He would be the biggest liar and thief in the country." "Perhaps not, and it's not always well to use strong ex- pressions, even if they are true. Perhaps a man might attempt such gigantic fraud as that, from ignorance. I will try to help you to understand. How many kinds of money do you know?” "Five: bills, gold, silver, nickel and copper." Well, now, can you see any great difference between bills and the other kinds ?" "Yes. The bills cannot be used for any other purpose, while the coins can be melted up and used for other pur- poses.” 'The bill is worth nothing in itself: why is it valuable, then ?" "Because you can get coin for it. But it wouldn't be handy to carry around all the coins that a big bill is worth." "True! And, besides, coins are more easily lost than bills. But when you get the coin, can you tell me why a big silver dollar is worth only the same as a little gold dollar ?" 74 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. (( 'Because it takes a good deal of silver to be worth as much as a little gold. It takes a lot more nickel and copper, though, to be worth as much as silver." "Very good! But do you know whether, as a fact, the silver in a silver dollar is worth as much as the gold in a gold dollar ?" "No. The silver in a dollar is only worth a little over fifty cents, while the gold is worth a dollar exactly." "Now, will you explain to me, father, what is the object. of man's industry ?" The necessaries, conveniences, and amusements of life." "Can man by his own industry produce all that he desires ?" "By his own industry he satisfies a portion of his desires and exchanges a portion of his product for the product of the labor of others." "What is the basis of this exchange ?" "Labor is the real measure of the exchangeable value of all commodities." "Is one man's labor the equal of another man's labor?" 'The value of men's labor varies. There may be more value produced in one hour's hard work than in two hours' easy business, more value in production in an hour's appli- cation to a trade, which it has taken ten years to learn than in a week's industry in an ordinary occupation." "By what means is one man's labor compared with the labor of another ?" "By a comparison of what each produces with some other commodity which serves as a common denominator." "For the purpose of comparison, what commodities are generally used ?” "Gold and silver.' "" "What qualities make these metals desirable ?" "They are the least perishable, most portable, easily BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 75 hidden, easily divided; when pure, always of the same quality and of all commodities they are the most stable in value, though gold is forty times less bulky and clumsy and heavy to handle than silver per dollar's value." 'How long have these metals been used as common measures of value ?" "From the earliest periods of history." "How is their value determined ?" "First, by weight-'And Abraham weighed Ephron the silver '—and by weight to-day in China." "Upon what does their value depend?" "The quantity of labor which any particular quantity of them can buy or command or the quantity of other goods which it will exchange for depends upon the fertility or barrenness of the mines which happen to be known about the time when such exchanges are made."-Adam Smith. "What has been done to obviate the necessity of weigh- ing and assaying as Abraham did?” "First, commercial guilds; silversmiths and others. began to stamp on the metals certain marks testifying to the quantity and quality. After that the sovereigns, and then the governments of the nations most civilized, began to mint or coin the metals most in use. Charlemagne estab- lished the system of coinage which was adopted throughout Western Europe. He made the pound weight of silver the standard, and divided it into 240 pieces called pennies. For some centuries these silver pennies were the only coins in circulation." "What is meant by coining a metal?” "Putting a mark upon it which is a guarantee that it contains a given quantity of specified fineness." "Does coinage add to the value of either metal ?" "It adds nothing to its value. It simply makes it more convenient to use and thus facilitates exchange." 76 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. "Then gold and silver are mere commodities after coin- age as before ?" "The same as before. 'Coins of full commodity value are not money; they are commodities,' says Kitson." Money is a product of man's labor-a commodity. It is not any one specific thing, but may be almost anything, and is money only by reason of its fitness, at the time, for the service to be per- formed. In any given commodity there is a limit to the number of articles produced, and in earlier times this limit was very much nar- rower than now, but however limited the number of commodities may be there are always one or two that supply the money-want more efficiently than others. Now, as almost any commodity may be used as money, such a thing as a lack of it is not possible so long as man continues to be a producer of commodities, although he may, by false legislation, corrupt his money or throw restrictions around it, and thus lessen its efficiency. All over the world there have been examples of such false legislation whenever governments conceived it to be their function to regulate the value of money.- The Natural Law of Money, by William Brough (Putnam's, New York, pp. 5 and 6.) "Can you give any illustration to sustain this asser- tion ?" "When the coinage is free the coins are only of the value as the bullion each contains. Their legal tender quality adds nothing to their intrinsic worth. Melt up a gold eagle and it is still $10. Melt up a silver dollar in any free coinage country, it is still worth 50 cents, same as the silver dollar was. وو "What is the origin of the word ‘dollar' ?” • "In 1518, in Joachim's Valley, Bohemia, Count Schlick began to coin silver pieces of an ounce weight. They were uniform in weight and fineness and soon became numerous. Traders in want of some international standard, fixed by common honesty as a measure of value for other coins, gradually adopted these coins, and they were in good repute all over Europe, and under the name of Schlickten thalers, or Joachim's thalers, became synonymous for honest coins of full weight and value. After a time the name was abbreviated to thaler-literally 'valleyer'-thence to Low BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 77 German dahler, Swedish dalers, Italian tollero, and finally dollar. It was no government stamp, but the mere trade mark of an honest man." (C Why, then, does society go to the expense of establish- ing mints and forming intricate codes of laws relating to coinage if no additional value is given to the metals ?" "It is done simply for the purpose of facilitating exchange. Barter is the first crude form of commerce, but } ANY GOLD STANDARD. PROSPERITY حر ITALY SILVER STANDARD GOVERNMENT DANKRUPT 醉 ​KAS TENTAY ON THE DERMAN-AMERICANS ARE AGAINST THE FREE COINAGE OF SILVER SER TIMES-AERALD MONDAY MAY, 6'INTER- VIEWS WITH GEO. SCANEIDER LOUIS HUCK T.J.LEF ENS RUDOLPH BRAND CHAS. H.WACKER WM.C. SEIDP GERMAN AMERICAŃ DR. BLUTHARDT NO FREE SILVER FOR THE TEUTON. 1SUVER it is costly, subject to delay, to loss in the search for cus- tomers, and prevents that complete division of labor which is essential to the highest production." 78 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. "How does a common measure of value lead to a better division of labor ?" "By enlarging the markets. When the market is nar- row no one is encouraged to devote himself to the produc- tion of one article, for he may have most of his product on his hands or be able to exchange it only for something he does not need. By enlarging his market he has more pos- sible and actual customers. They may have nothing he wants, but they pay him in coin, and he exchanges that for what he needs. Thus money encourages commerce by facilitating exchange, and this extension of commerce leads to a more economical division of labor, leaving all men free to do all the time what they could best do." 66 What is the function of money ?” "Money has a twofold function; it is a measure of value and a medium of exchange." "How should the quantity of money be regulated ?" "By the demands of commerce." "How does commerce regulate the supply of money ?" "As it regulates the supply of other commodities. When money is scarce in one country money rushes from other countries to supply the vacuum, just as when food or clothing is scarce supplies come from all quarters." "What then is the province of legislation ?" "To maintain the standards, to punish fraud, to prevent counterfeiting, to ensure peace and tranquility and justice, and to remove all artificial barriers to exchange." "What do people mean who cry for more money?" "Dudley North answered this in 1891, when he said: 'Money is not their want, but a price for their corn and cattle which they would sell but cannot.' There never was more money in the United States, as this table shows:" BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 79 CURRENCY CIRCULATION. Amounts of money in the United States, and in circulation, on July 1 of each year, from 1860 to 1894 inclusive. Prepared in the office of the secretary of the treasury. AMOUNT OF MONEY IN JULY 1. UNITED AMOUNT IN CIRCULATION. POPULATIN JUNE 1. STATES. MONEY PER CAPITA. CIRCULA- TION PER CAPITA. 1860... 1861.. 1862. 1863. 1864.. • • $442,102,477 $ 435,407,252 31,443,321 $14.06 $13.85 • 452,005,767 448,405,767 32,064,000 14.09 13.98 358,452,079 334,697,741 32,704,000 10.96 10.23 674,867,283 595,394,038 33,365,000 20.23 17.84 705,588,067 669,641,478 34,046,000 20.72 19.67 1865... 770,129,755 714,702,995 34,748,000 22.16 20.57 1866.. · 754,327,254 673,488,244 35,469,000 21.27 18.99 1867... 728,200,612 661,992,069 36,211,000 20.11 18.28 1868... 1869... 716,553,578 680,103,661 715,351,180 664,452,891 37,756,000 36,973,000 19.38 18.39 18.95 17.60 1870. 1871.. 1872. 1873.. ► • • 722,868,461 * • 741,812,174 762,721,565 1874... 1875... 1876. 675,212,791 715,889,005 39,555,000 18.75 738,309,549 40,596,000 18.79 774,445,610 751,881,809 41,677,000 18.58 806,024,781 776,083,031 42,796,000 18.83 798,273,509 754,101,947 43,951,000 18.16 790,683,284 727,609,388 45,187,000 17.52 38,588,371 18.73 17.50 18.10 18.19 18.04 18.13 17.16 16.12 1877.. 763,053,847 722,314,883 46,353,000 16.46 15.58 1878... 791,253,576 729,132,634 47,598,000 16.62 15.32 1879.. 1880.. • 1,031,521,541 818,631,793 48,866,000 21.52 16.75 1,205,929,197 973,382,228 50,155,783 24.04 19.41 1881.. 1,406,541,823 1,114,238,119 51,316,000 27.41 21.71 1882... 1,480,531,719 1,174,290,419 52,495,000 28.20 22.37 1883... 1,643,489,816 1,230,305,696 53,693,000 30.61 22.91 1884. 1,705,454, 189 1,243,925,969 54,911,000 31.06 22.65 1885. 1,817,658,336 1886.. 1,808,559,691 1887 1888. · 1,900,442,672 1,292,568,615 56,148,000 1,252,700.525 57,404,000 1,317,539,143 32.37 23.02 31.51 21.82 58,680,000 32.39 22.45 • 2,062,955,949 1,372,170,870 59,974,000 34.40 22.88 1889 2,075,350,711 1,380,961,649 61,289,000 33.86 22.52 1890.. 2,144,226,159 1891... 2,195,224,075 1892.. 1,429,251,270 62,622,250 34.24 1,497,440,707 2,372,599,501 1,601,347,187 22.82 63,975,000 34.31 23.41 65,403,000 96.21 24.44 1893. 1894... 2,323,402,392 | 1,596,701,245 66,826,000 34.75 2,249,325,276 1,664,061,232 23.87 68,397,000 32.88 24.33 The difference between the amount of money in the country and the amount in circulation represents the money in the treasury. Currency certificates, act of June 8, 1872, are included in the amount of United States notes in circulation in tables for years 1873 to 1891, inclusive; since 1891 they are reported separately. "Would not more money enable them to sell them?” "Not unless other people had something they were willing to exchange for corn and cattle." "Does not the introduction of coined money change the character of commercial transactions ?" "The reasons which make the temporary or market 80 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. value of things depend on the demand and supply and the average and permanent value upon their cost of production are as applicable to a monetary system as to a system of barter." "Is the value of money metal dependent on legislation?" "The value of money metal is dependent on the cost of production and on the rapidity of its circulation." "What is the first requisite of good money?" "Stability." "Is there a general disposition among nations to use gold as the chief money metal, subordinating silver ?" "This tendency, noticeable in the early part of the cen- tury, has become very marked since the Franco-Prussian war, twenty-five years ago, in all civilized nations." "What is bimetallism ?” "Bimetallism is the legalized use of two metals in the currency of a country at a fixed relative value.” "Is it possible to maintain these metals in circulation at a fixed ratio with free coinage?" "Experience proves it to be impossible unless the bullion in each coin at some fixed ratio is equal in commercial value. The market ratio varies from time to time. The result is that the metal overvalued at the Mint leaves the country. This causes general fluctuation of values. This fact was noticed by John Stuart Mill, who says that when both metals are legal tender at a fixed valuation money is less stable than when the exclusive standard of the currency is either gold or silver. Instead of being affected only by the varia- tions in the cost of production of one metal it is subject to derangement from two." "Has any nation succeeded in maintaining a bimetallic currency with free coinage of both metals ?” "The United States tried it for eighty years, first in 1793 to 1873, and utterly failed. The effort results in the practi- BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 81 cal adoption of one standard and of one metal. In the Senate of the United States in a speech delivered September 28th, 1837, on the currency, Mr. Webster, said: 'There is but one money standard for the country, and the standard of value to be established by Congress is to be a currency and not bullion merely; because we find it is to be coined, that is, it is to be one or the other of the precious metals hearing an authentic stamp of value and passing therefore by tale. That is to be the standard of value.'”9 "E THE SOUTHERN STATES NOT AT HOME DON'T KNOTK GO AWAY' 35 FREL سائے 188 DEFEATS THE ANSWER OF THE SOUTH. "What has been the result where nations have sought to fix a ratio between silver and gold different from the market ratio ?" They have lost the undervalued metal." 'What nations have attempted to maintain a bimetallic standard ?" "Mexico, the nations of South America, China, Japan." "What has been the result ?" 6 82 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. "These nations have in effect adopted the silver as their single standard. Later on you shall see how it works." "What nations have adoped the single gold standard of value ?" "England, Germany, United States, and the Latin Union, by the suspension of the coinage of silver, Sweden, Norway, Holland, Switzerland; in short, all Europe." FINANCIAL RUIN FREE SILVER JHANZ, C. GLNG CHE. ANOTHER VIEW OF THE CRIME OF 1873." "In these cases has the result been to expel silver?" "In the nations where gold is the standard a large quantity of silver is maintained in circulation. In nations where silver is the standard no gold circulates." BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 83 "Tell me, father, what effect has the gold standard upon wages ?" "It has only the effect it has upon commerce-it gives stability to all values and increased facilities for exchange. It is worthy of note that the nations having gold as their standard of value and using both metals in their currency have the largest commerce and the highest scale of wages.' "When did Germany adopt the single gold standard?" "After her war with France The payment of the indem- nity by France gave Germany control of a large stock of gold, and her rulers determined to take advantage of the opportunity to reform the currency system of the empire. The various States then brought together as one nation had seventeen varieties of gold money and sixty-six different coins of silver having full legal tender value. The silver constituted sixty-five per cent. of the circulation. The new system established gold as the sole monetary system with silver limited to $2.50 per capita and its legal tender value limited to $5.” "What effect had this action of Germany on other nations?" "The Latin Union,' comprising the five countries using the franc system-France, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland and Greece-fearing Germany's silver would flood their mints to the exclusion of gold, in 1874 restricted, and in 1878 entirely suspended the coinage of silver five francs.” "When did the decline of silver become marked ?" "In 1873 the price of bar silver in London was $1.30 per ounce. In 1888 it had fallen to $0.94. In 1894 it had fallen to $0.631; or in twenty years it had declined one- half." 'What effect had this decline in value upon the world's production of silver ?" "It has steadily increased. In 1873 the world's pro- 84 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. In 1892 it was In other words, while the value has duction of silver was 63,267,000 ounces. 152,061,800 ounces. decreased one-half the production has increased two and one-half." "What has been the effect upon the world's progress of these economic changes?" "Never before in any corresponding period of time, according to David A. Wells, 'has labor been so productive; never has the volume of trade and commerce been greater; never has wealth been more rapidly accumulated; never has there been so much abundance for distributing on so favor- able terms to the masses; never, finally, would an ounce of silver exchange for so much of sugar, wheat, wool, iron, copper and coal,' as in the period from 1873 to 1890." "Can any of the recent disturbances be attributed to the suspension of the free coinage of silver?" "The suspension of the free coinage of silver was followed by seventeen years of unprecedented and universal pros- perity. The more recent disturbances are traceable to other causes." "To what causes are the disturbances in the United States traceable ?" To "The Republican explanation of the hard times and financial stringency since is the attempt of the silver mono- metallists to establish free coinage and the expulsion of gold and the action of the Democrats in Congress in passing the Wilson free trade bill, cutting down wages and prices and destroying confidence of business men in future values. the withdrawal of foreign capital from America because of these free silver coinage threats. And to ill-considered legislation concerning capital which generally marks an era of low prices. Substantially the 'sound money' Democrat concur in these views with the exceptions of the effect of tariff legislation." BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 85 "Would the free coinage of silver by the United States restore its market value ?" "It would not. Admitting, merely for the sake of argu- ment, that the decline has been due to the closing of the mints to silver by many nations, free coinage by one could not restore the former equilibrium." "Is there any natural, unchangeable ratio between the value of gold and silver?" "No more than there is between corn and wheat, cotton and wool, iron and steel, or the Democratic and Republican vote." "Is there a constitutional ratio between the value of gold and silver?" CC None; the Constitution leaves the matter to the control of Congress." Has Congress ever changed the legal ratio? "In 1793 Congress adopted the ratio of 15 to 1, but at that ratio few silver dollars were coined. And in 1805, President Jefferson, by an executive order, closed the mints to the coinage of the silver dollar. In 1834 Congress changed the ratio to 16 to 1 with the avowed purpose of securing a gold currency." "What was the effect of this slight over-valuation of gold?" We secured gold and lost our silver.” "What would be the effect should we now overvalue silver 100 per cent? "We would get all the silver we could pay for and lose all our gold” "Has anyone laid down a rule for establishing a ratio between gold and silver?” "Mr. Jefferson said, 'Just principles will lead us to dis- regard legal proportions altogether; to inquire into the market price of gold in the several countries with which we 86 “COİN” EXPOSED. BASE FREE SILVER. MANIA WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS S WORDS } PLU BVS UNUM THE FREE SILVER CRANK. BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 87 shall principally be connected in commerce, and to take an average from them. The proportion between the values of gold and silver is a mercantile problem altogether.'" 'Does the free coinage of any metal fix finally its rela- tion to any other metal or commodity?” The free coinage of a metal at a given ratio is simply the legal recognition of a fact already existing. When the market ratio changes it is the part of wisdom to change the legal ratio. When the fluctuation becomes rapid and fre- quent it is the part of wisdom to abandon the metal that has shown the least stability. The object of all coinage is simply to furnish commerce with the best possible instru- mentalities of exchange. When any of these instruments become impaired there is no more reason for retaining them than there would be for retaining the stage coach as a means of transportation or preferring the ship of 1792 to the steam vessel of 1895.” "Do we not destroy half the money of the world by closing the Mint to silver?" "The quantity of money in the world is of less import- ance than the quality. Money that is unstable is a nuis- ance; but as a matter of fact, the silver money to-day, upheld to parity with gold, equals in quantity of gold money, and the quantity of each exceeds anything known in the past. As a medium of exchange, coined silver, sus- tained by the credit of the various governments, is perform- ing this function as well as it ever did. Gold is the stand- ard of value as well as the medium of exchange in all civilized countries. It thus gives stability to all money systems and enables commercial nations to make their calculations concerning the future.” "What proportion of commercial transactions are settled in either gold or silver?" "Not 10 per cent. Commerce has certain instruments 88 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. of its own which to a large extent displace the metals, and to a large extent give to those metals more rapid circulation. The result is that only the balances in all transactions are settled in money, as at the clearing-house and as with mer- chants who keep accounts with one another." "How much money is in circulation in the United States?" "About $1,750,000,000; $624,000,000 silver, $661,000,- 000 gold, and $469,000,000 paper." 'What are the imports of the United States ?" "Under normal conditions the United States buys of foreign nations $800,000,000 annually." "To pay this debt then requires nearly all the money metal in the United States? "The great bulk of these goods are not paid for in money metal. They are paid for in other products which we export, the balances alone being paid either by the ex- port or import of gold and silver. But their values are all estimated by the gold standard." "Are the debts between individuals settled in the same way?" "They are. If a man buys a house and lot he pays for it by a draft on his banker with whom he has deposited his crop of tobacco, or cotton, or wheat, corn, oats, hogs, cattle, or the proceeds of some of these crops. The seller takes the draft and deposits it with his banker, and no actual money is known in the transaction." "Has not the decline in prices of all of the products. been due to the diminishing supply of gold?" "The supply of gold has not diminished. On the con- trary, it has greatly increased. In 1873 the gold product was $96,200,000; in 1894 it was $182,000,000.” << 'Has not the decline then been due to the fact that silver has been demonetized?" BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 89 If by demonetization is meant that silver has ceased to be used as money, there has been no demonetization, for as I have stated, there is more silver money in the world to-day than ever before." "To what is the decline in prices attributed?” Overproduction of many leading commodities. Too great a supply for the actual demand. Edward Atkinson. and David A. Wells, two well known American political economists, agree that the decline has been due to the vast improvements in the various processes of production. Edward Atkinson, in an article in the Forum for April, 1895, analyzes the decline in prices of various products, and de- clares that this decline has not been as great as the im- provement in the processes of production would justify, and that the decline has been checked by that natural law which increases the consumption as the prices fall.” "Is there any scarcity of money in the United States?" "On the contrary, the amount of money in circulation in the United States is greater to-day than it ever was before. And there are hundreds of millions lying idle in the banks waiting a demand for profitable investment." "What is the amount of money in circulation or in bank now ?" "About $1,754,000,000. By money in circulation I mean money subject upon call to the uses of commerce. Money in banks is thus subject to call. It is deposited there to be used on demand by the man who puts it there. Money in bank is far more effective-that is, far more active, more actually 'in circulation'-than money in a man's pocket. It is loaned, taken out and used to pay wages, and comes back again through other channels, and is thus kept in constant circulation, like water in the well, whereas the money that a man hides in his stocking or keeps in his pocket serves one purpose and one only; it gives assurance to that one 90 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. man that he is not dead broke. There it is like water in the pond." "Does the establishment of a bank in a community in- crease or decrease the supply of money.' 'It probably does neither, but it gathers from the vari- ous nooks and corners small sums that in the aggregate are powerful, and at once this amount of money which before was ineffective, almost useless, becomes the basis of various commercial enterprises. The establishment of a bank, therefore, while it does not increase the amount of money in a community, makes that money circulate more rapidly. In other words, it makes it more effective. Sinking a well does not increase the water in the earth, but it makes it more easily obtainable." "Is it not true, as your Financial School asserts, that only what he calls 'the redemption money,' that is, the money of the standard metal, has any influence on prices. They told me this over and over again," asked the lad. "It is not true. Metal or paper performing the func- tion of money and thus facilitating exchange has the same influence upon prices that the so-called redemption money has. This is shown by the history of paper money in Eng- land, as recorded in the bullion report. It is shown in the history of the Continental currency of the United States. It is shown by the assignats in France. It is shown by the history of greenbacks in the United States from 1862 to 1866. It is shown by the history of the Southern states during the Confederacy." "Who are the depositors in a bank?" "Merchants, manufacturers, farmers, and laboring men and women, a multitude of people everywhere who have saved much or little for investment, or have stored it up to be used for the education of their children, or for some other comfort or pleasure." BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 91 "Who are the stockholders ? " (6 Largely men and women of small means who have no business connection, but who have put their money into bank stocks in order that they may have some income from it, and this money is loaned by the banks to the active men of business." "What is the average holding of a stockholder in the National banks?" "It is $2,337. There are 287,842 stockholders, and the total amount of National bank stock is $672,671,361." "What is a savings bank?" "The savings banks of Massachusetts are the typical institutions of this kind, and probably the best organized. They have no stock. The money is deposited in the banks, carefully invested, and the interest returned to the de- positors." "How much money is deposited in the savings banks of the United States?' "In round numbers, $1,739,000,000." "But you said that the entire amount of currency in the United States was only $1,754,000,000. How can the savings banks have the amount you state? Have they all the money of the United States ? ” "A savings bank receives a deposit of, say $500. It loans this money on a real estate mortgage. The borrower uses the money to build a house. He pays it out to con- tractors; the contractors pay the money to the laborers, and the laborer in turn deposits a portion of it in the savings bank to his credit, and so the process goes on year by year. The deposits in the savings bank are mainly represented by the things which men exchange money for-houses and lots, stocks and bonds, and thousands of other things which con- stitute wealth, of which money is a very small portion." “Who are the depositors in a savings bank?" 92 BASE "COIN” EXPOSED. a "Men and women and children of small means who nave small deposits put by for a rainy day drawing a small rate of interest and gradually accumulating. "" "Then the savings banks are not owned by the bloated capitalists?" "They are owned, on the contrary, by the hard-working people of the United States." "And the National banks are not owned by Wall street?" "On the contrary, they are owned by people, most of whom have never seen Wall street.” "What would be the effect of the free coinage upon the savings of these millions of American men and women ? " "Free coinage would change at once the standard of all values. It would depreciate one-half the value of all sav- ings deposited in the National banks, state banks or savings banks. It would lower one-half the value of all life insur- ance, it would decrease the purchasing power of pensions one-half, and of all fixed incomes; it would make borrow- ing by the poor difficult and expensive, if not impossible; it would advance the rate of interest just in proportion as the prices advance, it would check all of those influences which under the name of civilization are making the good things of life abundant and the common things of life beautiful." "What was the world's production of gold and silver for the last one hundred years? "Of gold, $5,633,908,000; of silver, $5,104,961,000; total from 1792 to 1892, $10,738,869,000." "What was the estimated amount of gold and silver money in circulation in the world at the close of that period?" "About $7,500,000,000, my boy." BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 93 "What was the combined production of gold and silver in 1873, the beginning of the period of demonetization of silver, so-called?" "According to the estimate of the Mint the world's pro- duction of gold in 1873 was $96,200,000; of silver, $81,800,000; of both metals, $178,000,000.” "What was the world's production of gold in 1894?” "It is estimated at $182,000,000, or more than the com- bined production of gold and silver in 1873." "Then with gold alone we are adding as much money metal to the world's supply in 1894 as we were adding in 1873, before the demonetization of silver? " "We are adding just as much as then with the differ- ence that the quality is better and the facilities for circu- lating are greatly improved." "From 1792 to 1873 what was the world's production of silver?" "Two billion eight hundred and fifty million two hun- dred and forty-two thousand dollars." "Since that period how much gold has been added to the world's stock?' "Two billion three hundred and eighty-two million eight hundred and ninety-seven thousand dollars." "If all the silver produced since 1792 had been ‘wiped out' in 1873, and no more had been discovered, the pro- duction of gold would have made good the loss ?” "Eighty-three per cent. of the loss has been made good, and now the production of gold fully equals the produc- tion of gold and silver in 1873." "But was all the silver destroyed as money?" (C Every dollar of silver then existing is to-day, if exist- ing, a legal tender for its face value.” "Has any addition been made to the silver money of the world since 1873 ?" 94 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. "The United States alone has added $500,000,000 to the silver money since 1878." "You have seen the illustration in Coin's Financial School of all the gold in the world in the form of a cube placed in the Chicago wheat pit. Is it accurate ?" "Reasonably accurate." "Had the illustration been used in 1873 what proportion would the cube of 1873 bear to the cube of 1895 ? " "The cube of 1873 would have been less than half the size of the cube of 1895." "How is this conclusion reached?' "Coin states the world's stock of gold in 1895 to be $3,900,000,000. Of this sum $2,382,000,000 has been pro- INDIA SPRIN THE WORLDS SILVER PRODUCT PRANCEY, SILVER BULLION MERICAN SILVER AUSTRALI SOUTH AMERICANE SILVER ENCLA TOO BIG A LOAD FOR UNCLE SAM. JAVEL duced since 1873. Allowing for the losses by attrition and other causes during these twenty-two years we see that in that period the world's stock of gold has doubled, and that BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 95 the cube of gold alone in 1895 would be as potential as the two cubes of gold and silver in 1873.” "Has the disproportion between the gold in the world and the debts of the world any bearing on the question of coinage?' "It has none at all, for the debts of the world are to be paid in the goods of the world and not in gold, it being used to settle balances and for ultimate redemption of cur- rency notes; the debts are paid by the crops of the future, by the cattle yet unborn, by iron and coal and other minerals still in the earth.” "But when a coal company bonds the property it agrees to pay the principal and interest in gold, does it not?" "It does, but in gold as a measure of value. As a mat- ter of fact the principal and interest will be paid in coal, and will be dug out of the ground." "Is it the comparative weight or the comparative value which should fix the ratio between gold and silver?" "As no one would fix a ratio between wool and cotton by weight, or between coal and wood, or between wheat and corn by weight, so no intelligent man would attempt to dis- cover the proper ratio between gold and silver by weight." "But they always undertook to show by a comparison between the weight of gold and of silver that because the silver in the world 'weighs' fifteen and one-half times as much as the gold in the world the proper and natural ratio is fifteen and one-half. What is the error in this reason- ing?" “There are several errors. Formerly it was contended that the weight of a man's brain was the measure of his intellectual power; now it is admitted that it is the convolu- tions of the brain, its quality and not its quantity which determines a man's intellectual status. So is it with the 96 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. products of man's labor. There is no subtle relation between gold and silver; no umbilical cord connects them. Silver is not gold mixed with alloy to make it heavier. It is different metal, found under different circumstances, produced by different methods, and requiring different forms of labor. It is the labor expended, plus the demand, which fixes the value of each metal in the market, and that value is the only natural ratio, as Jefferson asserted a hundred years ago." "Is it true that at the present time the silver of the world weighs fifteen and one-half times as much as the gold?" "Well, it is so stated as a fact in the appendix to Coin's Financial School. But the ratio of weight is not fixed by any law, and it varies constantly. There is no means of knowing the relative weight of the two metals in the arts and ornaments. It is found by experience that the men of civilized nations refuse to carry about with them more than $2 or $3 per capita, because it is some twenty-five times as bulky and sixteen times less valuable per weight than gold, while in free silver coinage countries it takes thirty-two ounces of silver to equal one ounce of gold." 'What evidence is there that the ratio of weight varies or has varied ?" "Mulhall, the great statistician, so often quoted by you, or rather by the man who wrote the book in your name, and who, by the way, is an Englishman and one of the most learned and at the same time aggressive foe of silver mono- metallism, gives an estimate of the production of gold and silver for 500 years, or from 1380 to 1880. The product of gold in tons is 10,355; of silver 193,000 tons. This is a ratio of 18.6. As it covers a long period it is more trustworthy than an estimate made at any given time, for statistics to have any value must be comprehensive, Now, I reckon it's BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 97 time to turn homewards toward supper," and towards the homestead father and son went. The youth was beginning to glean the first principles of the science others had so loudly professed for him. 7 98 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. ca COIN'S FIN DANGER!! ध्य FINANCIAL SC SCHOOL PARTY RUIN 5 شماره SCHOO FINANCIAL COIN'S DEMOCRACY ་་.. IF THE BLIND LEAD THE BLIND. HRH CHAPTER V. SILAS MONEY AGAIN TALKS FINANCE. Not until Monday, April 29th, 1895, did Silas Money again refer to financial questions. 66 'I will let the last shower sink well into the soil," said he to himself, "the lad will be thinking matters over and will look up some of the literature of political economy." Nor was there any lack of such literature at Silas Honest Money's house. Like many a successful American business man, when prosperity came to crown his years of labor, she found him a close student of the reasons of her coming and the probabilities or otherwise of her visiting his neighbors. He had purchased all the important works on political economy and myriad pencil marks on their pages bespoke his careful study of the theories and conclusions therein. Silas Money was not disappointed in his son, as the lad spent many an hour poring over that master work of Professor J. Laurence Laughlin, "The History of Bimetallism." PROF. J. L. LAUGHLIN. "Let us have another little talk, Will," said his father, when Monday's first meal had been discussed. "You say on the eighth page of a book which was written for you, that much depended on this decision'-as to which metal should be chosen as the unit in 1792. For the one selected to represent the unit would thereafter be un- changeable in value. Do you mean to be understood as UorM 99 100 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. saying that after a metal has been chosen to represent the unit it becomes unchangeable in value?" "Yes," said the boy. "For it would be the unit of value. And a unit cannot become either more or less than unity without ceasing to be a unit.” "You say gold was made the unit of value by the law of 1873. Then gold was thereafter unchangeable in value, and for twenty-two years there has been no change in the value of that metal ?" 'That seems to be a legitimate conclusion from what I wrote," said the boy. (C 'When you speak of 'value,' what do you mean? What is the 'value' of an ounce of gold or of twenty-three grains of that metal ?" Its I take it," said the youth, "that its value is whatever will be given in exchange for it in goods or services. value,” said he, hesitatingly, "is its purchasing power. "You concede that ?" "Yes." "But has the purchasing power of gold been the same since 1873 ?" "No; an ounce of gold will buy twice as much wheat as it did then. That is explained in my book." 'But why does it not also buy twice as much corn, or oats, or flax seed, or hogs, or mutton, or beef cattle? You know that it practically buys no more of them now than it did in 1873, before the alleged demonetization 'crime' was committed, making due allowance for the depreciation of the greenback currency of that time." Well, those various articles must be considered in the light of exceptions to the rule in regard to wheat." "But may not wheat be an exception on account of its overproduction for the demand ?” "I am not prepared to grant that." BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 101 "Have you explained there that an ounce of gold, or a dollar's worth of twenty-three and one-fifth grains of gold, will buy less labor than in 1873 ?” "No," said the alleged professor, "I have not. To tell you the truth it did not fit in with my argument. I men- tioned only those articles of which a person can buy more at present with the same quantity of gold." "Was that honest?" "Perhaps not, but it was necessary to make out my calamity contention-see? Had I given all the facts my argument would have been worthless. But wait a bit. I do say in my book that the metal chosen to represent the unit will be unchangeable in value, but I mean the metal when coined and not when uncoined. I mean that a coined dollar is the unit of value, and that the metal in it never can be worth less than a dollar." "So what you mean to say is that the gold dollar has been unchangeable in value from 1873 to 1895?" "Yes." "And its purchasing power, then, has been the same during that period? But you cannot mean that, because you say in your book that the purchasing power of the gold dollar has doubled." "I have explained that," said the youth. "I say in my book that 'the demand for silver might make the quantity of silver in a silver dollar sell for more than a dollar, but it could never be worth less than a dollar.' Gold is so scarce that the demand for it may have made the quantity of gold in a gold dollar sell for more than a dollar. I mean that it is harder to get gold to make gold dollars of." "Let us test that. Here is a most attractive looking yellow coin called an eagle. Hamilton gave it its name when he drew up the gold-unit basis law of 1792, which Congress enacted and Washington signed. It is fresh from 102 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. the Mint. Let us go to a goldsmith and see how many grains of gold he will give us for it." The goldsmith put the coin-the genuine, not the bogus one-on his scales, saw it was full weight, and said: "I will give you 230 grains of gold for that piece. It contains 232 1-5 grains, but I want to make a small commission on the transaction." "So it appears, my son, that at this time an eagle will bring the quantity of gold that an eagle contains. Hence, according to your reasoning, there is no scarcity of uncoined gold. So I ask again, why are you demanding silver and silver dollars as units when we have as units gold and gold dollars which we have agreed have the same value now that they had in 1873? Why do you want to change this stead- fast gold unit seventy millions of people have now? "I want to change it," said the lad, "in order to redress a wrong and to undo a great crime. I mean that in 1873 the American unit of value was changed from silver to gold after it had been silver for eighty years." “What was there wrong about dropping the one of the two units that had fallen into disuse from 1805 to 1873? You know that silver dollars had not circulated from the time in 1805 when Jefferson ordered the discontinuance of the coinage." "The 'crime,' ''' said the boy, "as Free Silver Brown told me, consisted partly in wounding Jefferson's ghost's feel- ings by abandoning the metal he had favored before the Constitution was made, and partly, as I have said in my book, in 'striking down silver.'" "What do you mean by that expression ?" "I cannot explain exactly what it means, but they said it would sound well." 66 C 'Striking down silver,' just listen! dollars were there to 'strike down' then ?" How many silver BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 103 "I admit there were none." "No silver dollars in circulation in 1873, or for two generations before them?" "Only a few in museums; none in circulation." (6 'Why did not they circulate?” "For the reason," said the boy, "that they were worth more intrinsically in those days than the gold dollars." "But how can a unit be worth more than unity? How can 100 cents be worth 103 cents any more than 100 cents can be 50 cents? How could that 'unchangeable unit of value,' the silver dollar, be worth more than a dollar?” "I do not know," said the professor; "you have got me there. They ought to correct that in the next edition of my picture book." "Is it not plain from your own reasoning that the silver dollar, being worth 103 cents from 1835 to 1873, it was not the real unit in this country, and that business was meas- ured by the gold unit standard, and that in fact the country was not on a silver dollar basis prior to 1873, but on a gold dollar basis, for that dollar was worth just 100 cents, and the silver was worth 103 ?” "That does seem to be the logical conclusion to be drawn from my axioms. They must revise them in the next edition; but it will be a sad disappointment to the numerous disciples and believers who have pinned their faith in me to be thus undeceived. The fact is, father, I had never closely reasoned out your point against the silver unit and the cause of its flat failure to perform its function as the money of ultimate redemption. I guess Hamilton was right that gold was the proper unit of account. I agree with you that there were no silver dollars in 1873, but there would have been plenty a few years later when silver bullion declined greatly if the law of 1873, stopping silver coinage, had not been passed." 104 BASE " COIN " EXPOSED. "But as there were no silver dollars in 1873 to be wronged, who or what was wronged by the legislation of that year which you say replaced the silver dollar you ad- mit was not the unit of value by another dollar?" "The men who were debtors in that year." "Who are those men?" << Why, all the people of the United States," said the boy," for they are the ones who but for that law could have paid off the National debt in silver dollars, which would have been cheaper units of value.” "Do you mean that this country would have resumed specie payments on the depreciated silver basis and not on the gold basis but for the 'crime' act of 1873 ? ” "Yes, I do." "And that every year from about 1876 to 1895 the value of the silver unit would have declined in purchasing power?” "Yes, the bullion value of silver would have sunk down year by year, and that would have made it easier for debt- ors to pay their creditors; don't you see?" "And that the worth of the silver dollar to-day would, as measured by gold, be somewhere between 50 and 60 cents ? " (C Yes, there or thereabouts." "And you think that would have been wise and honest policy?" "Sufficiently so, yes." "But by sticking to the gold unit, have not rates of interest steadily declined for twenty years, a total of almost one-half? And has not that been of vast benefit to farmers and all enterprising men wanting loans of money to aid them in buying farms, homes, implements, etc?" "Well, I suppose that is true.” "And would it have been possible to refund the National BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 105 debt at these exceedingly low rates if there had been a constantly depreciating silver unit of value or dollar?" "I suppose not, if I must admit the truth. But ain't you getting away with me by your questions ?" "And have not state and municipal debts been refunded at enormously lower rates by reason of resuming on the gold basis in 1879?" CC Well, yes." "Some 7 per cent. Chicago bonds, renewed in 1875 at 7 per cent., are to be renewed now for about 4 or less. Would that be possible with a declining silver unit of value?" (C Possibly not; but the farmers who gave mortgages prior to 1873, and are getting for wheat only half what they did then are suffering." 64 Show me one of those farmers, Master Will. Produce the farmer, depending on wheat, who gave a mortgage be- fore 1873 and is trying now to pay it off at the old rate of interest or any other rate. Don't say you have heard or talked of such a man, but produce him." "I do know some," said the lad, "who borrowed money five or six years ago at higher than the present rates of interest." "That will not fill the bill. We have agreed that the unit has been gold and has been unchangeable in value since 1873. That being so, the man who became indebted since that year has nothing to complain of, and his creditor can gain nothing. He will receive when he is paid off simply the stipulated number of units of unchangeable value. Why are you so much concerned about the present generation of creditors, who came into existence since the alleged 'crime' you speak of was committed? "Now, my lad, I ask you point blank if you are for free coinage ?" "Yes, that is what I teach." 106 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. CC Now, what do you mean by free coinage?" The youth was silent. "Do you mean by free coinage that you want men or governments to go on coining silver dollars as they do in FREE SILYER TEXT. FREE SILVER MISSIONARY SOCIETY EVEN JOHN CHINAMAN REFUSES. BOCTRINE PREE COINAGE China, Mexico, Japan and Asia, not guaranteed by gold, where these dollars are only worth 47 cents-the same as bullion ?" We may "No," said the professor, "I don't want that. as well have bullion. Such money when coined is worth no BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 107 more than commercial bar silver. That wouldn't change matters." "Then you want it fixed so that any man can take 47 cents worth of silver to our mints (a piece as big as our dollar), and have it stamped 100 cents in gold?" Yes, that is what I want. That is what is taught in my book. I want commercial bar silver remonetized. It has gone way below 16 to 1; that is, sixteen ounces of silver are really worth, commercially, about half as much as one ounce of gold. We want all the silver dug and in the mines put back the same as the United States dollar, 16 to 1. No beating around the bush at all.' "Very well. Now we can reason together. How many people in the world are using debased silver, or 47-cent dollars?" "Well, 1,200,000,000. This includes Mexico, Japan, South America, Africa and Asia," said the youth. "How many people have put gold under their coined silver ?" CC Why," said the youth, "only 300,000,000. This includes the United States, England, France, Germany, Austria and Italy." "How much have these half-civilized 47-cent-dollar nations lost ?" "Well," slowly, "they have lost half their wealth. If a man was worth $1,000 in Mexico or China twenty years ago he is worth $447 now. That is plain." "Has any American, Englishman or Frenchman-or any citizen of civilized nations-lost anything?" No," said the boy, hanging down his head, “they haven't lost a cent. Our good government has put a gold dollar under every dollar coined in America. They've done the same in England, Germany, Italy and France, too, and 300,000,000 civilized persons have escaped loss." 108 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. "And the 1,200,000,000 half civilized people have lost. half their wealth, you say." "It would seem so," said the professor, scratching some- thing behind his ear. Now, when I went around the world last year, I saw Chinamen and Japanese and Mexicans and Africans taking ´our American silver dollars at par. They called them worth 100 cents in gold. They paid tea freights from China with them, paid their passage to San Francisco with them, and the Bank of Hong Kong and Shanghai took them the same as greenbacks or gold. Do you think any one on earth has lost a cont handling American dollars ?" "N-n-no,” stammered the youth. "Now, my lad, look me in the eye and answer this ques- tion. If the United States had the free coinage you want —that is, if every one could take a piece of silver as big as a Mexican dollar to our Mint and get a dollar with gold under it what would be the result ?" The young man was silent again. "Wouldn't the Mexicans, Hindoos and Chinese and the rest of the half-civilized nations bring their commercial dollars worth 47 cents to our Mint and get one dollar good as gold? Wouldn't 1,200,000,000 people unload the debased silver of the world on us? Wouldn't we be bank- rupt in a year?” "I wasn't thinking of that," said the boy, trembling at the thought of such a disaster. "I was thinking how much more money our own silver mine kings would make. Their wealth would be doubled, wouldn't it ?" (6 Yes, and the price of five-cent cotton would be doubled if the Government would buy it at ten cents. This Govern ment has no more right to boost up silver than it has to boost up corn and coal and cotton and iron by selling billions of bonds and giving those people the proceeds so BASE COIN" "EXPOSED. 109 that they could make big profits until the public credit burst. The Government is no respecter of persons. The miner and farmer and manufacturer must stand alike. If MEXICAN PEON'S WASES .33 CENTS PER DAY (OCENTS AMERICAN SILVER) Ś مناتی FREE~~SILVER. ¿ARERIA 1 FACTORY Gar SDARD IVAGES THE RESULT OF FREE SILVER IN MEXICO. they cannot afford to mine 47-cent silver then they should mine coal or zinc. If they could not afford to raise limit- less five-cent cotton then raise less cotton and more hogs and corn." "I see it all now. My 300-page book confused me.” (C Again, I ask, Hasn't the country been prosperous for thirty years?" "Yes, very prosperous." >> 110 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. "And our Government has bought and coined $419,- 000,000 worth of silver during that time, hasn't it?" "Yes-prosperous all the time.” "Then after this prosperous government changed the Democrats came in. How much silver did we buy ?" "Why, only $7,000,000," said the professor. "And do you think that pitiful little $7,000,000 which the Government coined into $14,000,000 brought hard times when the buying and coining of $419,000,000 made the nation prosperous all the time ?" "O, dear no! that's preposterous.' "Then what did make the hard times? What made the English rush to get our gold?" The boy was knocked out again. "I'll tell you what made the British pounce upon our gold. At the money convention at Brussels all the civilized nations declared against free coinage, but each nation agreed to stand by its own coined silver and keep it as good as gold." 66 'Did they do it ?" asked the lad. We "Why, yes-every one of them; but some of our idiots crawfished. They said we will pay our debts, mortgages and bonds in debased silver dollars, worth 47 cents. will repudiate. Of course our government couldn't do that, but the English got frightened. They rushed our bonds in and demanded gold while they could get it. Do you blame them ?" "No," said the professor. "They simply got frightened. I don't blame them." "Now, my boy, our coined silver is all right. But if the Nation buys it for double its value, as you free-coinage men want it to, there will come quick bankruptcy. If the Government should buy all the wheat at $1 when it is worth 50 cents it would soon be bankrupt." BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 111 ་་ 'I see it now," said the lad, as the tears rolled down his cheeks. "I have talked and befuddled the people. I have led them blindly into the ditch. I have tried to teach what I did not know." After lunch Silas Money began again. "In one of your alleged utterances, Will, you said that as a rule the business men of cities think automatically. They let the bankers and capitalists manipulate their thinking machines. They have little regard for the interests of the producers. Their selfishness and greed blind them. Their minds are running in a groove and they cannot see the rights of others.” The elder Money then produced from his pocket a picture from "Coin's Financial School," representing the "average COIN www ་ གས་ ལ་ AS IT OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN WRITTEN. business-man" (that is, the merchant, the manufacturer, the lawyer, the insurance man, the building and loan manager, and, in fact, all that class of workers who conduct the vast and varied business of a big city except the banker), with a system of wheels in his head and a string attached thereto SILVER OWNER MINE 112 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. at one end, the other end being held in the hand of a banker. "Do you mean by that," asked Silas Money, "that the average merchant, manufacturer, insurance man, etc., are the mere tools of bankers, having no financial acumen of their own, no individual and independent business capacity that is not dictated by the bankers ?" "My language and this picture certainly bear no other construction," replied the professor, a little falteringly. "Do you think you will ever win any sensible people over to such a brutal estimate of the men who represent the life, energy and intelligence of our commonwealth," queried his father. "My book, containing on page 26 exactly this judgment and the illustration you hold in your hand, is selling like hot cakes all over the country, and I have good evidence that it is making converts by the thousand." "Converts to what?" "To the notion that the average business-man of this country is a dupe and a machine, a heartless money maker and an oppressor of the poor, and to free silver.” "I have road your book," said his father, "and I know it is meeting with extensive sales on railway trains and at the newstands. But I venture to predict that when its forged and garbled quotations and false theories are freely discussed in the newspapers a reaction will set in and the book will fall flat." "I challenge you to show a single forgery or garbled quotation in the book, or to expose a single fallacy," said the little professor, flushing with anger. "Well, the Indianapolis Journal has shown-notwith- standing your subsequent denial-that in your preface you. forged an alleged paragraph from the report of the United States Monetary Commission of 1878, which you were after- BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 113 ward forced to admit by explaining that you meant the commission of 1876. The Journal then proved, by quoting the real extract from the latter report, that you garbled it to suit your theories, omitting several sentences and insert- ing one of seven lines not found in the original. You brazenly misapplied the paragraph, which you would hardly have attempted had you been compelled to quote it correctly. These facts are presumptions against your honesty, to say nothing of the numerous other faults of theory and logic in the body of the book." You did not juggle figures, but boldly manufactured them out of whole cloth and told your readers to send to Washington and get the official documents from which you claim to have copied them, knowing very well that they will not do it, but accept your statistics as genuine. To prove an enormous fall in the price of wheat you only quote the correct prices in the middle of the period, but manufacture them for the earlier and later years. Here are your wheat prices and the correct figures as given in the statistical abstract from which you claim to take them: "COIN'S " FIGURES. 1872.... 1873 1874 • • · • • • 1891. 1892.. 1893 • OFFICIAL FIGURES. $1.40 $1.25 1.25 1.16 1.35 1.28 85 93 80 1.03 63 80 "As you quote his prices as gold prices, allowance is made for the premium on gold, which in 1873 was 112.70. This looks bad, but is nothing in comparison with the table which you give in "Elementary Principles of Money." You pretend to quote from the Mint report. In this table you claim to give the figures of production of gold. and silver in the world from 1792 to 1892. The Mint report only gives figures prior to 1801, in twenty-year periods or longer, so that the figures can only be compared. 8 114 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. from 1801. Until 1886 these figures are given in periods. of ten and five years, but you split up the periods and give figures for each year, making it more difficult to compare the correct figures with them. The figures as given by you boin's Financial Fool 1-1½-2. A la Coin. are here aggregated for each period and compared with the figures as given in the Mint report, which up to 1886 are those of Dr. Soetbier. Your figures, it will be seen, are so arranged as to make it appear that there was a gradual BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 115 increase in the production of silver. The production of gold from 1850 to 1875 is made to appear $300,000,000 less than it was, and the production of gold from 1889 to 1892 is made $21,311,000 less. These figures are made to sup- port your argument with little regard to the report from which it is claimed that they are copied. The figures follow: SILVER. COIN'S FIGURES. MINT FIGURES. 1801-10. 1811-20.. 1821-30. 1831-40. 1841-50. 1851-55 1855-60. • • $371,677,000 $371,677,000 224,786,000 224,786,000 191,444,000 191,444.000 274,930,000 247,930,000 • 338,520,000 324,400,000 • • • • • • · 203,000,000 184,169,000 203,500,000 188,092,000 1861-65 1866-70. 1871-75. 1876-80. 1881-85. → • 1886. 1887.. 1888.. • 1889.. 1890. 242,750,000 228,861,000 254,275,000 278,313,000 360,100,000 409,322,000 456,300,000 509,256,000 • • 553,100,000 594,773,000 • · 120,600,000 120,600,000 124,281,000 124,281,000 140,706.000 140,706.000 162,159,000 155,428.000 • 172,225,000 163,032,000 1891. 1892 .. • 1801-10. 1811-20. 1821-30. 1831-40. 1841-50 1850-55. 1855-60 1861-65. • • • • . • • • • • · • 1866-70. 1871-75. 1876-80. • 186,733,000 177,352,000 196,605,000 197,741,000 GOLD. $118,152,000 $118,152,000 • 76,663,000 76,063,000 94,479,000 94,479,000 134,841,000 134,841,000 362,694,000 363,928,000 · · 618,325,000 662,566,000 651,625,000 670,415,000 555,700,000 614,944,000 547,925,000 648,071,000 491,050,000 577,883,000 552,200,000 572,931,000 1881-85. 1886. 1887 • 1888 1889 • • · 510,500,000 495,582,000 • 106,000,000 106,000,000 105,775,000 105,775,000 110,197,000 110,197,000 123,489,000 123.489,000 1890. 1891 1892 • 113,150,000 118,849,000 120,519,000 130,650,000 130,817,000 146,289,000 116 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. “Name a few misstatements," said the alleged philoso- pher, as a white ring encircled his trembling lips. "Waiving comment on the sensational and demagogical picture of the Columbus monument on another page of your preface," began Silas Money, "you start out with the false assumption that the present hard times-beginning in 1893 -were brought about by the coinage act of 1873, wholly ignoring the historical fact that the country was enjoying unprecedented prosperity up to the very edge of the panic, and the other historical fact that the Democratic party went into power in 1892 pledged to cripple our industrial system by repealing the 'robber tariff.' You ignore the logical fact that such a threat against the manufacturers must, in the nature of things, create a panicky fear in the minds of that class of business men who, as you know, employ the bulk of the working population in most of our towns and cities. Is it any wonder our industries were paralyzed when the people voted that party into power? Is it any wonder manufacturers withheld further investments, closed their factories or cut the wages of their employés pending the action of a Congress professedly hostile to them? But, going back to your book, let me ask you a few questions touching some of its wild assertions: 'First, you hold out the impression in more than one paragraph that the coinage act of 1873 was secretly and stealthily rushed through Congress, do you not ?”’ "I quote the words of Senator Daniel of Virginia," replied the boy, "who said it went through both Houses 'like the tread of a cat.' And even President Grant said afterward that he would not have signed the bill if he had known it demonetized silver." "Then you reassert that the bill was sneaked through Congress ?" "It certainly looks that way." BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 117 "This is another of the false representations in your book. Now, do you not know that as far back as April 25, 1870, the Hon. George S. Boutwell, then Secretary of the Treasury, transmitted to the United States Senate the original draft of that bill. That the Hon. John Jay Knox sent copies of it to some thirty experts on coinage matters in the United States for an expression of their opinion; that several of them in their replies noted that it practically demonetized silver; that the House called for these expert replies and got them, and discussed them; that January 10, 1871, the bill passed the Senate by 33 to 14; that it then went to and fro between the two Houses for several years; that Mr. Kelley of Pennsylvania, Mr. Stoughton of Michi- igan, and other Representatives spoke of its character in open debate in the House; that the bill was printed thirteen times by order of Congress; and that the debates on the measure occupy 148 pages of the Congressional Globe? Does this look like concealment? Don't you know that John J. Ingalls, a loud advocate of free coinage, declared in the Senate January 14, 1891, that the bill was pending in its various stages for four years in both Houses of Con- gress, passed them by decided majorities, was read and re-read thirteen times, was commented on by newspapers, and was a subject of discussion in financial bodies all over the country? Have you forgotten that Ingalls, in the same speech, sarcastically asserted his belief that both Houses and the President were at that time hypnotized? Do you still think the bill was rushed through secretly?" "Possibly I was misled on that point. But that is not the issue. The question is, Did the bill demonetize silver ?" "How much silver was in circulation at the time of the passage of the bill?" suddenly asked Silas Money. "None, I believe." 118 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. "How many silver dollars were in the United States at that period?" "Some say not a thousand." "What had become of the 'dollar of the daddies' ?" << 'Well, I suppose it was either exported or melted into bullion." "Why exported and why melted into bullion ?" "Because silver was at a premium, I reckon.' (( Correct. Now, wasn't that one of the beneficent results of free coinage?" "But silver was scarce then." "So you admit that the price of silver is after all regu- lated by the inexorable natural law of supply and demand ?" "To some extent-yes. "Well, you say silver is demonetized. What is the stock of silver in the United States to-day ?" "Since 1878 over 400,000,000 silver dollars have been coined." "Under what circumstances and what acts?" "Under the Bland-Allison and Sherman laws ?" "Who were the principal pushers and defenders of the bills that were enacted into these laws ?" "The free silver men." The lad said this proudly. "What was their plea?" "They wanted the people's money put in circulation." "Did they not confidently predict, when urging these laws, that silver would reach par with gold?" "I believe they did." 'Is it not a fact that silver still fluctuated, and finally went from $1.12 an ounce in 1879 to $1.14 in 1880, to $1.13 in 1881, and to 93 cents in 1889, in spite of the Bland- Allison act? And is is not true that even the coinage act of July 14, 1890, by which the Government became a liberal BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 119 customer of silver, buying 4,500,000 ounces per month and issuing legal tender notes therefor, did not raise the price of silver? Did not that metal go lower and lower till it got down to 63 cents in 1893? Does not this prove that men cannot successfully legislate against natural laws?" "It looks a little that way," said the two-ply economist, with a quick, hysterical Chicago sigh. "But," he contin- ued, rallying, "what we want is a plentiful supply of the people's money." "Well, you have it; $600,000,000 more of it than you had in 1873, when you say it was demonetized.' "Yes; but it is no longer the standard dollar, the mone- tary unit, containing 371 grains of pure silver, as it was from the days of Jefferson and Washington, who had a hatred of England, and an intimate knowledge of her de- signs upon this country, until 1873 the gold bugs of Lon- don and Wall street dictated its destruction." "You say 3711 grains of silver originally constituted the unit of monetary value by act of Congress ?" I demonstrate the fact by means of a picture on the cover of my book.” "That is false and silly reasoning. The standard orig- inal dollar contained 243 grains of pure gold, as adopted by Congress in 1792, and fifteen times that many grains of pure silver was declared to be a legal tender dollar-viz: 3711. The real unit of money was therefore a gold one, and the silver dollar was based upon it. That is the his- torical record. But what had our forefathers' hatred of England to do with the denominational American unit? Didn't Jefferson and Washington expect this country to carry on friendly trade with England as well as the rest of the world?" "Our silver dollar was debased by the act of 1873," said the youth evasively, "and is now worth only 47 cents.” 120 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. “Had the act of 1873 never passed, it is very doubtful if the free silver coinage dollar would be worth more than 50 cents to-day. The stoppage of free coinage in Europe and in India accounts for the greater part of the decline in silver. The increased production accounts for the rest of the fall in silver bullion." "O, I know the majority of both the great parties are gold monometallists." "That is not true. Both of the leading parties would favor bimetallism if the civilized nations could reach an agreement to that effect." "I have shown in my book that the United states can sustain a bimetallic policy independently," said the lad. "You have merely asserted it, and not shown it logic- ally. You dodge the issue, though that is now the sole point to be settled. Besides, experience within the memory of thousands now living proves such a scheme impossible." "Well, I shall still contend for the dollar of our fathers." "The phrase 'dollar of the fathers' is purely demagog- ical as applied by you and your kind. The daddies never handled any American coined silver bullion. There were some Spanish and Mexican dollars in circulation, some French five franc pieces and some German thalers, but no 'dollars of our daddies.' The dollars of the daddies were gold dollars. It was not till 1879 that any American silver dollars were ever seen in circulation among the people." The professor then started the questioning:- "Is it not a fact, father, as declared by the Illinois Free-Silver Party, that 'silver and gold have constituted the money of the whole commercial world. Was it not by the use of both that the world progressed and our people pros- pered? As long as the mints of the world, or even of one great nation, remained open to the free coinage of both BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 121 metals, silver and gold, in obedience to a natural law main- tained a substantial parity '?" "Let us look at that carefully for a moment, my son. Take the case which the bimetallists cite as the golden age of bimetallism. France endeavored to maintain bimetallism from 1113 to 1874, but during that time the mint price of SOPHISTRY FREE ER WORSHIPING THE SILVER DONKEY. the marc of gold had been changed 146 times, and the mint price of the marc of silver 251 times, and the changes of the rating between gold and silver were innumerable; at last, in 1726, the ratio of gold to silver was fixed at 1 to 14. But silver was rated too highly, and by the same law that gold became the standard in England, silver became the standard in France. In 1803 the ratio of gold to silver was fixed at 1 to 15, at which it still nominally remains. Gold 122 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. and silver coins were made equally legal tender at that ratio. But the French liberating armies plundered all the sanctuaries of the countries they came to liberate of their treasures. Vast quantities of silver were coined, and the market ratio of silver to gold became 17 to 1. Thus gold was at a premium from 1803 to 1850, and consequently there was no gold in general circulation during that period. I myself can testify that in 1839 there was scarcely a gold coin to be seen in common circulation in France. There was of course plenty of gold coin to be had at the Bank of France, but those who wanted it had to pay a premium for it. "Soon after 1850 the gold supplies came in from Cali- fornia and Australia, and the market ratio of silver to gold, which was 15 to 1, rose to 15 to 1; and that apparently slight change in the market ratio, while the legal ratio remained at 15 to 1, was sufficient to displace from 150 to 200 millions of silver and to substitute an equal quantity of gold for it. I was residing at a French seaport town in 1857, and every steamer that came in was loaded with casks of Scotch whisky going to be transmuted into French brandy, and every steamer that went out had its deck piled with bags of five franc pieces. It was the same at every other port. Silver departed from France in a flood, and at length became so scarce that it became necessary to coin those detestable five-franc gold pieces. This case shows the immense practical importance of even a very slight dif- ference between the legal ratio and the market ratio of gold and silver, and decisively negatives the allegation of the bimetallists that gold and silver can circulate together in unlimited quantities at a legal ratio differing from the market ratio. "In 1865 the Latin Union was formed, but even then Italy declared herself in favor of a single gold standard. BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 123 In 1867 the value of silver began to fall and to create uneasiness. A commission was appointed, which by a majority declared against the adoption of a single gold standard. In 1868 the fall became more accentuated, and a commission by a majority declared in favor of a single gold standard. Another commission in 1869–70 reported still more strongly in its favor. In June, 1870, Prussia appointed a commission to consider the expediency of adopting a single gold standard, but the war of 1870 put an end to all these discussions. By acts of 1871 and 1873 Germany adopted a single gold standard. In December, 1872, Belgium adopted a single gold standard. The matter then became still more pressing, and a great debate was held at the Société d'Economie Politique in which the Government was represented by M. de Parieu. The majority strongly decided on the necessity of adopting a single gold standard. In accordance with this resolution France closed her mints to the free coinage of silver in 1874, and became a gold monometallic country. The bimetallists persistently assert that it was the closing of the French mints in 1874 that caused the fall in the value of silver, whereas it was exactly the contrary. It was the fall in the value of silver which compelled the closing of the mints to the free coinage of silver, and its necessity was foreseen six years before it took place, and it was only done after the fullest discussion, and in accordance with the advice of the highest authorities." CHAPTER VI. WHAT WAS THE UNIT OF VALUE? "To say that silver was the unit is as absurd as to say that because a bushel measure is made of oak the unit of capacity is oak." -Professor J. LAURENCE LAUGHLIN. There are two ways of treating such arguments as those. in "Coin's Financial School," said Silas Money, in resuming this discussion with his son on Tuesday, April 30th. "They may be taken seriously or they may be ridiculed. The latter would be the course naturally taken by those students of finance to whom such statements and reasoning seem too absurd to warrant notice. It must not be forgotten, Will, that his assertions have been accepted by many as facts." Some people of the caliber of Ex-Mayor John P. Hopkins, possibly taking Aaron Burr's definition of law as "anything that is boldly asserted and plausibly maintained" as a correct definition of a fact, require no further proof of an abstruse proposition in political economy other than that mischiefmaking and mendacious book written by others in your name. "What did you mean in your so-called 'Financial School' by saying (p. 8), while trying to show that the silver dollar had always remained the unit: So that up to 1873 we were on what was known as a bimetallic basis, but what was in fact a silver basis?' Didn't you know that from about 1840 a silver dollar was never seen in circulation, and that gold was the only money in use?" "No, I had not known about that," said Will Money. 124 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 125 (C Well, Will, you are a small boy and may learn sense and many other things as you grow older, but didn't you know you were fibbing when you said we were on a silver basis in fact after 1834 ?” (( Well, yes; but I changed the sense a little to suit what the silver mine owners told me to preach. They tell all their speakers to make confusing statements, and then by the time they are exposed to go on to something else." “Then you knew, did you not, that the market ratio of gold to silver after 1834 was so far different from the legal ratio of 16 to 1 that gold was the cheaper metal and drove out silver, and that no silver dollars were in circulation from that time until 1878 ?" "Yes, but I did not think it obligatory on me to put in everything, especially if it did not agree with my orders from my employers." "In attempting to show that up to 1873 our country was always on a silver basis some curious absurdites appear in your so-called 'Financial School' as follows (pages 9, 10): Prior to 1873 there were one hundred and five millions of silver coined by the United States and eight millions of this was in silver dollars. Ninety-seven millions had * * * been coined into dimes, quarters and halves. * About one hundred millions of foreign silver had found its * * * way into this country prior to 1860. Two hun- dred and five millions were in circulation before 1861.” "Well, what was wrong, father?" "Your evasion of all historical fact was simply auda- cious in a community of intelligence. To make up the total amount of silver in use before 1861 by adding all the silver that was coined to all the foreign silver that entered the country was the height of absurdity. In the first place, all the coins minted did not stay in the country. Every child knows that. A rag, tag and bobtail quantity of foreign 126 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. coins circulated among us, and our own coins, being different in pure metal for the same face value, our coins were melted or exported and foreign coins brought in to take their place." "Were no silver dollars coined, father?” "Under free coinage of both gold and silver at 15 to 1, from 1793 to 1805 only $1,439,517 in silver dollar pieces were coined at our mints; but for the very reason that these were exported their further coinage was suspended in 1805 by SILVER MINE A DANGEROUS PIT. wing Jefferson (and no silver dollar pieces were again coined until 1836). The reason these silver dollar pieces went abroad was that the current Spanish milled dollar, being heavier than the American dollar, commanded a premium of 1 to 1 per cent. When called upon for silver for exporta- tion the banks paid out American dollars, retained the heavier foreign dollars and sent them to the Mint for coin- age, getting a profit on the excess of weight over American dollars. This created activity at the Mint, at the expense BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 127 of the country, without filling the circulation with our own silver dollars, but making a profit for money brokers. To stop this President Jefferson suspended the coinage of silver dollar pieces in 1805.” "In the face of these facts why had you the audacity to say, as you do (p. 10): ? On account of the scarcity of silver both Jefferson and Jack- son recommended that dimes, quarters and halves would serve the people better than dollars until more silver bullion could be obtained. This was the reason why only about eight million of the one hundred and five million of silver were coined into dollars. "Now, Jefferson never recommended any such thing, and your "Coin's Financial School" is here guilty of fraud and falsehood. "In order to show the nefarious operations of the act of 1873, your so-called 'Coin' (p. 33) attempts to show how perfectly the law of free coinage worked from time immemorial till 1873 in sustaining the commercial value of silver and gold at a parity.' Then he gives the annual ratios from 1687 to 1892. 'You will see from this table,' continues 'Coin' (p. 35), 'that from 1687 to 1873 the com- mercial ratio of the two metals was never lower than 1 to 14.14 and never higher than 1 to 16.25, a variation of only about two points. * * Run your eyes down these * columns from 1687 to 1873 and see how smooth the com- mercial ratio appears. * * * Up to this point through two centuries we see how the commercial value of silver and gold was kept at a parity, notwithstanding the varying sup- plies of the two metals.' A profit of 123 per cent. on few days is a temptation to "Never was greater nonsense and rubbish ever printed than this. Let us see. Two points out of sixteen means one-eighth, or 123 per cent. an operation requiring only a money brokers indeed! The man who wrote your book evidently had had no experience with the quickness with 128 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. which shrewd dealers move. In 1834 Mr. Baring, the banker, testified before a congressional committee that ‘a very slight difference of one-tenth or one-fourth per cent. would determine the use of one metal or another.' One- fourth of one per cent. of sixteen ounces would be only four one-hundredths of an ounce, and yet 'Coin' says a differ- ence of two whole ounces would not drive out silver. If I wished to pursue this point further I could occupy hours with evidence to show that in France and the United States silver did drive out gold and vice versa, and that the silver dollar was not at par with gold, and that, vice versa, gold was not at par with silver down to 1873 at the ratio of 151 to 1 or of 16 to 1. "But I imagine you have had evidence enough on this point already." "I begin to see it clearer now, father, and to regret my folly in lending the name of honest money to such mis- statements." "In one of the articles written for you, Will, you are made to say: 'It will be observed that Hamilton's sugges- tion of two units, a gold unit and a silver unit, was not adopted, and Jefferson's position was adopted of a unit on silver only.' Did you really mean that ?" "Yes." "You mean, then, that we did not adopt a bimetallic system having a unit in both gold and silver ?” "That is what I mean. "Then your duplicity must be exposed. You are guilty of another attempt to deceive. You know that both gold and silver coins were a legal tender for debts in the ratio of 15 to 1 in coin by the act of 1792, did you not?” "Yes, father." (( 'Then, on page 10 of the book written for you, you are BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 129 made to say, in speaking of the period prior to 1873: 'Thus silver and gold were the measure of values.' "Yes. I said that. Anyone can find the passage.' "Then you do not agree with yourself. Which is Philip drunk and which is Philip sober? To which can we appeal ? Both statements cannot be true. It cannot be true that only silver was the monetary unit and yet that both silver and gold were the measure of value. Here read what Mr. Zeisler writes on the question. His answer is pertinent and complete. The letter contains the best possible refu- tation of the absurd claim, the strongest argument in sup- port of which is your drawing of a huge figure '1' with chalk on the blackboard.' As Mr. Money spoke he handed the following letter to his son: MY DEAR SIR: CHICAGO, April 29, 1895. Coin's argument as to the unit of value under the law of 1792 is so foolish that it is quite fitly put into the mouth of a 16-year-old boy lecturer on finance. Had it been credited to a person of mature years, the less charitable construction that the fellow maliciously perverts the truth would be inevitable. The "unit" is Every sum is ex- Now, this unit in What is meant by the term "unit" is simply the basis for reck- oning in money. Some governments have adopted a larger, some a smaller unit. England's unit, the pound sterling, is nearly five times as large as ours. France's unit, the franc, is about one-fifth; Ger- many's unit, the mark, about one-fourth of ours. simply the starting point in counting money. pressed in multiples or fractions of that unit. every system of currency has not only a certain name, but also a certain value as measured by the amount of precious metal contained in it according to statute. In countries which have the single gold standard the unit is defined by a certain quantity of pure gold. Under the single silver standard the unit is defined by a certain quantity of pure silver. Under a bimetallic currency the statute fixes a certain quantity of silver and also a certain quantity of gold, either of which is the unit, under the supposition that the two quan- tities as thus fixed are, at least approximately, equal in commercial value. The "unit," thus defined by law, is very often merely an idea, a conception, an abstraction, rather than a concrete, tangible thing. Thus, for instance, in Germany, which has the single gold standard, the unit is expressed by a fixed quantity of gold. At the same time, 9 130 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED, there exists in that country no gold coin which contains just the quantity of gold which makes the unit. The unit of account in Ger- many is the mark. Still no 1-mark pieces of gold are coined, but she coins gold pieces of 10 marks or units and gold pieces of 20 marks or units. The only 1-mark pieces coined are made of silver. Under the German currency system the unit is measured in gold only, still the only coin which passes for the value of one unit is a silver piece, and the only gold pieces coined contain multiples of the fixed unit. Thus we see that the only true unit in the German JMANT A CI CHI. SIGMUND ZEISLER. SIGMUN system which is expressed in a certain quantity of gold is merely an abstraction, as no one-unit gold coins are in existence, and the 1-mark silver coins are merely subsidiary money. The same is true in France, where the "franc" is the unit, and the money system is the single gold standard. There also no 1-franc pieces are coined in gold. And the only gold pieces are multiples of the "unit" or franc. Let us now look at the statute of the United States of 1792. It provides that there shall be coined "eagles, each to be of the value of ten dollars or units, and to contain 247 grains and four-eighths of a grain of pure, or 270 grains of standard gold." It then provides for the coinage of half eagles and quarter eagles containing the pro- portionate quantity of gold. And then, finally, it also provides for the coinage of "dollars or units, each to be of the value of a Spanish milled dollar, as the same is now current, and to contain 871 grains and four-sixteenths parts of a grain of pure or 416 grains of stand- ard silver." Now, it is true that the only coin provided for which shall con- tain just the value of one unit, no more nor less, is the silver dollar. But it is likewise true that by that statute several coins are provided for which are multiples of the "unit," and which are to be coined of gold of a certain fixed, defined quantity. In other words, where the statute fixes that a certain quantity of gold shall be "ten units," it requires the stupidity of a Coin to deny that one-tenth of that quantity of gold is one "unit." And as shown above, the fact that no one-unit gold pieces are to be coined does not in the least mili- tate against that position. As well argue that, because no 1-mark gold pieces are provided for by the German law, the German unit of money is not settled upon gold but upon silver. The reason why Germany's 1-mark pieces are coined of silver is quite obvious. The coin would be too small if made of gold. Even a $1 gold piece would be a very small coin, and that was certainly one of the reasons why the statute of 1792 did not provide for its coinage. But the "unit" may exist, as we have seen, though the coins provided for may be only multiples of that unit. To further test the so-called Coin's assertion that under the law BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 131 of 1792 silver was the only unit of value: Suppose that, after pro- viding for the coinage of eagles, half eagles and quarter eagles, the statute had merely provided for subsidiary coins of copper or some other metal, but had omitted the provision about the silver dollar, would we have been without a "unit" of value? Would not gold have been the "unit?" If 247 4-8 grains of pure gold are equal to ten "units," as the statute says, how much of gold is one unit? It is to be hoped that even your 16-year-old boy, falsely called Coin, can answer this simple problem in arithmetic. Very truly yours, SIGMUND ZEISLER. "The absurdity of your pretense that we established only a unit of silver in 1792 is vividly emphasized by the letter which you have just read. You say silver was the dollar, or unit, absurdly enough, from 1792 to 1873. But in 1819 gold dollar pieces were authorized and coined. Was the gold dollar piece not also a unit in our system? Of course it was. There is no use in quibbling longer about it. "Lyman J. Gage told me a good story when I was in Chicago, and one which explains the secret of the popu- larity of your so-called 'Coin's Finan- cial School' among the masses, who, up to the present time, had given little thought to the abstruse mone- tary problem. Mr. Gage said that a few days ago, while riding in a New York railway car, up in the interior of the state, he heard his name pronounced by some one back of him. He turned around to see who was the speaker. One man was leaning over the back of his seat reading aloud from 'Coin' for the entertainment of another man. The man was just concluding that portion of the book in which Mr. Gage was made to appear. LYMAN J. GAGE. 'There,' cried the man in a tone of conviction, ‘Lyman J. Gage gives it up. That settles it with me. Gage and 132 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. Walsh and Medill ought to know all there is about the money question. If they can't answer "Coin," why then "Coin" must be right. I am a silver man from this on.' Mr. Gage said he could not catch the reply of his com- panion, but he assumed that he made no effort to controvert the arguments of the other. Pretty soon after, the man who had been reading passed by Mr. Gage. He was a respect- able and fairly intelligent looking man, a well-to-do farmer, presumably. "My friend,' said Mr. Gage, 'I overheard you reading from "Coin" just now." "Yes,' he replied. The book has converted me. for free silver.' 66 I am 'Why? Have you studied the subject carefully?' "No. I am free to say that I don't know anything about the question, But at "Coin's" school in Chicago all the big bankers and editors failed to answer "Coin," which was a virtual admission that he was correct. If Lyman J. Gage, John R. Walsh and Joseph Medill admit that "Coin" is correct, why I am forced to do the same.' (6 'Do you believe that such a school as "Coin" describes was really held in Chicago and that the men alleged to be in attendance were really there?' “You may judge of my surprise," continued Mr. Gage, "when my new friend replied: 'Yes, I know it was held, and that the men named took part. I wanted to be sure the book wasn't a lie and so I wrote to a friend in Chicago for information, and he assured me that every word in "Coin" was true.' "Well, my friend,' Mr. Gage replied, 'I live in Chicago and give you my word that no such school was held. It is simply a falsehood. I should know, inasmuch as the book describes scenes in which I am made to appear.' "What is your name?' demanded the New York man. BASE "COIN” EXPOSED. 133 "Lyman J. Gage,' replied that gentleman. 'Lyman J the devil.' "No-Gage.' "And you assure me on your word of honor that no such school as "Coin" pictures was held,' he demanded. "I most certainly do.' "The train stopped at Waterloo, where the man was to get off. He stood gazing at Mr. Gage in astonishment until the train started and then solemnly and slowly said: 'Well, I'll be blowed.' Then he rushed from the train. "The money question is an abstruse one," concluded Mr. Gage in speaking to me, "and few people have studied into it sufficiently to form an independent opinion. It is just this situation that 'Coin' takes advantage of, and therein lies the danger of the book.” "Here is a letter showing to what depths of mis-statement the man who wrote your so-called book will go. My friend John Richberg wrote it to me this morning. Listen to this: Silas Money read as follows: "MY DEAR HONEST MONEY: "CHICAGO, 27 April, 1895. A pro- "The disciples of 'Coin's Financial School' have lately taken to mis-quoting Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton on the unit of value and standard of money. minent local silver monometallist falls into the same error by accepting for truth the mis-statements in Coin's book and the theories of individuals who were promi- nent as greenbackers twenty years ago. Alexander Hamilton did say, 'It is advis- able not to attach the unit exclusively to either metal,' but he also said (and Thomas Jefferson agreed with him upon the ques- tion of coinage), 'It is desirable that the proportion between the two metals in the market should correspond with that in the coins,' yet we find the silverites advo- cate a ratio of 16 to 1 without reference to the market value of the metals, gold and silver, and attempt to quote Alexander Hamilton as sustaining such a proposition. Thomas Jefferson said as to the ratio between gold and silver: 'The proportion between the values of gold and silver JOHN O. RICHBERG. 134 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. is a mercantile problem altogether.' No one will find in any of the writings of Jefferson and Hamilton that they ever receded from this proposition. If the market ratio as to gold and silver is at the present time 30 to 1, then, according to Jefferson and Hamilton, in the coinage of both metals the proportion between the two metals would be 30 to 1. "Very truly yours, JOHN C. RICHBERG." "Senator Palmer told me a good story as illustrative of the mischievous influences of the publication called 'Coin' upon the farmers. He quoted some sentences from a letter written by an old soldier, formerly a member of his reg- iment: "Dear Gen'ral,' wrote the veteran, 'two new books have come into my neighborhood lately, and they're playin' h-1 with Democracy. One is named 'Coin,' and the boys all read it. The other's called 'Trilby,' and the girls all read it.'" "Mis-statements in the book written for you stand forth prominently in the very first lecture. Evidently the man who wrote it for you thought that his assertions would never be verified. Referring to the establishment of a monetary unit by this country in 1792, the following state- ment occurs: 'Congress adopted silver and gold as money. It then proceeded to fix the unit. Among the first things they did was to make 371 grains of silver the unit of values. * * * Gold was made money, but its value was counted from these silver units or dollars. * * * Our forefathers showed much wisdom in selecting silver, of the two metals, out of which to make the unit.' * * * "The writer had evidently never seen the following quotation from Hamilton's 'Report on the Establishment of a Mint' (dated May 5th, 1791), whose recommendations as the first secretary of the treasury were made law April 2d, 1792: 'As long as gold, either from its intrinsic superiority as a metal, from its rarity, or from the prejudices of mankind, retains so considerable a pre-eminence in value BASE “COIN” EXPOSED. 135 over silver as it has hitherto had, a natural consequence of this seems to be that its condition will be more stationary. The revolutions, therefore, which may take place in the comparative value of gold and silver will be changed in the state of the latter rather than in that of the former.' (6 'Then Hamilton went on to show that to adopt a single silver standard would act 'to abridge the quantity of the circulating medium.' Then, when he proceeded to ascer- tain what should be the weights of the coins, after he had chosen the ratio of 15 to 1, he made the following very accurate statement: "That species of coin (i. e., Spanish silver dollars) has never had any settled or standard value, according to weight or fineness, but has been permitted to circulate by tale, without regard to either, very much as a mere money of convenience, while gold has had a fixed price by weight, and with an eye to its fineness. This greater stability of value of the gold coins is an argument of force, for regarding the money unit as having been hitherto virtually attached to gold rather than to silver. Twenty-four grains and six-eighths of a grain of fine gold have corresponded with the nominal value of the (silver) dollar in the several states, without regard to the successive diminutions of its intrinsic worth.' "The writer of your book evidently did not know that the only money in use before 1792 was Spanish coin. The Spanish dollars varied in weight; some of those in circula- tion contained 374 grains of pure silver, and the latest issues only 368 grains. Consequently, the ratio of 15 to 1 having been chosen, since 244 grains of gold was the equivalent of a dollar, 15 times 24 would fix the number of grains in the silver dollar, or 3711. That is, no silver dollar existed at that time containing 3711 grains which could be adopted as a unit, but it was created by starting from the recognized unit of 244 grains of gold. It can thus be seen 136 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. of the historical Why did he not, how absolutely ignorant your author was facts attending on the selection of a unit. finally, quote the conclusion of Hamilton's report, on which the law was founded: That the unit in the coins of the United States ought to correspond with 24 grains and of a grain of pure gold, and with 371 grains and of a grain of pure silver, each answering to a dollar in the money of account.' "Therefore, what does he mean by saying (p. 8): 'In considering which of these two metals they would thus favor by making it the unit, they were led to adopt silver because it was the most reliable.' Now the simple truth is they did not 'adopt silver,' and when the author of the book says so he assumes that his hearers are men who know nothing. "Your author tried to show in his book (p. 10) that foreign silver coins were used to maintain a continuous silver basis from 1792 to 1873. And then he quoted a law (which was passed, although he does not give the date, March 3, 1843), as follows: And be it further enacted, That from and after the passage of this act the following foreign silver coins shall pass current as money within the United States, and be receivable by tale, for the payment of all debts and demands, at the ratio following, that is to say: the Spanish pillar dollars, and the dollars of Mexico, Peru and Bolivia, etc.- Why did he stop just here? What is the remainder of section 2? It is as follows: -of not less than eight hundred and ninety-seven thousands in fineness, and four hundred and fifteen grains in weight, at 100 cents each; and the five-franc pieces of France, of not less than nine hundred thousandths in fineness, and three hundred and eighty-four grains in weight, at 93 cents each. "That is, our own silver coins having entirely disap- peared from circulation under the act of 1834 which fixed the ratio at 16 to 1, the medley of foreign coins which crept into the country were legalized in lieu of nothing else. BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 137 And even then they were to be taken only according to certain weights and fineness carefully specified. "Now, if this section 2 is to be quoted to prove that we used silver alone, and were only on a silver basis, why did 1 STOP THE LEAK. AMANZELO &NG CHI ད' ཐབ་ མས་ཅན་ your friends suppress section 1 of this same act, which goes on also to enact the terms according to which 'from and after the passage of this act the following foreign gold coins 138 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. shall pass current as money within the United States, and be receivable, by weight, for the payment of all debts and demands,' etc. If section 2 proves that 'we needed more silver than we had,' then section 1 proves that we needed more gold. The result is an obvious reductio ad absurdum. It shows that when legislating about foreign coins we had to deal with both gold and silver coins; as, in 1792, we started out to maintain both gold and silver coins in cir- culation at a ratio of 15 to 1. "But, irrespective of all quibbling about interpretations of an act, and avoiding all hair-splitting, as fair-minded. persons trying to get at the facts, what other reasons do we find for showing that silver was not, in fact, the monetary standard continuously from 1792 until 1873? Starting in 1792 with a clear trial of a double standard at a ratio of 15 to 1, we find that silver soon so fell in value that in 1808 the market ratio was 16.08 to 1 (see 'Coin's' book, p. 34); and it never after got back again as high as 15 to 1. That is, it was cheaper to pay debts in silver than in gold; and by 1812 it was noticed that gold was disappearing. And so matters stood until 1834, when a new attempt was made to change the legal ratio in order to adapt it to the market ratio, which was then 15.73 to 1. Thinking silver was likely to keep falling, they anticipated the fall by choosing a ratio of 16 to 1. This overdid the case. And now gold became cheaper by three-one-hundredths of an ounce. Consequently we had only a gold circulation after 1834; even our small silver went out with the silver dollar pieces. And this was the reason why in the act of February 21, 1853, when we took up the question again, no further attempt was made to keep both silver and gold in concurrent circulation; and the only thing done was to introduce a proper system of overvalued token silver subsidiary coins. The dollar piece was then no longer in circulation; and the dollar's worth BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 139 of small coin was hereafter to contain only 345.6 grains of pure silver instead of 3714 as formerly. Therefore, from a time soon after 1834 until 1878 a silver dollar was never seen in circulation. How were we then on a silver basis? Just as well say we are walking on only the right leg because one willfully refuses to see the left leg." "Is there not another side to the question, father?” asked the pseudo-philosopher. "Yes, my boy, and the author of your so-called book, having been smoked out, thought to escape by raising a cloud of dust, so he cites in a letter to the papers a long list of documents prior to 1792 which contain proposals about a monetary system. Now, the fallacious thing about this procedure is that these documents 'have nothing to do with the case.' All the first four in his list were proposals which came to nothing before the Government was founded. But, immediately on the acceptance of the Constitution, Hamilton set to work, as first secretary of the treasury, to recommend a system of money, and as a result of his report, a law was passed April 2, 1792. His report is the only one relevant to the law in question; other proposals made before are unused recommendations. Shouldering cornstalks by raw troops as muskets may deceive the near-sighted, but does not frighten old soldiers. Does Mr. Harvey suppose for a moment that extracts from documents like the 'Re- port of a Grand Committee on the Money Unit' in 1895 to the Continental Congress, four years before the present Government existed, is germane to the law of the United States of America? So we may dismiss over one-half his quotations as cornstalks, only intended to occupy the imag- ination; such also were Jefferson's 'notes,' written in 1782 or 1783, ten years before the act of 1792. "But the man who wrote the book in your name mistook the whole issue in regard to the unit. The 140 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. whole purpose of the discussion at that time in regard to a unit had to do only with selecting some name for counting with, fixing on its size and discovering one familiar to the public. As Morris said (p. 430): ‘In order that a coin may be perfectly intelligible to the whole people, it must have some affinity to the former currency.' That is, the question was, shall the unit be a I HAVE ALWAYS BELIEVED THAT A LARGER USE OF SILVER FOR MONEY, AND FREE COINAGE OF SILVER UPON A BASIS TO BE --AGRE ITS PO T WOULD MAINTAIN COLD WAS COOD FOR THE WHOLE WORLD" BENJAMIN. HARRISON. RISON. WHEN DOCTORS DIFFER. shilling, or a dollar, or crown, or what not? The issue was not, in this place, whether the unit should be of silver or gold. It was exactly as if we were to discuss whether we should adopt the pound avoirdupois as a unit of weight or the metric gram. Therefore, when we find that the name dollar was adopted in the new system, the question still lay open as to what weight that dollar should be in gold or BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 141 silver. The name appears in the law of 1792, just in the sense that a pound troy or pound avoirdupois would appear. Now, the name of the unit was in itself very unim- portant; but whether the coins should be of both gold and silver, or gold alone, or silver alone, was important. That was the real issue. If the law of 1792 adopted coins of both gold and silver, that is a simple fact; and it is a howl- ing absurdity to talk as if silver alone were used, or that only silver was the unit. That silver was the unit is a falsehood; that is confusing the unit itself with the material out of which the unit is made. It is as absurd as to say that because a bushel measure is made of oak, the unit of capacity is oak. I "Now, what did the law of 1792 enact? Having selected a unit and called it a dollar, then the relative weights of gold and silver in the coins being fixed at 15 to 1, the various denominations in the coins were fixed upon. The former currency contained silver of all kinds and weights. A new weight of 3711 grains of silver was fixed, as before explained, because it was fifteen times 24 grains of gold. Then a dollar piece of gold would be, as everyone knows, too small to be convenient; therefore the cheaper and heavier material of silver was used for the smaller coins from 5 cents up to the dollar piece; above that gold was used. To claim that the unit was silver when we had both gold and silver coins at a ratio of 15 to 1 is wholly absurd, as the law of 1792 herewith shows:" "Section 9. And be it further enacted that there shall be from time to time struck and coined at the said Mint coins of gold, silver and copper of the following denomina- tions, values and descriptions, viz.: Eagles, each to be of the value of ten dollars or units, and to contain two hun- dred and forty-seven grains and four-eighths of a grain of pure, or two hundred and seventy grains of standard gold. 142 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. (Half eagles and quarter eagles of corresponding weights and fineness.) Dollars or units, each to be of the value of a Spanish milled dollar, as the same is now current, and to contain three hundred and seventy-one grains and four- sixteenths part of a grain of pure, or four hundred and sixteen grains of standard silver. (Half dollars, quarter dollars, dimes and half dimes of corresponding weights and fineness).' "But your prompter says: 'It will thus be seen that the unit was settled on silver.' We see no such thing. The act reads that the dollars shall be 'of the value of a Span- ish milled dollar;' it does not say the unit shall be of sil- ver. Just above it says the eagles shall be of the value of ten dollars or units. As well say gold was the unit. The inference sought to be drawn from this act by the man who wrote your book is impossible. If he had had any such provision as that in the French law of 1803 it would have been very different; for in the latter law the first clause under 'General Dispositions' reads: 'Five grammes of sil- ver, nine-tenths fine, constitute the monetary unit, which retains the name of franc.' But of such a provision in our law of 1792 there is no trace whatever. It does not say the unit is to be of silver, but of the value of a certain Spanish coin. So when the free-silver crank says: "Thus it will be seen that in fixing the unit originally the advice of Hamilton was rejected and that of Jefferson was adopted,' the reader himself can determine the perversion of truth. For bimetallism, with both gold and silver units, was adopted, as every one can see as plain as a pikestaff, and not silver monometallism. And this was Hamilton's plan, and no other." "But did not Senator Voorhees show that the ratio of free coinage had been fixed by Jefferson, father?' 'Well, one of the thoughtful remarks made the other BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 143 day by Senator Voorhees was: 'I have been in favor of the free coinage of silver at the ratio fixed by Jefferson all my life.' Now let us see what ratio Jefferson did fix. Not that of 16 to 1, for that was adopted by a law passed while Jackson was President, after Jefferson was dead. That is the ratio, however, which Voorhees is shrieking for. The ratio of 15 to 1 was adopted in 1792 on the recommenda- tion of Hamilton, the secretary of the treasury at a time when Jefferson was secretary of state. In 1781 Jefferson said the ratio was a commercial question entirely-it de- 161. 1 ON Bu MASTARD ABAINST T EAST FREE SILVER WOND HE TRIES TO GET IN. pended on how much silver a given quantity of gold would buy. Subsequently he was of the opinion that 15 to 1 was about the proper ratio. He never said a word in favor of Voorhees' ratio of 16 to 1. The conclusion to be drawn is that Voorhees does not know what he is talking about— that he has never studied the question and is saying he is for '16 to 1' simply because he thinks it will be a popular cry in Indiana at the next election. The legislature to be chosen in November, 1896, will choose his successor. He thinks the Democrats will be more likely to carry it on a 144 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 2421 Coin FINANCIAL SCHOOL HIURICHSEN FREC އ PREACHED TO DEATH. < 4+3=10 CLEVELAND BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 145 dishonest money than on an honest money platform. But if he is going to make free-silver speeches this year and next he should study up on the subject a little and not show himself even a worse blunderer and falsifier than your well-named 'financial fool.' "Here is a sample of the falsity of some of your 'Coin Financial School' quotations. "On page 114 Coin says it is not true that wheat sold as low in 1850 as in May, 1894, in Chicago. "In 1888 Charles S. Lee, a long-standing member of the Chicago Board of Trade, issued a pamphlet of Board of Trade statistics. He issued it purely for the information of his correspondents and not for any political or public economic purpose. A copy of that pamphlet lies before me. In it he states that the lowest price for cash No. 2 wheat in 1859 was 50 cents, the highest price $1.15. Coin says the high price was $1.40 and the average for the year $1.10. "On page 122 Coin quoted $1.40 for wheat in 1873 while Lee quoted $1.46 highest and 89 cents lowest, and his pamphlet shows for the twelve months of the year $1.151 was the average highest and $1 the average lowest. [The currency was then worth about 87 cents on the dollar in gold.] "It requires a silver inflationist to make the mean of $1 and $1.151 to be $1.40 [in greenbacks at a discount of 13 or 14 per cent.] "It is true there has been a general decline in the price of wheat since 1873, but silver has had no bearing upon it. The crops in Argentina and India have. "If we look over Mr. Lee's publication we find no such general decline applies to corn, oats, pork, etc. "I wonder if your friends would not claim the present low price for horses is caused by 'demonetization' of silver? 10 146 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. "It is in your last chapter that the real character of the work is made manifest. "He says the United States of America can alone sustain silver by free coinage by an act of Congress to 'reduce the grains in a gold dollar until it is of the same value as the silver dollar.' "Here we have the animus of the whole silver scheme- debasement of coinage or semi-repudiation. "Your friends repeatedly disclaim any appeal to senti- ment, and yet his every climax is a direct application of his argument to that intense and fluctuating element of human nature. "His whole work can only disgust the sober, honestly thinking people and lead on to enrage those ignorant masses who are so easily inflamed by the flippant upstart. "History fails to record such prosperity as the great American nation enjoyed from the time of the recovery from the 1873 panic to the time when our mass of laborers were receiving better wages, living more comfortably, and saving more money than laborers ever did at any previous time or in any land, led on by theorists and destructionists in November, 1892, plied their ballots to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. "You may as well read, my lad, the letter which Secre- tary Morton has written to James A. Cherry, of Denver, Colo., in reply to a letter from that gentleman criticising some statements in the interview with the Secretary of Agriculture, printed a few weeks ago, which caused so much comment. It is as follows: From your letter of April 22, 1895, it appears that you and I perfectly agree in the fundamental point-namely, that demand and supply inexorably regulate all valuables whatsoever, at all times and in all places. At what points do we begin to separate from each other and then go on to conclusions so utterly diverse? These points are only two-the first historical and the second logical: 1. You assume certain propositions to be true of silver which BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 147 are not historically true at all, but quite the reverse of true. You say, for instance, "until 1873 the chief use of silver was for coinage. It had other uses, but the demand for it for coinage purposes was steady and constant." On this point you have been monstrously misinformed. The first federal coins of silver were minted in 1794, and of gold in 1795. Their ratio was recommended by Secretary Alexander Hamilton, and as fixed by act of Congress was 15 to 1. It was hoped thus to keep the two metals in equilibrio in the coinage. But they would not even come into equilibrio in the ratio, still less would they stay there. Only 321 silver dollar pieces were coined at the American Mint in the entire year of 1805, because the silver was worth more out of the coinage than in it and worth more for export than for domestic money. What was the matter with these silver dollars? Nothing, only they were too valuable. May 1, 1806, there came an order from President Jefferson to the director of the Mint at Philadelphia, "that all the silver to be coined at the Mint shall be of small denomina- tions, so that the value of the largest pieces shall not exceed half a dollar." The reason given by the President for this order: "That considerable purchases have been made of dollars coined at the Mint for the purpose of exporting them, and that it is probable that further purchases and exportations will be made." The coinage of silver dollars thus authoritatively suspended at the American Mint was not resumed there for thirty years. In these few facts, which are official and unquestionable, behold the beauties and advantages of a double standard, of the "unlimited coinage of both metals" in an enacted and constant ratio with each other! Of two yardsticks of different lengths to measure cloth by in the same market! By the law of 1834 the ratio was sub- stantially put at 16 to 1, but this was going too far in the opposite direction. Gold was not worth 16 in silver in the markets of Europe. Consequently the international current of the metals was now for a time reversed, silver passing in preference abroad to liquidate the balances of trade and gold coming in small quantities to the United States, where it was three per cent. dearer in silver than in Europe. By 1853 the immense disadvantages of a "double standard" had become so plain to all thinking people that Congress wisely determined to abandon the utterly futile attempt to secure the "parity" of the two metals, and to make gold the legal tender for debts except for sums of $5 and under. In the second place, Mr. Cherry, as an instance of a historical assumption contrary to facts and natural inference, allow me respectfully to call your attention to the use, in common with many of the bimetallists, so-called, of the date 1873 as the time of the "demonetization of silver." Unless I am mistaken, the silver dollar is not mentioned at all, one way or the other, in the act of 1873. All the demonetization of silver, as I understand it, that ever came about in this country happened in the law of 1853, after open and full discussion, and practically with unanimity, when congress intro- duced the subsidiary silver coinage, of which a nominal dollar's worth weighed 6.91 per cent. less than the silver dollar, and also 148 BASE “COIN" EXPOSED. took the legal tender quality of all silver in payment of debts of over $5 in amount. 2. You employ over and over again, in your letter, the two most common logical fallacies that enter into the speech of argu- mentative men everywhere—namely, putting cause into the place of effect, and assuming that because one thing happened after another in point of time, therefore it was the result of that other. Let us look candidly together at the two or three instances of this, taken almost at random. You ask: "What creates demand?” and answer "use." I ask in my turn: "What creates use?" and answer "demand." Why is it that there is so little "use" of silver dollars in this country to-day while there are millions and millions of them lying idle? I answer confidently, because there is no adequate "demand" for them. Have you not innocently but badly mixed up "cause" and "effect" in this case? Demand in the commercial sense is nothing but desire for something on the part of one man coupled with his willingness to pay something for it satisfactory to the other who owns it. "Use" of that thing, no matter what it is, only fol- lows the demand for it. You have helplessly put the cart before the horse. What is the sense of clamoring still for "unlimited coinage" when the treasury cannot get rid by hook or by crook of a tithe of those already coined? They are well minted, of just weight, are legal tender for all debts, and bear the legend "In God we trust." What ails them? I answer, and so must you, on reflection, there is no demand for them and therefore no "use" of them. What more can the law do for them? It may be, my dear sir, that in your study of finance you have overlooked, in whole or in part, the momentous fact that all but a mere fraction of the world's commerce is mediated by instruments of credit, and not by metallic money at all, whether of gold or of silver, and that by far the most essential service of money in this age of the world is to furnish a steady measure. Mr. Eckels, the present comptroller of the currency, has made it apparent by careful inquiries instituted through his department, that about 50 per cent. of the retail business of this country is achieved by means of checks drawn on local banks, and cleared by the banks with very little use for coins. The relative employment of these instruments of credit is constantly increasing through the multiplication of banks, and otherwise, and of course also the quantity of coin money required to do the business of the world, or of any advanced country in the world, is steadily decreasing relative to the business done. "As a fitting conclusion I ask you to peruse the decision. of judge Vincent on the bet made by your friend and leader J. P. Hopkins with W. S. Forrest some weeks ago. Judge William A. Vincent has decided in favor of Mr. Forrest to the effect that 'Coin' lies in stating that silver was the unit of value from 1792 to 1873, and that the unit BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 149 was both gold and silver, 3714 grains being the quantity of silver, and 243 grains being the quantity of gold which were to equally express the measure and value of the unit adopted. "Mr. Vincent gave out his decision a few days ago. It is quite an exhaustive review of the subject, and will be of interest to both the 'gold bugs' and silverites. It is doubtful whether there was ever a small bet made, the stake being $20 to $10, that attracted SU much attention. The referee received somewhere in the neighbor- hood of 300 letters from people all over the country giving their views, besides literature and newspaper clippings in great abundance. He JUDGE WM. A. VINCENT. also had a dozen or more regularly prepared briefs handed to him. Read the decision for yourself, Will.” Mr. Money handed his son the following document: During a recent discussion at the Iroquois club between Wash- ington Hesing, John P. Hopkins, Sigmund Zeisler and W. S. Forrest the truthfulness of certain statements in regard to the unit of value in the United States from 1792 to 1873 was questioned. This argu- ment resulted in a controversy which, by agreement of the parties, was referred to me for decision. At my request the question to be determined was reduced to writing, and is as follows: "Sigmund Zeisler states that under the statute of 1792 both gold and silver were made units of value in the United States. John P. Hopkins denies the proposition." While I had a settled conviction as to the inexpediency of the free coinage of silver by the United States, without international agreement, at the ratio of 16 to 1, which was well known to the par- ties at the time, I had absolutely no opinion as to the precise technical question involved in the controversy above stated. In my consideration of this subject I have had the benefit of the views of advocates of each side, and it seems to me that the matter has been carefully and exhaustively presented. In April, 1790, Congress referred certain matters relating to the establishment of a mint to Alexander Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury. January 28, 1791, he communicated the result of his inquiries and reflections to the House of Representatives. This re- 150 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. port is an exhaustive treatise on the subject of currency, on which Mr. Hamilton was almost universally conceded to be the best in- formed and most profound student of the Nation. Hamilton evi- dently asked Thomas Jefferson to examine the report and express his judgment upon it, because in February, 1792, or two months before the passage of the act under discussion, Jefferson wrote to Hamilton: "I return you the report on the Mint, which I have read over with a great deal of satisfaction. I concur with you in think- ing that the unit must stand on both metals, that the alloy should be the same in both, also in the proportion you establish between the value of the two metals." Under the question, "What ought to be the nature of the money unit of the United States," Hamilton says among other things: • "As long as gold, either from its intrinsic superiority as a metal, from its greater rarity, or from the prejudices of mankind, retains so considerable a pre-eminence in value over silver as it has hitherto had, a natural consequence of this seems to be that its con- dition will remain more stationary. The revolutions, therefore, which may take place in the comparative value of gold and silver will be changes in the state of the latter rather than in that of the former. But upon the whole, it seems to be most advisable, as has been observed, not to attach the unit exclusively to either of the metals, because this cannot be done effectually without destroy- ing the office and character of one of them as money, and reducing it to the situation of a mere merchandise, which accordingly at different times has been proposed from different and very respect- able quarters, but which would probably be a greater evil than occasional variations in the unit from the fluctuations in the relative value of the metals, especially if care be taken to regulate the pro- portion between them with an eye to their average commercial value. The conclusions to be drawn from the observations which have been made on the subject is this: That the unit in the coins of the United States ought to correspond with twenty-four grains and three-quarters of a grain of pure gold, and with 371 grains and one-quarter of a grain of pure silver, each answering to a dollar in the money of account." Inasmuch as the number of grains in a silver dollar was sug- gested to be exactly fifteen times the number of grains in a gold dollar, Mr. Hamilton's report necessarily recommends the adoption of a bimetallic system at a ratio of fifteen to one, and his reflections are certainly of greater value than those made by others years before that time. Based upon the Hamilton report, Congress enacted the law of April 2, 1792, Secs. 9 and 11 of which read as follows: "Sec. 9. There shall be from time to time struck and coined at the said mint coins of gold, silver and copper of the following de- nominations, values, and descripti. ns-viz: Eagles-Each to be of the value of $10 or units, and to contain 247 4-8 grains of pure or 270 grains of standard gold. Half-eagles-Each to be of the value of $5 and to contain 123 6-8 grains of pure or 135 grains of standard gold. Quarter-eagles-Each to be of the value of $2.50, and to con- tain 61 7-8 grains of pure or 67 4-8 grains of standard gold. Dollars BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 151 or units-Each to be of the value of a Spanish milled dollar as the same is now current, and to contain 371 4-16 grains of pure or 416 grains of standard silver. Half-dollars-Each to be of half the value of the dollar or unit, and to contain 185 and 10-16 grains of pure or 208 grains of standard silver. Quarter-dollars-Each to be of one- fourth the value of the dollar or unit, and to contain 92 3-16 graius of pure or 104 grains of standard silver. Dimes-Each to be of the value of one-tenth of a dollar or unit, and to contain 37 2-16 grains of pure or 41 3-5 grains of standard silver. Half-dimes-Each to be of the value of one-twentieth of a dollar, and to contain 18 9-16 grains of pure or 20 4-5 grains of standard silver. Cents Each to IPPEFFER GOV. Swan Z SENECAL DESTROYING THE HOUSE TO FIND A FREE-SILVER DOLLAB. be of the value of one-hundredth part of a dollar, and to contain 11 pennyweights of copper. Half-cents-Each to be of the value of half a cent, and to contain 5 1-2 pennyweights of copper. “Sec. 11. That the proportional value of gold to silver in all coins which shall by law be current as money within the United States shall be as fifteen to one, according to quantity in weight of pure gold or pure silver-that is to say, every fifteen pounds weight of pure silver shall be of equal value in all payments with one pound weight of pure gold, and so in proportion as to any greater or less quantities of the respective metals." A careful reading of Secretary Hamilton's report and the act of April 2, 1792, cannot fail to convince that Congress substantially 152 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. adopted and enacted all of his views on the subject, as it would be very apt to do when his views agreed with those of Thomas Jeffer- son. It is true that Congress did not provide for the coinage of a gold dollar of 24 grains and three-fourths of a grain, probably for the reason that it would be too small to be practicable for use, and because, as suggested by Hamilton in the same report, "in small payments it is not perceived that any inconvenience can accrue from an entire dependence on the silver and copper coins. The chief inducement to the establishment of the small gold piece is to have a sensible object in that metal, as well as in silver, to express the unit. Fifty thousand at a time in circulation may suffice for this purpose." It has been suggested, and seems to be true, that if the provis ions for the silver dollar in the act of 1792 had been omitted we would still have a unit of one-tenth of the eagle, or 244 grains of pure gold, as recommended by Mr. Hamilton, as the idea was to have the value or denomination made equal in gold and silver. It was intended by Hamilton's report and the act of 1792 to have free and unlimited coinage of gold and silver, after deducting one-half of 1 per cent. as in said act provided, at the ratio of 15 to 1, the then commercial values of the two metals, and both were made a legal tender for all debts. It is undoubtedly true that the Spanish milled dollar, as it was then current, was the starting point, and the number of grains to compose a gold dollar was ascertained by dividing the number of grains in the silver dollar by fifteen, but this does not alter the fact that units were expressed in gold and silver. On the contrary, it seems to show that both were made units of value. The word "unit" was employed as the equivalent of "dollar," and the dollar was to consist of either one of two different things-one-tenth part of 247. grains of gold or 37114 grains of silver, just as equal values may be embodied in given weights of any two given commodities, such as wheat or corn. A unit of value is the unit in which values are ex- pressed; the value of both gold and silver is expressed in the act of 1792, so we had two units of value. If both had not been so expressed we could not have had bimetallism. The unit is simply the starting point in the reckoning of money. In England the unit is the pound sterling, in Germany the mark, in France the franc, while Sec. 20 of the act of 1792 provides "that the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars and units," etc. 1 The language of the proposition submitted for decision is not as clear and satisfactory as might be desired, but I am of the opinion that under the act of 1792 the unit was to be the dollar. The value of this unit was to be measured in both gold and silver, 371 grains being the quantity of silver, and 244 grains being the quantity of gold, which were to equally express the measure and value of the unit adopted. As I conceive this to be the point at issue, as under- stood by the parties to the controversy, and which was intended to be expressed in the written statement thereof, I decide in favor of WILLIAM A. VINCENT. the affirmative of the proposition. BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. (( Now, the kind of 'bimetallism' that one of your financial fools is working for may be understood from a statement on page 132 of that detestable yellow-backed book. It tells that money on the present gold basis' has a purchasing power twice what a bimetallic currency would have.' This cannot mean anything else than that the author of the pamphlet believes free silver coinage would give us a currency the unit of which would have but half the buying power of the present currency unit. He practi- cally admits that the silver dollar would circulate only at its bullion value, as is the rule in Mexico. Any schoolboy has sense enough to be able to understand that gold money would not circulate on equal terms with silver dollars on this basis, unless the value of gold should decline 50 per cent. The schoolboy might not have sufficient knowledge of finance to know such an event is just as improbable as would be the doubling of the bullion value of silver by act of Congress, which even 'Coin's Financial Fool' does not expect would occur. But any and every man who is intelligent and old enough to vote ought to have no diffi- culty in seeing the utter absurdity of the proposition, and the insincerity of the man who makes it. On page 133 of the pamphlet it is stated that the change advocated 'would double the value of all property,' which is another admis- sion that silver monometallism is counted on. But what kind of doubling would it be? About the same as the reckoning that a man is twelve feet high, this conclusion being arrived at by the simple process of cutting down the measuring foot to half its present length, or pretty much the same as stating that the crop of wheat in the United States last year was 1,000 million bushels, the "bushel" by which it was measured having a capacity of only four gallons instead of eight. Would the man be a single hair's breadth taller, or the wheat crop make an ounce more of flour 154 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. because of the change in the unit of measure? None but a fool or an arrant rogue would propose to the people of the United States such a palpably idiotic way for getting rich, or in any manner improving their condition. "Now, I guess we have had enough for to-day. Shall we go to supper, Will, and leave 'the awful crime of 1873' for to-morrow. >> And to supper the suckling philosopher went. } CHAPTER VII. THE AWFUL CRIME OF 1873. The silver orator had spoken with great fervor and perspiration. He had exhausted the subject and himself. He had laid bare the hideous conspiracy by which John Sherman and the grasping money kings twenty-two years ago impoverished the toiling masses and plunged the country into financial chaos. "And now, fellow-citizens," he said, "I am done. I have shown you where we stand and what has brought us here. I have placed before you in all its details the legislative villainy that culminated in that crowning atrocity, the demonetization of silver, and I have tried to set before you a way of escape from the evils that environ us. In conclusion, I shall be glad to answer any questions you may feel moved to ask touching the momentous issues now before the people." As he sat down a timid, earnest-looking citizen rose up and said: "You have made several references to the crime of 1873. May I ask what the crime of 1873 was?" The silver orator's jaw fell and rose again, and his lips moved, but no sound came from them.-Chicago Tribune. When the morning meal was dispatched on Wednesday, May 1st, Silas Money turned to his son saying, "We will devote to-day, Will, to discussing that favorite howl of your former associates, 'The Awful Crime of 1873,' which forms so lengthy a portion of the screed they wrote for you." 'Well, father, I would like to hear your views on 'the crime of 1873,' for I must confess that their argument did seem convincing to me." "Falsehoods convince many people, my boy. To some dupes, Teed and Schweinfurth with their blasphemous mockeries are genuine Deities. Old Mother Blavatsky fooled hundreds with her Indian fakir acts and probably no belief is more firmly fixed in many minds than the one that 155 156 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. silver was surreptitiously demonetized in 1873. It is said that no one knew of it at the time, and that Congress was hoodwinked by a clever dodge. The book written for you makes a great deal of this idea (page 16), saying: "The newspapers on the morning of February 13th, 1873, and at no time in the vicinity of that period, had any account of the change. General Grant, who was President FINANCIAL RUIN ལ་ + ASILVER, FREE JMANZ C. CO LINE CHI. CC REVISED VERSION OF THE CRIME OF 1873." of the United States at that time, said afterward that he had no idea of it. In the language of Senator Daniel, * * * of Virginia, it seems to have gone through Congress "like the silent tread of a cat.”' 1 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 157 (C 'Now, let us calmly look up the facts and see if this charge is true. As the same book says, 'We are not here to deal with sentiment. We are here to learn facts. Plain, blunt facts.' Let us have the legislative history of the act of 1873 in a nutshell. The bill entered Congress with its cat-like tread, April 25th, 1870, and was in residence, so to speak, in Congress for nearly three years before it got out. It came into the spring session of 1870, turned up again in the winter session of 1870-1871; did not get through, and appeared again in the winter of 1872; came up again in the winter of 1873, and in all ran the gauntlet of four different sessions of Congress. The following table will disclose the whole history of the enactment at a glance: PROCEDURE. Submitted by Secretary of the Treasury. Referred to Senate finance committee.. 500 copies printed... Submitted to house. • · • SENATE. HOUSE. April 25, '70 April 28, '70 May 2, '70 June 25, '70 Reported, amended and ordered printed. Dec. 19, '70 Debated.. Jan. 9, '71 Passed by vote of 36 to 14 Jan. 10, '71 Senate bill ordered printed.... Jan. 13, '71 Bill reported with substitute and re- committed . Feb. 25, '71 Original bill reintroduced and printed. Reported and debated Mar. 9, '71 Jan. 9, '72 Jan. 10, '72 Recommitted. · Reported back, amended and printed.. Debated. • Amended and passed by vote of 110 to 13... Feb. 13, '72 April 9, '72 May 27, '72 Printed in senate. May 29, '72 Reported, amended and printed • Dec. 16, '72 Reported, amended and printed.. Jan. 7, '73 Passed Senate.... Jan. 17, '73 Jan. 21, '73 Printed with amendments, conference committee appointed... Became a law Feb. 12, 1873. It is perfectly clear from this table that there was no haste nor secrecy about the case. It was printed again and again; laid on the desks of members again and again; it was debated until 144 columns of the Congressional Globe 158 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. (the predecessor of the Record) were filled with reports of debates on its provisions. How, then, can anyone of intelli- gence for a moment offer the charge that the bill was passed stealthily? "Look at these facts, on which I challenge refutation:" The bill was prepared in 1870 by Mr. Boutwell, then secretary of the treasury, and his colleagues and was printed and sent to experts on coinage in all parts of the civilized world. The bill with Deputy Controller Knox's report thereon, was printed in the Bankers' Magazine for July, 1870. The bill was sent to Senator Sherman of the Senate finance committee in April, 1870. It was then printed again, and many thousands of copies were sent to bankers, capitalists, and whoever asked for it. In December, 1870, it was reported unanimously for passage by the Senate finance committee. This committee consisted of Sherman, Williams of Oregon, Cattell, Morrell, Warner, Fenton and Bayard. You will notice this committee had the bill under discussion about eight months. January 10th, 1871, the bill was passed by the Senate by a vote of 36 for to 14 against. Among those voting for the bill were the six senators from the Pacific coast, and amongst them was Stewart, of Nevada. Sherman voted against the bill because it pro- vided for the coinage by the Mints of gold without charge or seign- iorage. The bill then went to the House and June 13th, 1871, was ordered printed. February 25th, 1871, the bill was reported back by the House committee on coinage, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute, when it was again printed and recommitted to the committee on coinage. March 9th, 1871, W. D. Kelley reintroduced the bill, when it was again printed and referred to the committee on coinage. January 6th, 1872, the bill was reported for passage. The bill was read in full and debated at length by Kelley, Potter, Gar- field, Maynard, Dawes, Holman, and others. January 10th, 1872, the bill was recommitted to the committee on coinage, and February 9th, 1872, was again reported by the committee and was again ordered to be reprinted, and was recommitted to the committee. February 13th, 1872, it was again reported for passage, was again On printed, and was made a special order for March 12th, 1872. April 9th, 1872, the bill was debated by Hooper and others, and Mr. Hooper's speech alone filled ten columns of the Congressional Globe. Mr. Stoughton's speech on the bill fills seven columns of the Globe. On May 27th, 1872, the bill was again called up and was amended and passed by a vote of 110 to 13. The bill was then sent to the Senate, was ordered printed, and was referred to the finance com- mittee. On December 16th, 1872, the bill was again before the Senate, and after debate was again ordered to be printed in full, with all the amendments. On January 7th, 1873, the bill was again reported with further amendments and again was ordered printed. On January 17th, 1873, it was passed after a debate which fills nine- teen columns of the Congressional Globe. The bill then went to the BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 159 House, was printed on January 21st, 1873, and, as is the rule, went to a committee of conference, which consisted of Hooper, Stough- ton and McNeeley of the House, and Sherman, Scott and Bayard of the Senate. The report of this conference committee was agreed to by both Houses and the bill became a law on February 12th, 1873. It is thus seen that the bill was debated during five sessions of Con- gress. "How then can any one of intelligence for a moment aver or allege that this bill was passed stealthily or 'with cat-like treat?' The truth is some of the political ranters and roarers for free silver to-day, were then and are now so ignorant of the first principles of finance? "Especial and sufficient reason why the House of Repre- sentatives should so lamentably misrepresent the country on financial questions is to be found in the class of men who compose it. But the smallest fraction of them have any practical acquaintance with banking or trade or manu- facturing. The great, the overwhelming majority of them are lawyers. In the Fiftieth Congress, 203 members of the House were lawyers; in the fifty second, 200; in the last Congress there was the appalling number of 243. I say appalling, not that I have any objection to lawyers; but I have decided objections to the kind that, for the most part, get into Congress. They are the third or fifth-rate members of the profession-of the narrow-minded, cross- roads order. A 'composite' biography, true in general for the great mass of them, would read about as follows, in phrases taken literally from sketches of their lives furnished by themselves to the Congressional Directory": Was born in 1838; worked on a farm until he was sixteen; took up the trade of blacksmithing; taught school for two years; read law with the Hon. Gabe Bouck of Minturn's Corners; was admitted to the bar in 1866; nominated for prosecuting attorney against the most popular man in the Republican party and triumphantly elected in 1869; held several other county offices; was never defeated; member of Forty-eighth, Fifty-First and Fifty-third Congresses; said of him by his home paper: "In all relations of life, as a neighbor, friend and public official, he has been faithful to 160 EXPOSED. BASE "COIN " COINS DANGER"!! धां PARTY RUIN FIN FINANCIAL SCHOOL ما راحت COIN'S FINANCIAL SCHOOL こ ​SAMPLE LEGISLATORS. DEMOCRACY HRIL BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 161 every trust, zealous as a church member, Sunday-school worker and legislator." “Is it any wonder that a House dominated by men of such training and antecedents should display a certain crudity in dealing with nice questions of finance? Add in the twenty-two farmer members, who are at least as crude and bazy in their notions about the currency, and it is not surprising that the thirty-three members of the house who come from active commercial pursuits, from banking or manufacturing, can make so little impression on the great majority. The complaint is an old one. In the Forty-fifth Congress, when the House was madly rushing to repeal the resumption act, Congressman Chittenden said with perfect truth: "We, the representatives of the people, have discussed this question of currency for more than fifteen years, dur- ing which time more than five hundred paper money de- vices have been brought here. For more than five years we have devoted our energies to the interests of bankrupt speculators exclusively.' "That is precisely what is to be expected from a lot of small-minded country lawyers turned politicians. For a large part of their lives they are thrown into daily contact with men who are anxious to cheat their creditors, and nothing is more natural than that they should endeavor to shape national legislation so as to enable them to do it. They come out of communities where elementary instruction in finance has never penetrated, where everybody is trying to get a little money by hook or by crook, and what more inevitable than that they should want to vote all their old friends a generous per capita out of the treasury? "In the campaign of education on the finances which must come, nothing is more important than to cut down the number of lawyer-politicians in the House, and swell the 162 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. number of true and capable representatives of the business Most of the present Con- business men come from The cities of the South allow themselves to be Party names are of little and commerce of the country. gressmen who may be classed as New York and New England. must see to it that they do not throttled by cross-roads lawyers. account in this matter. A leading trade journal justly says: "The nominal politics of a real representative of a com- mercial and manufacturing section is a secondary consider- ation; practical business men of diverse political views as regards the hundred non-essentials of a political creed, are invariably in perfect accord upon questions which concern the financial credit and the commercial and industrial pros- perity of the country.' "It is time we had some currency legislation from Con- gress designed for the benefit of solvent business men in- stead of bankrupt speculators. "But it might be supposed that the omission of the silver dollar from the bill was kept in the dark, and that this matter escaped attention because it was not brought out in the debate. In fact, an item had gone the rounds of the press that Mr. W. D. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, declared he never knew of the 'demonetization' of the silver dollar. This seems extraordinary in view of the following words of Mr. Kelley on January 9, 1872, when, as chair- man of the committee on coinage, weights and measures, he recommended the passage of the bill:" It was referred to the committee on coinage, weights and measures, and received as careful attention as I have ever known a * * * The committee committee to bestow on any measure. proceeded with great deliberation to go over the bill, not only section by section, but line by line and word by word. I wish to ask the gentleman who has just spoken if he knows of any government in the world which makes its subsidiary coinage of full value. * * ** It is impossible to retain the double standard. The values of gold and silver constantly fluctuate. BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 163 "Again, on April 9, 1872, Mr. Hooper (Mass.), in charge of the bill, declared to Congress in unmistakable clearness the object of the bill:" It declares the gold dollar of 25 8-10 grains of standard gold to be the unit of value, gold practically having been in this country for many years the standard or measure of value, as it is legally in Great Britain and most of the European countries. The silver dollar, which by law is now the legally declared unit of value, does not bear a correct relative proportion to the gold dollar. Being worth intrinsically about $1.03 in gold, it cannot circulate concurrently with the gold coins. * * * The committee, after careful consid- eration, concluded that the 25 8-10 grains of standard gold, consti- tuting the gold dollar, should be declared the money unit, or metallic representative of the dollar of account. "There is absolutely no ground for the belief that the omission of the silver dollar from our legal coins in 1873 was done either hastily or secretly. If the general public did not discuss it, and if it was not noticed by the press there is the same reason that holds of any one of a thousand bills in any Congress: There was no earthly interest in the matter. "A great interest centers in this act of 1873, because not only was it regarded as a great crime to 'demonetize' silver, but it was also supposed to have gone through Con- gress surreptitiously 'like the silent tread of a cat.' Let us take up only the first point here, and in order to under- stand the matter fully we should know what the act of February 12th, 1873, was. "No codification of the Mint laws had been made since 1837, and a complete revision of all technical matters of assayage and coinage was undertaken in 1870. An attempt was made to get as nearly a perfect system as possible, consequently the authorities sent out to scores of experts the new provisions for criticism. Many replies came in and can all be found in H. R. Exec. Doc. No. 307, 2d session, 41st Congress. In this original bill sent out for suggestions a silver dollar of 384 grains standard weight (i. e., 345.6 WorM 11 164 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. FREE SILVER. MANIA WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS UNUM WITH SILENT CAT-LIKE TREAD. 毗 ​BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 165 grains pure silver) was proposed, or one just equal to the dollar's value of subsidiary coins issued since 1853. In the beginning it was clear the old silver dollar piece was to be dropped. This was noticed in the replies of the experts; and Robert Tatterson, of Philadelphia, among others, said of it as follows: The silver dollar, half-dime and 3-cent piece are dispensed with by this amendment. Gold becomes the standard money, of which the gold dollar is the unit. Silver is subsidiary. "Dr. Linderman (some time director of the Mint) also said: Section 11 reduces the weight of the silver dollar from 412½ grains to 384 grains. * * * It would be better, in my opinion, to discontinue its issue altogether. The gold dollar is really the legal unit and measure of value. "The bill was submitted to Congress by the Secretary of the Treasury, April 25th, 1870, and after having been printed thirteen times, after having been discussed to the extent of 144 columns of the Congressional Globe, it did not become a law until February 12th, 1873. The act as finally passed is as follows, so far as it is of interest to us: Sec. 14. That the gold coins of the United States shall be a one dollar piece, which, at the standard weight of twenty-five and eight- tenths grains, shall be the unit of value. [Then follow directions as to other gold coins.] Sec. 15. That the silver coins of the United States shall be a trade dollar, a half dollar, or fifty-cent piece, a quarter dollar, or twenty-five cent piece, a dime, or ten-cent piece; and the weight of the trade dollar shall be 420 grains troy; the weight of the half dollar shall be twelve grams and one-half of a gram; the quarter dollar and the dime shall be respectively one-half and one-fifth of the weight of said half dollar, and said coins shall be a legal tender at their nominal value for any amount not exceedng $5 in any one payment. Sec. 17. That no coins, either of gold, silver, or minor coinage, shall hereafter be issued from the Mint other than those of the denominations, standards and weights herein set forth. 66 This is the whole of the much-famed act of 1873, which deals with the 'demonetization' of silver. "In the discussions in Congress no opposition whatever 166 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. was manifested to the omission of the 4123 grain silver dollar; because it had not been in circulation since 1840. The omission attracted no attention, for one reason, since no such coins were in use. The silver dollar was dropped simply because, being worth more than 100 cents in gold, it had not been possible to keep it in concurrent circulation with gold. The act of 1873 simply accepted the situation which had been apparent in 1849 and had already been indicated by the act of 1853 (previously explained in these columns). The act of 1873 did not change anything not already accomplished by the logic of events. Silver dollars were not driven out of circulation by the act of 1873, which dropped out the dollar piece of 412 grains, because they had not been in circulation for twenty-five years and more. "It was in 1853 that the real adoption of the gold standard took place. In the act of that year Congress, after reviewing our experience since 1792, consciously main- tained the machinery by which silver dollars were being kept out of circulation and frankly avowed its intention to then create a single gold standard. And from 1853 to the suspension of specie payments, December 31, 1861, we had only gold as a standard in this country. And the land prospered and waxed fat without any of the silver dollars. They were objects of admiration, to be seen only in museums. Being worth more than 100 cents in gold no one was clamor- ing for their use with which to pay debts. It was only after 1876, when their value had fallen below 100 cents in gold, that the cries went up to heaven for silver dollars with which to scale indebtedness. That is a significant historical fact. The act of 1873, then, only recognized existing con- ditions, already accepted by the act of 1853. "The notion that silver has rights and virtues, that it is courageous and faithful to its friends and loves the poor, and has made itself an historical place, and is entitled to BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 167 justice-all of which propositions have been maintained during the last fifteen years by American orators and writers -show how near we are, in spite of Christianity and science to the state of mind in which men deified the moon and sun, the mountains, the streams, and even wild beasts and oxen. "Silver has precisely the same historical position and possesses the same rights under the moral law and the United States Constitution as wheat or leather, wampum or cowries or coal. "The latest champion of bimetallism in the British Parliament, Mr. Everett, amused the House of Commons once by enforcing and illustrating the mystic character of silver and the divine purpose in lodging it in the earth. In 1873, when the silver agitation first began, it was asked with much force, said he, 'Why did the Hebrew patriarchs use silver in their daily transactions? Why, for instance, did Abraham pay for the cave of Macpelah in that metal if its use was not divinely ordained ?' "As well argue that because the serpent was in Eden, therefore it must be worshiped!" Just at this time a well-dressed, prosperous-looking indi- vidual called at Silas Money's house. There was nothing in his appearance to indicate that there was any scarcity of money or that the country was going to the dogs. There was a suspicious swelling of one of his coat pockets, as if it contained a pocket-book stuffed with money. This "bloated millionaire" opened the conversation by announcing that his name was James Late Greenbacker, and that Will Money was an especial pet of his, and of a lady friend of his, one Mrs. Fiat. he. "You take rather an unfair advantage of the lad,” said "You get him all twisted up by your questions; make him confess himself in favor of the gold standard; and 168 EXPOSED. BASE ,, >> COIN } FREE SILVER. DEMOCRAS CLEVE. SOUND MONEY FORMULA LAND WHILE DOCTORS DIFFER THE DONKEY DIES. BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 169 He is what is much worse, intend to print his confession. a bright fellow, but has become a little conceited. He thinks he knows everything because he has been spending much of his time with Hopkins, Hinrichsen, and men of his calibre, who know nothing. When he got to talking with a person well instructed on finance of course he was soon muddled. Now, with your consent, I hope to help in the talking and let him do the listening to his friend." "That is, you propose to explain for him what the 'crime' of 1873 really consisted of ?" said Silas Money. "I do." "Then go ahead and do it," said the elder Money. "It consisted," said Greenbacker impressively, "in destroying one half the redemption money of the United States, just as the boy said in his Art Institute lecture." "What do you mean by 'redemption money?" " 'You will find it explained on page 49 of his book. I say there that there are two kinds of money-'redemption or primary money and credit money. The latter is made on paper and embraces Government and bank notes; or it consists of token money, that is, money made from some metal which does not enjoy free coinage and is not intrin- sically worth what it purports to be. Redemption money is made, as I say in his book, 'out of that commodity which has been selected by a nation to be real money.' Credit money is 'directly or indirectly redeemable in the commo- dity to which a fixed and stable value has been given. ** "That is very clear. Now what was the redemption money of the United States up to 1873 ?" asked Silas Money. (< 'It was gold and silver." "How much of each was coined ?" "I think the amounts are given somewhere in his book," said Greenbacker. 170 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. He produced a copy of a picture pamphlet, fumbled over its pages for some minutes, and said finally, "I thought he had printed it, but I cannot find it.” "Never mind. Here is the official report of the Director of the Mint showing the amount of gold and also of silver dollars coined yearly from 1793 to 1873. Add up the columns and let us see what the result is." Mr. Greenbacker toiled at his job for a long time. When he finished the result seemed to surprise him, for he frowned, shook his head, said "this is very strange," and began adding the figures up again. He got through, but said nothing. "Well, what do you find ?" “Do you mean to say that this is an official report ?" said Greenbacker. "Certainly. It is the Mint Director's report for 1894, forming a part of the report of the Secretary of the Treasury. You will find the same figures in every preceding report back to 1874. What do you find?" "That the total amount of gold coined from 1793 to 1873 was $816,905,518." "How many silver dollars were coined in the eighty years ?" "The total number," said Greenbacker, slowly and reluctantly, "was only $8,031,238." "So the 816 millions of gold and the eight millions of silver constituted in 1873 the sum total of redemption money which could possibly have been in existence in the United States if all this gold and silver money had remained intact in the country ?" rejoined Silas Money. "So it appears," said the Greenback man. "And the silver dollars made less than one per cent. of the sum total of redemption money ?" "Yes; that is the official report." BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 171 "Then why do you say that the act of 1873 'destroyed one-half the redemption money of the United States?' Is there no difference between one per cent. and fifty per cent. ?" "But," replied the interloper, "in the early years of the republic our fractional silver was a legal tender and con- siderable of it was coined. You must add that to the 8,000,000 of silver dollars, and the Spanish and Mexican dollars and French five-franc pieces were also made legal tenders by Congress." 'That is true," said old man Money, "but our sub- sidiary silver ceased to be legal tenders except for $5 as long ago as February, 1853-twenty years before the 'crime of 1873.' And the foreign coins were demonetized in 1860, which is thirteen years before your so-called crime act. And they were not legal tenders till 1843—or fifty years after the coinage act of 1793. And, furthermore, the fractional foreign coins were never monetized in this country, although they circulated for their bullion value quite freely in buying articles, paying for labor and small debts. "Now I ask again why you people made that wild, reckless assertion in that picture book that the crime act of 1873 had destroyed one-half the redemption money of the United States ?" "The statement does seem to be too broad and unsus- tained by the record," said the Greenback man, with a con- fused and vexed aspect in his face. Here the lad, who had been getting rather nervous, said audibly: “The Greenbacker man seems to be getting into deep water now." His friend looked at him angrily and the youth sub- sided. "Let us investigate a little further," said Silas Money. 172 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. "The only money in circulation in 1873, I believe, was what you call 'credit money'-greenbacks and National bank notes-which was not at that time being redeemed in 'redemption money.' And the only redemption money in the United States during the greenback period from 1862 to 1878, when redemption took place, was that received by the Government from customs with which to pay interest on the National debt, and held in banks to sell to merchants to pay foreign balances on imported goods and the like; but the money of account was fluctuating paper. Is not that so?" "Yes," said Coin's defender. "Then how in wonder's name could the crime act of 1873 have abolished half the 'redemption money' of this country when there was none in circulation among the people-nothing but depreciated Treasury and bank notes ?" "That seems to be a hard question," said Greenbacker, with extreme reluctance. It was like pulling teeth to get him to admit it. "Guess he's got you, Jim," said the boy in an under- tone. Greenbacker remained silent, flushed and angry. Now, tell me candidly," said Silas Money, "in what consisted the alleged crime of 1873 about which you and Mme. Lease and other Populists and free silverites howl and swear so vociferously ?" "Guess you hadn't better tell him the real reason, Jim," said the cautious Coin boy. "Yes, I will," in a low tone, said Mrs. Fiat's friend. "It is not only a present crime, but what the gram- marians would call a paulo post futurum crime, or what a lawyer would call a contingent crime, depending upon the BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 173 happening of some future event-such, for instance, as a heavy fall in the price of silver." "Well, go on; explain more clearly and fully." "It is a crime now," said Greenbacker, "because as the result of adherence to the anti-free coinage of silver prin- ciple, the redemption money of the world has been reduced one-half. Look on page 39 of his book and you will see the statement that 'before demonetiza- tion both metals constituted the money of the world, and as both metals existed in about the same quantities, it gave us twice as much money of redemption as gold alone will now furnish us.' "You have not a particle of proof of this wild assertion in that book," said Silas Money. "All the legal tender silver in Europe in 1872 is still in circulation as redemption MARY ELLEN LEASE, money, except a part of the old German thalers, which were sold in 1873-4-some of them to the Latin-American coun- tries and the rest to India, where they were recoined into rupees, and are still in circulation there in that form. As to this country, is it not a fact that we have over $600,000,- 000 more silver money in use than we had in 1873, and all of it legal tender? Now tell me in what Dan Voorhees calls the 'assassination of silver' in 1873 consists. promised to out with it. I am anxious to know. why is there so much beating about the bush on this point among you frée-silverites?" You And After a long pause on Greenbacker's part, he replied: "This is it. If the crime act of 1873 had not been passed, neither would the Bland-Allison act of 1878, re- monetizing silver and requiring the Government to make 174 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. monthly purchases of silver bullion. Silver began to de- preciate, you remember, shortly after the German empire ceased coining any more thalers and adopted gold as its future unit and standard. The decline went on faster after France and the Latin Union stopped coining five-franc pieces; and the depreciation of silver was accelerated by the action of Holland, Scandinavia and the other European powers. Under these adverse influences ('and greatly in- creased silver output from the mines,' remarked Silas Money) silver had declined by 1876 below the gold value of greenbacks, and this country could have resumed specie payments on the cheap silver dollar basis if we had retained free coinage. Every year thereafter the price of silver bullion in London sagged lower, lower and lower, and it would have been more profitable for our Rocky Mountain miners to have sent their bullion to the United States Mints and had it converted into silver money of ultimate redemp- tion. The banks would then have redeemed their notes in these depreciating silver dollars. "The Government would have been obliged to redeem its greenbacks in the same sort of cheap hard money. The interest on the National debt being payable in 'coin' would have been paid in silver worth at first, say, 95 per cent. in gold, then 93, 90, 88, 85, 82, 80, 75, 70 cents, and so on down as far as silver bullion could fall to as measured by gold." (( 66 Well, is that all?" asked Silas Money. 'O, no. Only a commencement of the benefits of cheap silver. You see that any man who had incurred any debt, whether from buying land or borrowing money on it, could have repaid his debt in poorer and cheaper money than the value he received, and he would be that much better off. If he borrowed silver dollars worth, say, 85 cents in gold and paid back the debt five years afterwards when silver had BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 175 depreciated to, say, 70 cents, he would have cleaned up 15 cents on each dollar. And if another man borrowed silver when worth 75 cents to the dollar, and his note fell due when silver had dropped down to 47 or 50 cents, he would have saved one-third or more of his obligations. Is not that as plain as a flagpole?" "Any other advantage?" "Yes. For the last twenty years this country would have done business on a constantly rising market. Just in proportion as silver fell in value-that is, in purchasing power-prices of commodities would be quoted higher in the depreciating money of ultimate payment. You see that, don't you? And the country would be enjoying a boom all the time. The faster the value of silver tumbled down the quicker the prices of goods would bound up. By this time, with silver dollars only worth 50 cents in gold, the prices of every product would be double what it was at the time of resumption on the gold standard of values in 1878. It would be the making of this country to have the money of ultimate redemption constantly sinking towards zero, and the price of goods soaring up like a boy's balloon in the ethereal vault of heaven. That would be a 'boom' we all could be proud of, and the effete gold bug European mon- archies would envy us our prodigious prosperity. But the fearful crime of 1873 prevented all this glorious outcome of free silver coinage and held us down to the world's values of things." "Do you think that sort of depreciating and debased money would be an honest currency?" asked Silas Money. "It would be lawful money, and what is lawful is honest enough for most people if they make money by it," cynically replied Coin's advocate. "Have you considered what effect a debasing money would have on the rates of interest? Would not any man 176 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. having money to loan, or any property to sell on credit, demand enough more interest to recoup himself on the probable further decline of silver by the time his note came due? And would not every man having land or lots or improvements to sell ask enough higher prices to make good the probable further depreciation in the value of the sag- ging silver dollar? Would not a sense of self-interest or preservation cause every man possessing anything to loan or sell on credit to demand higher interest and prices; and would not this offset all the advantage which the debtor. could possibly gain from the depreciation of the silver and more too? Would not high interest eat up profits and have a bad effect on all legitimate business? Who would benefit by the state of things your free coinage of bad money would create except desperate and reckless specu- lators? Is not honesty the best policy in all things, and does no stability of currency conduce more to a nation's prosperity than fluctuating, depreciating, wild-cat money? Has not the rates of interest since the 'crime' of 1873 fallen nearly one-half for every solvent debtor? Has not the Government, the states, counties and cities refunded their bonds in much lower rates of interest? Are not the railroads doing the same thing; and men who have given mortgages, are they not renewing the liens on long time at low interest? Does not all this conduce to the popular and national prosperity?" "I admit your contention to some extent, but mine is more popular with the rural masses. The people want more money even if the purchasing power falls off. 'Cheap money" is their cry, and they are bound to have it." "I thought the 'cry' was for plenty of money rather than for depreciating money." "They want that, too," said Coin's defender. "Doesn't the steady fall in the rates of interest and the BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 177 immensity of loans since the 'crime' of 1873 indicate a growing abundance of loanable funds?” "Well, yes, looking at it from that point of view," said Greenbacker. "Then there has not been an increasing scarcity of money since the 'crime' of 1873? Then where is the 'crime' of 1873?" Silas Money asked. At this point they boy broke in again. 66 'Jim," said he, "it is getting late and you are all tangled up worse than I was. Suppose you go home now and study up this point and call around again—some time -perhaps." "That's a good idea," said Greenbacker. "I am tired and want a rest badly." And he speedily took his leave. “Well, my lad, I guess I settled his hash pretty fairly We may as well quit for the day and go round the farm. We will further discuss the actual results which would ensue from 'free and unlimited coinage of silver on another day."" So round the farm they went. CHAPTER VIII. THE RESULTS FREE SILVER WOULD BRING. The silver "bug" is very common out West. very common out West. Many of them have emigrated East and live in great style, as they can well afford GOLD STANDARD. PROSPERITY दे ITALY SILVER STANDARD GOVERNMENT BANKRUPT Zaff KING TENTAS OF TAL GERMAN-AMERICANS ARE AGAINST THR FREE COINAGE OF SILVER SEE TIMES-HERALD MONDAY MAY. 6'INTER- VIEWS WITH GEO. SCHNEIDER LOUIS HUCK T.J.LEF ENS RUDOLPH BRAND CRAS. H. WACKER WM.C. SEIPP. GERMAN AMERICAN DR. BLUTHARDI GERMANY'S ARGUMENT FOR GERMANS. SILVER to do, in New York and other big cities. Unlike the "gold bugs they are a species peculiar to America and unknown elsewhere. 178 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 179 Their stock in trade has always been silver, and their methods of business intimidation and force, and, although Uncle Sam is gener- ally supposed to be a stiff-necked old fellow, they have bullied him unmercifully; bullied him into buying the declining product of their Western mines, on which he has pocketed an average loss of 40 per cent. They say the admirers of the silver bugs say-that the gold bugs cornered the old fellow a short time ago and made 16 million dollars in a bond deal. This is doubted; but we have the cold figures on the silver " bugs." Uncle Sam has lost more than 200 million dollars on the silver which they forced him to buy of them. The old fellow has kept a careful debit and credit account of his transactions with them and the proof is positive. Any one who would care to see the figures may find them on page 16 of the 1894 report, Bureau of the Mint. The average price of silver during the past two years need only be added to complete the estimate. Here are the figures: Cost of silver bought, $508,933,975; market value, 60 cents per ounce, $305,360,385; net loss to the Government, $203,573,590. This sum has gone into the pockets of the silver mine owners of the West; and the North and South pay nearly all the taxes to make the loss good. It is nothing less than robbery under the thin guise of laws, saddled on the cou try by these people under threats and intimida- tion. Notwithstanding these incredible, ill-gotten gains, the silver "bag," furious with greed, now has Uncle Sam by the throat, demanding unlimited spoils.-W. B. MITCHELL. For nearly a week after the discussion detailed in the preceding chapter Silas Money was silent on the subject of finance. He had observed that immediately after every meal his son had recommenced the perusal of some or other standard work on political economy, and that a steady drain on the parental pocket-book seemed to be almost wholly ex- pended in the leading periodicals, at times back numbers being ordered from Chicago. The youth was studying the elementary principles in silence, but in thoroughness and earnest. His father knew better than to interrupt. On Wednesday, May 8th, the youth himself made the necessary overtures for a new discussion. When breakfast was over he said: "Father, what in your judgment would be the result of a free and unlimited coinage of silver?" "That is a question I have considered carefully, and impartially, my boy from the standpoint of nearly forty 180 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. years business experience, and I will gladly discuss the question with you." The youth sat down, lighting a mild cigar instead of his usual cigarette. 6 "Let us see what those who wrote your book claim they are going to do. Says one leading spirit: The United States is now a big schoolroom; the people are studying this subject and they are going to get at the facts and they are going to hold responsible the men who they find have deceived them. They are going to find out another thing: It is, that we are financially independent of Europe. Our forefathers sought to erect a government here that would be free from the class legislation of governments that we justly term plutocracies. Over there the many are the slaves of the few who rob them by legislation. We had expected to be free of that here (W. H. Harvey).' "This is suspiciously like the old 'bogey' cry, but for my purpose it is sufficiently plain. The financial independ ence of America is what these people think they can accom- plish by a few strokes of a pen. Was Rome built in a day? How many long weary years of bloodshed, cold famine and all the attendant terrors of war did our forefathers fight for freedom? And yet we find a few 'modern Alexander's' who are going to do financial miracles in a single moment, with a supreme disregard or ignorance of the most elemen- tary principles of finance. "National bimetallism is one thing and international bimetallism is quite another. For the United States alone to commit itself to 'the free and unlimited coinage of gold and silver without waiting the action of any other govern- ment,' would be about as sensible as Don Quixote's setting forth without money and a change of linen to right the wrongs of the world. "Yet national bimetallism is what the free silver bugs BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 181 wants this country to plunge into to show that it is ‘inde- pendent of the English.' Is there no other way of showing independence than by ruining oneself? As a matter of fact, the United States is dependent on England and England on it. The two countries are interdependent. The latter takes wheat, flour, provisions, petroleum, cotton, etc., from the United States. She is the best customer Ameri- cans have. Deprived of her markets they would suffer in the midst of the surpluses of their products. This is the best market England has. Deprived of it her operatives would starve. If the United States were to adopt free coinage, the actual purchasing power of its dollar would be determined in the London silver market. That would be a state of shameful dependence. "The United States borrows European money because there is more free capital there than here, just as there is more in the Eastern States than in the Western ones. The European money is borrowed with the expectation that it can be employed so productively as to enable the borrower to return it, principal and interest, in due time. When that money cannot be employed profitably it will not be borrowed. The interest payments do not amount tɔ $200,000,000 a year (as your alleged book says), but to about $50,000,000. To use the gold of the country to pay off foreign loans now, while those loans are serving to keep Americans at work, and while on every dollar the American borrows and pays four per cent. for he is making five per cent., would be rank foolishness, as much so as for a mer chant to pay back to a bank borrowed money he is using at a profit in his business. "Free coinage would not create capital. Calling a thing money does not make it money. A billion of 50-cent dollars have no more working power than 500,000,000 100-cent dollars. Capital cannot be created 182 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. by legislative enactment. It has to be saved up slowly and laboriously. A man's wealth is not doubled merely by doubling his assessment, nor a nation's wealth by calling one dollar two dollars. "If the silver mining industry were to be stimulated slightly by free coinage, all other industries would be depressed more. For what is the silver industry compared with the iron or the textile fabrics industry, or many others? What is the silver crop compared with the hay crop? If it were resolved that some dynamite be put under every build- ing in Chicago and they be blown up, the dynamite manu- facturers might reap a momentary harvest, but the general effect would not be a profitable one. "The real question at issue is not what the United States did or might have done in 1873, but what it can do now with safety and with honor. As the American Congress by passing a law declaring that sixteen ounces of silver are worth one ounce of gold, cannot make 300,000,000 of Europeans, or 70,000,000 of Americans either, sell an ounce of gold or its equivalent in commodities for sixteen ounces of silver; and as the passage of such a law would strike down credit, release debtors from half their debts, and mildew the prosperity of the country, why should it enact such a law? "If by an act of Congress we can make sixteen ounces of silver worth one ounce of gold, don't let us stop at that. Let us make one ounce of silver worth one ounce of gold. Then we may make a bushel of wheat worth two gold dol- lars; a wheelbarrow equal in value to a coach and a pair of blooded horses; a watermelon patch equal to a fine farm, and exchange a beggar's hovel for a prince's palace. It will require no legislation to make a silver crank equal in financial intelligence to an ordinary jackass. "It will not do for us as a people to say we will adopt BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 183 a silver standard because we like it better. We must use the money which the rest of the world likes best, or we cannot trade with the rest of the world. "The day has passed for one nation to say to another, in relation to international finance, as did the Moorish King to the ambassador of Spain: 'Tell your sovereign that the Kings of Granada, who used to pay tribute in money to the Castilian crown are dead, our mint at present coins nothing but blades of scimetars and heads of lances.' "If people will not listen to reason now they will be required to learn wisdom with an empty stomach and gather knowledge in ragged clothes. The grasp of hard times will not be relaxed until the agitators for a depreciated cur- rency are beaten into harmless silence. Even now capital is eager to plunge into American enterprises and reap profits from an abundant and common welfare. But we can entice it back only by giving it the positive assurance that we will always be honest enough to return what it gives us and that we will not return a 50-cent dollar for its 100-cent dollar. Until our intentions as to the present issue of free silver are definitely known capital will con- tinue to shun our investments. We must first convince it that we are not joined to the idol of depreciated silver. It is impossible for us to have a safe system of currency until gold is indisputably established as our single standard of value. Around this standard we can construct a currency that will be the equal of the best in the world. fix the centre pole before we spread the tent. reaffirm our single standard before we can readjust our cur- rency. We must We must "For the settlement of this question our first duty is to smash silver monometallism in the face. This will open the treasuries and unlock the vaults of wealth. Gold will rush into the development of commerce in greater profu- 184 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. sion than it was borne to the treasury of Croesus by the streams of Pactolus. The golden days of resumption will come again; the boom of good times will be full upon us; prosperity will reign 'beyond the dreams of avarice,' and this will be 'the way we long have sought and mourned because we found it not.'" "Well said the Comptroller of the Currency at Detroit, on May 2d: The American people cannot too quickly recognize that they are in the midst of a propaganda, skillfully and zealously being carried on with the end in view of revolutionizing the country's ex- isting monetary system. Those who now direct the free silver idea, map out the policy of its advocates and control their action, have ceased playing with words and put from them the professions which heretofore have characterized their utterances when urging the cause for which they have stood. Their demand to-day, interpreted in the light of their acts, is that the United States shall at once abandon their present standard of value and substitute therefor, irrespective and without the co-operation of any other country, a single silver standard. Nowhere is it suggested by the sponsors for this latest tenet in the silver creed that this Nation shall even undertake to maintain at home a double standard. Nowhere is their promise given of an attempt through international agreement to make every dollar of silver which shall be coined the equal in value of every dol- lar of gold which comes from the Mint, and fairly interchangeable therewith. They no longer give recognition to the fact, attested by every monetary union formed and conference held, that no nation can isolate itself from those with which it has commercial dealings, and maintain independent of them a distinctive standard of value. It is not even designed that the dollar coined shall approach in in- trinsic value the value which it purports to carry, but instead a ratio shall exist between coins of the same denomination which is patently incorrect and untrue. The position which they now assume of necessity eliminates from their ranks all who heretofore have struggled to bring about a larger use of silver in the country's cur- rency at an increased ratio, and drives into the camp of the oppo- sition every honest champion of international bimetallism. The plan laid is of their own making, the issue of their own choosing, and in the face of their acts the believer in the single gold standard and the believer in a standard of both gold and silver should give them neither aid nor succor. They challenge the one and repudiate the other, and from both should come a united opposition. "The contention which is now made by the single silver stand- ard adherents reduced to its last analysis is silver fiatism pure and simple. It differs in degree only and not in principle from the con- tention of twenty years ago of the advocate of the unlimited issue BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 185 of the irredeemable greenbacks, and from that of the issuer of the fiat currency of the period of the Continental Congress, and the era of colonialism. It finds counterpart in the arguments of the French revolutionists who bankrupted the citizens of France with their mil- lions of worthless assignats and mandats-it resembles the reasoning HONEST POLICY FREE SILVER TOO BIG A JOB FOR THE TUG. of King Alexis of Russia when more than three centuries ago he impoverished his subjects and fomented civil strife by undertaking to force upon them copper kopecks of the same form and value as a substitute for silver ones. 186 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. "It is the theory of the Socialist and Populist applied to mone- tary science. It is based upon the belief in what has been aptly termed 'the all powerfulness' of the state, and is in utter disregard of that great fact in financial history that mediums of exchange and standards of value did not find their origin in law, but were born of the needs of trade and commerce. They came into use through no legislative action save that which was wrought in the great parlia- ment of commerce, and from then until now the enacted laws of councils and of congresses in violation of the principles underlying them have failed to control and regulate them. The end always sought by commerce, the great arbiter of every monetary system since the dawn of civilization, has been to have in every metallic money such intrinsic value as makes the unstamped coin of the same value as a commodity of merchandise as the stamped. It has with equal rigor insisted that in bank currency there shall be immediate redemption upon presentation in sound metallic cur- rency. It invokes in behalf of the money which it sanctions and accepts no alchemist, and believes in no philosopher's stone. It has throughout all the centuries stood defiant against the errors of legislative bodies and the wrongful edicts of kings, and, acting upon the principle that 'value knows its own laws and follows them in spite of decrees and penalties,' has taken the coins of every country for what they are intrinsically worth, and not for what the legal stamp represents them to be worth. The commercial world has with unvarying precision drawn the true distinction which exists between true value in a nation's currency and the sign of value affixed to it, and standing upon that line of demarcation it has been as indifferent to the laws of great nations as of small. Those who represent the interests of commerce cannot afford to be unmindful of the condition which confronts them. If the stand- ard of value upon which all commercial transactions are based is made uncertain by any experimental legislation, if capital becomes alarmed and credit once more restricted, the magnificent temple which has been here dedicated to the uses of commerce will be of little avail, for there is no commerce where faith is wanting in a country's medium of exchange and trading reduced to mere bet- ting. The question to which the friends of the maintenance of a medium of exchange or unquestioned and unquestionable value must address themselves is not how to temporarily defeat the advo- cates of free coinage of silver as they now present it, but how to permanently insure the country against the danger which would flow from crystallizing into law any monetary suggestion which is based in whole or in part upon the doctrine of fiatism. Such result cannot be attained by either scoffing at their leaders or underesti- mating the sources of strength of those who range themselves under their banners. As long as they have the enthusiasm which springs from the belief in their lessening the woes of the debt-burdened classes to urge them to effort and the encouragement of the timor- ous and compromising in the ranks of those who oppose them they will continue an active force in the monetary agitation and an + BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 187 element in American politics that warrants recognition and sturdy opposition. The forces of fiat silver currency, of irredeemable paper and their populistic allies can be permanently eradicated as factors worthy of consideration and sources of discontent and financial loss in but one way, and that lies through the gateway of sound mone tary education. To this work the individual and the Nation's good demands that in season and out there be such labor performed as shall at no distant day result in their being beaten squarely upon the issues for which they stand and the country rid of the disasters attendant upon their hope of ultimate success. "There is no class of people to whom the free-silver craze is more exasperating than those who are actually engaged in manufacturing industries, and as one I speak. The "We have passed through a panic more disastrous than the country has ever experienced and those who have in the face of many difficulties sustained their credit and sur- vived the perils are anxious to get to work and recuperate their fortunes. All conditions are favorable to the inau- guration of a period of prosperity beyond any precedent. Stocks of merchandise are lower than ever known. railroads are ready to buy as they never did before. The country is about to awaken from the lethargy under which it has existed since the Baring failure. Nothing stands in the way except an unwise and foolish agitation for free coinage of silver, carried on mainly by old political hacks merely as a means to get office. They tell the idle that it promises employment when their efforts are calculated to produce industrial paralysis. While every member of the concern I am in is a friend to silver we deprecate any attempt to coin it independently of other countries and make the United States a dumping ground for the old silver. spoons of the world. "We fully believe that even a prospect of unlimited coinage would create another panic more severe than the first. There are thousands of establishments, although crippled by the recent troubles, now running and employ- 188 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. ing many men which would be closed by the first breath of another disturbance. Laboring men, above all other classes, are interested in combining to put down this dan- gerous folly in order that business in all its various branches may revive and all avenues of employment be opened. There will be no difficulty in maintaining an ample gold reserve as soon as it is definitely settled that no reserve will be needed." 'How does it happen do you suppose, my lad, that the so-called gold countries, almost without exceptions, are rich and powerful, while the silver countries, without excep- tion, are poor, and with the exception of Russia, and proba- bly Japan, are weak? Is this mere coincidence? Besides, the 'gold countries' are the only bimetallic countries- the only countries that employ both gold and silver as money." "Look at Mr. W. B. Mitchell's account of our next door neighbor, Mexico, which has produced more silver than any other country in the world. The mines of Chihuahua alone have produced more than 500 million dollars. Senora, Zacatecas and others have yielded even more. Coinage is free in Mexico. And yet the people are poor beyond the conception of the common American laborer. All labor is poorly paid. Mr. Mitchell spent some time in Mexico some years ago, and made particular inquiry as to wages paid in agriculture and mining, the principal industries of the coun- try, and found them varying from 10 to 36 cents per day, which is equivalent to 5 to 18 cents in American money. "The average for the farm laborer did not exceed 20 cents per day, or about 10 cents in our money. The people live in huts, subsist on the coarsest food, and $2 in Ameri- can money would buy the average outfit, from head to foot, in clothing. "This is the condition in a free-coinage country that has BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 189 produced more than four thousand million dollars in silver, and which is still producing silver at a larger ratio per capita than any other country in the world. Its exports of silver in 1893 being 51 millions of dollars, and in 1892, 49 millions. I have not the statistics for 1894. Mexico has a (MEXICAN PEON'S WAGES .33 CENTS PER DAY SILVER) (OCENTS AMERICAN ساتی APERIAN AN FACTORY GOLD STANDARD WAGES FREE SILVER. Toy WHAT FREE SILVER DOES. population of 12,000,000. If the United States produced silver in the same proportion, or the same rate per capita, our productions would be 300 millions dollars annually, yet who would say that the people of that country are better off than we? 'The people who advocate free coinage in the United 190 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. States claim that low prices and depressed trade conditions are due to our gold standard, and insist that free coinage would bring an era of prosperity. If any of them will move across the border into Mexico their opinions will undergo a decided change. A move merely to the border would have a wholesome effect. On the Mexican side there is small progress and unfavorable conditions generally, while within the United States line there is activity, growth and fair prosperity. All the cities and villages near the line are built and building on the American side. "Free silver coinage can make no country prosperous; on the contrary, the mere apprehension of it is quite suffi- cient to depress business and arrest enterprise in any en- lightened, prosperous nation. "Mexico is a silver country and its finances are in a bad state. The country is a sort of dumping ground for the silver product from various districts. It has left the cur- rency of the republic in a woefully unstable condition. Were the Mexico plan to be tried here it would bring untold disaster as it has brought to the 'greasers.' But it is extremely unjust to institute any comparisons between Mexico and the United States. The former is a fourth-rate country, while ours is decidedly a first-rate country. Mexico furnishes an object lesson for the silver men every day in the year. "Free coinage orators point to France as a country that has done wonders with silver. But when silvor began to decline, and its coinage ratio to go below the gold value, France closed her mints to silver. "A recent statement of the Bank of France* showed specie holdings as follows: Gold Silver. Showing $205,000,000 more gold than silver. * See 1894 Report of the Director of the Mint. $430,000,000 225,000,000 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 191 The November statement of the United States Treasury showed specie holdings: Silver Gold. • Showing $382,000,000 more silver than gold. • $508,000,000 126,000,000 "So it appears that the Bank of France held nearly $2 in gold against every dollar in silver, while the United States Treasury held only $1 in gold against every $1 in silver. "The Bank of France, on the date referred to, held nearly double as much gold as the Bank of England; and France is as firmly a gold standard country as England, and will always remain so. And it was wise enough to stop the coinage of silver before it endangered its gold supply. There is no free coinage party in France, nor indeed in any other great civilized country, excepting the United States. "France has a total of 825 million dollars of gold and 492 millions of silver, nearly double as much gold as silver, while the United States has almost equal quantities of each. "What we want, my boy, is the third of the cardinal principles of the democratic party, as Martin Van Buren stated it, 'A dollar worth a dollar.' S. J. Tilden was all his The first planks of the life fighting for it and living it. platform upon which he stood in 1874, repeated during every year of his leadership, were: "First-Gold and silver the only legal tender; no cur- rency incontrovertible with coin.’ "Second-Steady steps toward specie payments. No. step backward.' ""Third-Honest payment of all public debts in coin. Sacred preservation of the public faith.' "There is no need of free-silver coinage. We are the least burdened and nationally the lightest taxed among the machine-using nations of the world. Holding the control 192 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. of imperial deposits of iron and coal, of timber, of cop- per, of lead; producing within our own limits as much gold as we should ever need after we have increased our reserve to a suitable point; producing also an excess of food and fiber of almost every kind; importing only a little wool, we hold the dominant position among civilized nations, only needing to become conscious of our own strength to estab- lish our financial system on an impregnable basis, to the end that this country may become the place of 'safe deposit' of the capital of Europe, when the great outbreak comes LEASE UMIST BUILD ME PAYABLE IN STANDARD GOLD COIN OF THE UNITED STATES NOPAUZID LOVE GRAD LANDLORD ALTGELD GOVERNOR ALT GELO CONSISTENCY A JEWEL. PREE FOLITICS. which cannot much longer be deferred, the excessive pre- paration and expenditure for war having become unbear- able. "The people who are being cheated by the pamphlets and articles in the papers which are paid for by the silver barons had better put some questions to them. The man who wants to go to a financial school should put to Senator Stewart the question, 'Why do you permit your agent to loan money on mortgage payable only in gold?" Why not ask Senator Stewart, Senator Jones, Representative New- BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 193 lands and the rest of them why they don't take their own salaries as members of Congress and Senators in silver dollars? Look into the condition of the banks in Colorado, Nevada, etc., of which some of these men are directors; ask them why they keep their reserves in gold almost wholly instead of silver? Ask them if they are not playing a game in which their motive is 'heads we win, tails you lose?' "The fact is, the greater part of the farmers and the workingmen of this country-the depositors in the savings banks and the like-have horse sense. They may be rather slow to move. We have been a little too sure that the folly of the silver craze would die of its own corruption. But the people who do possess common sense are now finding out the trick, and the silver craze is being stamped out. Then the true question of bimetallism will come up—not the false bimetallism under which it is proposed to force a man to take silver when he has been promised been promised gold-but a bimetallic international system of coinage under which there shall be a world's coin made of gold under one name and a world's coin made of silver under another name- whoever names either in any contract or bill of exchange to be called upon to pay that coin and not to substitute one for another. That would be a true system of bimetallism, and to secure that the international conference ought to be held. 'There is one point that is too often overlooked by those who assail the gold standard. All the great nations of the world have adopted that standard, and insist upon conducting all business transactions upon it. It will not do for us as a people to say that we will take silver because we like it better. We must use the money which the rest of the world likes best or we cannot trade with the rest of the world. Our merchants and traders act on this principle. constantly. So do all capitalists and money lenders. It 194 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. does no matter what standard the Government may adopt, the gold standard will still be the basis of all business transactions. For many years past all contracts for future delivery of goods, all loans, mortgages-in fact, all trans- actions involving considerable sums of money, have con- tained a gold clause. It is not Congress or the Govern- ment which fixes the standard, but business men. They fix it in gold, not because they dislike silver, but because on gold alone can they depend for stability. In doing this. they are making it possible for widows, orphans, and all other holders of savings to get an income from them. Without a sure standard of value there can be no loaning of money, no safe and profitable investments, and hence no interest. Without invested capital domestic and foreign industries must languish, and workingmen be left without employment. It is not merely a high patriotic duty, there- fore, for all the people to help the Government in main- taining the national credit, but it is the first essential to national well-being. Let us forecast some of the results of free silver. When a merchant of the world-wide experience of John V. Farwell says that from free coinage would follow: 1. Premium on gold, measured by the violence of the panic which would follow the withdrawal of gold from our currency, and the enforced payment of gold mortgages at a premium. Will Coin please measure it for his readers in the light of past history, so they can realize the danger of it? I have more faith in the radical, honest common sense of the average farmer and laborer, when they have good reasons from facts given them and set over against theo- ries with no facts to sustain them. 2. Practical repudiation of debts not payable in gold up to the difference between the value of gold and silver as established by such a law and by the aid of the panic that would follow it. 3. A complete revolution in business methods to conform them to the new silver standard of values. "We of less experience may well hesitate before we cast a vote for free silver to benefit a silver-mine owner. "Let us take another opinion. The Hon. Lambert Tree BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 195 was interviewed by a reporter of the Chicago Times-Herald, to whose patriotic proprietor the deepest national gratitude is due for the signal zeal he has showed in combating the free silver cranks who were leading the people astray. Said this distinguished diplomat and traveler, Mr. Tree: I believe in as full use as possible of gold and silver as long as the dollar unit of both metals can be kept of equal exchangeable value, and if there could be an international agreement between the MINE OWNER NATIONAL பணிப்பா CALAMITY. VALKING, MAN I WONDER IF HE'LL BITE? great commercial nations to maintain parity between the two metals there would be no objection to the free coinage of silver. Without such an agreement it would be the height of folly for the Government of the United States to attempt free coinage. It would mean our immediate descent to silver monometallism, with all the humiliation and disaster to the commercial and industrial interests of the country which such a situation would imply. It would mean the disappearance from circulation of about $600,000,000 in gold and for the time being, to that extent, a con- traction of the currency. 196 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. It would mean the partial repudiation of debts and obligations, public and private. It would mean pinching thousands of old soldiers in their pen- sions by paying them with a money worth less than fifty cents on the dollar. It would mean the victimitizing of every farmer and working- man in the country, who would be paid for their products and their labor in debased and depreciated money. It would mean the removal of the United States from the plane of equality on which they now stand with the great commercial powers of the world, and placing them on that with Mexico, the Central and South American Republics and India and China. It would mean a deadly blow to the advancement and commer- cial progress of the great metropolis which sits upon the shore of Lake Michigan within the borders of Illinois, and whose position among the great marts of the world is, or should be, a source of pride to every true citizen of the State. It would mean the paralysis of every industrial enterprise in Illinois and infinite injury to every one of her sons who has to earn his money by the sweat of his brow. It would mean the transformation of hundreds upon hundreds of millions of 100-cent dollars belonging to industrious and frugal working men and women, now on deposit in the savings banks of the country, into 50-cent dollars, so that every one of these persons who now has $100 saved from his or her earnings would find, on the adoption of free coinage, that he had but $50 in the money of the world. Do you doubt this? If you do, take a hundred American dollars to Mexico, and you will find that anybody there will give you one hundred and ninety-seven Mexican dollars for them, although the Mexican dollar has more silver in it than the American dollar, the Mexican ratio being 16 1-2 to 1. Why will they give you one hun- dred and ninety-seven Mexican dollars for one hundred American dollars? Because the American dollar has the credit and faith of the United States Government back of it, coupled with the ability, under present circumstances, to maintain parity between the two metals. In other words, every silver dollar has a gold dollar back of it, and the applicant at the treasury of the United States can take his choice whether he will have silver or gold. Do But is there anybody so insane as to really believe that the United States, rich and great as they are, can alone and single- handed maintain equality of value between the metals with the silver of the world dumped upon our mints for free coinage? They realize the $100,000,000 of silver in the vaults of Germany, the $500,000,000 in the treasury of France, accumulated under the treaty of the Latin union; the untold millions in India, China, Mexico and the South American states which those countries would eagerly seize the opportunity to exchange for our gold at 16 to 1, with which they could buy more silver at the ratio of 23 to 1 and again exchange at 16 to 1? How long would it be after the approval by the President of an act of congress providing for free coinage BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 197 on a ratio of 16 to 1 that we should have silver monometallism pure and simple? Would it be one month, one week or one day? Does anybody want silver monometallism in this country? "Now read the able article of the Hon. Washington Hesing on the effects of free silver coinage. He says:" But let us suppose for a moment that this law is passed enacting free coinage at the ratio of 16 to 1, and what would happen? The first thing certainly would be that all the silver in the world would be dumped at the doors of the United States Mints, and coined metal would be demanded in return. This coined metal would, no doubt, be immediately taken to the sub-treasuries and to the banks, and gold demanded in payment The gold would thus be gradually withdrawn, and the $454,000,000 of gold which we have in this country, and which the world over is worth 100 cents in any coin in the world, would be driven out of circulation, and this country, in- stead of having an increased circulation, as is contemplated by those HON. WASHINGTON HESING. who believe we haven't money enough to do our business, would have less money in circulation than before, because immediately the holders of our securities abroad also, who have a right to demand the payment of the same in gold, would send these securities here and there would be a drain on our circulation such as has never been known, and which by the very act of free coinage would bring about ruin and desolation, for it is a fundamental law of finance that has been demonstrated over and over again, in every age, that the per- fect coin of full weight or full value, instead of driving out the light or debased pieces, is always itself driven out of the circulation by them. Thrown into the crucible or exported in commerce, this superiority immediately manifests itself, and therefore into the crucible or into the channels of foreign trade such money would be thrown, and all experience with one voice testifies that exactly those are the destinations of such money. 198 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. We have seen that condition exist in another form on many occasions in this country. The theory that any country can stand alone in designating a value to a coin regardless of other nations is in my opinion absolutely untenable. The commercial relations of the world are so great to-day, the financial interests are so inti- mately interwoven, that there must be an understanding upon the money question. No one country, be it what it may, can attempt to say to other countries at what price metal can be recognized. While this country is great, its resources boundless and its influence in the markets of the world daily increasing, yet it is far from able to say, for instance, to England in buying a bill of goods: "We will pay you in silver dollars which you must accept at our price." England would naturally say: "Silver will be received at the universally accepted price in the markets of the world; we insist upon the one metal with which we, in turn, can pay our differences in France and Russia." I go further. It is nothing short of dishonesty for a govern- ment to say to its own inhabitants that a coin, because it bears the official stamp, shall be accepted at a price which it is not worth, and which cannot be obtained for it of any silversmith in the country. The impression seems to some extent to be abroad that if a free coinage act at the ratio of 16 to 1 were to pass immediately there would be a great abundance of money; that everybody would have his pocketbook filled. Have these gentlemen considered that in the first place, so long as Grover Cleveland is President, or until March 4, 1897, no legislation looking in that direction can be passed, be- cause it will require his signature, and it is well known that that cannot be obtained? Hence, at the best, two full years must elapse before any relief can be obtained in that direction. Have the advo- cates of free silver considered the further fact that the maximum capacity of the United States Mints to-day is less than 40,000,000 silver dollars per annum? How much benefit would the people derive from an increase in money amounting to $40,000,000 per annum? Since what is known as the crime of 1873 was committed nearly 400,000,000 silver dollars have been coined, while prior to 1873 and during the time silver was not demonetized, only about $8,000,000 were coined. The remonetizing of silver cannot possibly help any- body except those interested in silver bullion. On the contrary, it would mean ruin to that very class which expects relief-the debtor class. Has it ever occurred to these gentlemen that while they are constantly using the argument that the people are all in favor of the remonetization of silver, the bankers and capitalists are against it because they belong to the creditor class, these very gentlemen would profit most by it, and those who are the advocates of free coinage and who belong to the debtor class would suffer most by it? The merchant prince and the banker, who have large interest in the stability of the Government and its commercial relations, are opposed to this scheme, because they look upon it as positively dis- honest and as ruinous to the country, yet knowing at the same time that if they desired they could profit most by it temporarily. BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 199 If the silver in the dollar is worth but 55 cents, would not the capitalist, and would not the banker especially take the very money belonging to others, buy for it silver and ask the Government to stamp it and give him in turn 55 cents in silver worth 100 cents, SNIOT COIN'S BANCIAL SANCIAL COINS INANCIAL 100 FINAN COIN'S FINANCIAL COIN'S CA FREE SILVER } OBLIVION TOO BIG A LOAD. thus enabling him to make 45 cents on every dollar? The poor man the laborer, the debtor, cannot do this. The rich man can. It is to me very evident that this very thing would be done, and that 200 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. this very legislation would have the effect of making the rich, richer and the poor, poorer. It is a very common thing at present to ascribe the unprece- dentedly low price of wheat and cattle and wool and other agricul- tural products to the so-called demonetization of silver. Did this country ever have more prosperous times than it did from 1879 to 1893, during which period silver was demonetized, just as it is to- day? I contend that the general introduction of labor saving machinery everywhere, vastly increasing volumes of products from far-off countries, like Australia and South America, and the over- production of human beings which have come upon the markets of the world fully account for the present conditions regardless of cur- rency. The low price of labor in other countries has certainly been an important factor in regulating the price of commodities in the new world. With this, certainly, America and its monetary sys- tem could not have had anything to do. The passage of a free-coinage bill would not make money cheap, but dear; money, instead of becoming more plentiful, would become scarcer; labor would everywhere be idle, and idle labor means the ruin of the little shopkeeper, which, in turn, means largely decreased profits to the middleman and wholesale merchant, who, in turn, would be compelled to throw themselves upon the mercy of their bankers. No policy, be it financial or otherwise, which means absolute dishonesty can but be the menace and the ruin of a nation. The nation which attempts to meet its obligations in a coin at a price which is not universally accepted by the world cannot and will not expect to enjoy the confidence of and to maintain friendly relations with her sister nations. From the moment its commercial honesty is questioned, its financial integrity is undermined and the very life of the government threatened. Nations long ere this have stamped copper and iron and other baser metals, and they have passed at the price stamped upon them within their own confines, but other nations have declined to accept them at more than the universally accepted value of the bullion. And so to-day this country must be honest and honorable, and any attempt to deviate from that princi- ple will mean for any party defeat, its disruption and ruin forever. This agitation of the question as contemplated in this state means silver monometallism. I am not a monometallist or a gold- bug. I am a bimetallist on a gold basis. I believe in bimetallism and the coinage of silver at such a ratio as is agreed upon by inter- national co-operation. Hard money has always been democratic doctrine. Debased money or dishonest currency has never been democratic. "The result of a depreciation in the currency would, of course, be a corresponding rise in the price of everything the workman has to buy; and this rise would be immediate, whereas the advance in his wages would be slow and uncer- BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 201 tain. Where a workman has hoarded the results of a hundred cents' worth of his labor and put it into a savings bank or a building association or used it to insure his life for the benefit of his family he would lose one-half of his hard- earned hoard if the advocates of a cheap dollar were to be victorious. If in time of sickness he drew his savings from the bank he would receive dollars which would purchase only half as much medicine, food or other necessities as the sound hundred cent dollars he had deposited. American farmers and workmen are intelligent as well as honest, and if this question is plainly stated to them no one need fear for the result. "You can get some very interesting facts from a little book recently published by Charles Nicoll, of New York, under the title 'Monetary Systems of the World.' Its compiler is the deputy assistant treasurer of the United States at New York, Maurice L. Muhleman. He says in part: The gold standard countries are, in Europe: Great Britain, Ger- many, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Turkey, Austria-Hun- gary, Finland and Roumania. These comprise less than one-seventh of the population of the globe, but possess three-sevenths of the monetary stock of the world. All of these countries coin silver as a subsidiary metal, but only in Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Roumania does it circulate as a legal tender. These countries still have stocks which were left over when the gold standard was adopted. Altogether, they have $536,000,000 of silver in use, against $1,475,000,000 of gold. Great Britain has $607,000,000 gold, to $112,000,000 silver; Ger- many, $625,000,000 gold, to $225,000,000 silver; Austria-Hungary, $130,000,000 gold, to $121,000,000 silver; and Turkey, $50,000,000 gold, to $40,000,000 silver. The others have such small stocks as not to be worth considering. Outside of Europe the principal gold standard countries are Australia, New Zealand, Egypt and Cape Colony. Australia has $105,000,000 gold, to $7,500,000 subsidiary silver; Egypt, $120,000,000 gold, to $7,000,000 silver, and Cape Colony, $34,000,000 gold, to $3,000,000 silver. Canada also is a gold standard country, though it has no gold and but little silver, its circulation being bank notes. The chief double-standard countries are those of the Latin union -France, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, and Greece-Spain, the 202 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. Netherlands, Servia, Bulgaria, the United States, Argentina, Chili, Venezuela and Japan. The most interesting of these naturally are the countries comprising the Latin union and the United States. The principal stocks of metal in the double-standard countries are: France, gold $863,000,000, silver $703,000,000; Italy, gold $100,000,000, silver $47,000,000; Belgium, gold $56,000,000, silver $51,000,000; Spain, gold $39,200,000, silver $180,000,000; the Netherlands, gold $27,500,000, silver $58,500,000; the United States, gold $626,600,000, silver $626,000,000. This includes subsidiary silver coinage. It will be noted that the United States and France are the only countries having large and equal stocks of both silver and gold. And it is also INDIA FRANCE SILVER BULLIONt MEXICAN SILVER AUSTRALIA, SOUTH AMERICA SILVER 7 CPAIN ENGLAN KEBELIA TAVER 1 THE WORLOS SILVER PRODUCT THE CRANK'S TASK FOR UNCLE SAM. important to remember that neither country now coins silver at all, and has not for many years, or since the beginning of their accumu- lations, coined silver freely on the same terms with gold. The Latin Union, at its establishment in 1865, made as fair an effort to maintain free coinage of both metals as could be asked by the most enthusiastic free silverite, and its failure is a most sugges- tive example of the impracticability of the theory. The sole limit was that pieces under 5 francs were made legal tender only to the amount of 50 francs, and their coinage was restricted to the needs of the people for change. The coinage of silver 5-franc pieces and of gold was unlimited. A most important clause of the agreement was that each state should redeem its own coin in gold or 5-franc pieces. By 1874, nine years after the agreement, silver had depreciated to BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 203 such an extent as to cause alarm, and the coinage of 5-franc pieces was restricted. In 1878, the depreciation still continuing, it was suspended altogether. So now the silver coin of the Latin union is, in effect, redeemable in gold. This depreciation, in spite of free monetary coinage, would seem to be conclusive proof that the open- ing of the Mints of a single country, or of a group of countries, to the free coinage of silver cannot keep it at an equality with gold. It also demonstrates that the best example of bimetallism in the world has been reached by making silver redeemable in gold, though it may be doubted whether France would have been able to keep the gold with which to redeem except for the system of arbitrary pur- chases and hoardings, gold being carefully protected to prevent its withdrawal and exportation. The United States has not been similarly prudent, and it is a fact, of which there has been painful demonstration in the last two years, that most of its large stock of gold is actually hoarded or otherwise out of use. There are only $90,000,000 which do service in our monetary system, and that sum was obtained by bond issues within the last six months. The single silver standard countries are Russia, India, China, Mexico and several South American nations. Russia's system is remarkable. Though clinging to silver standard, it has but $60,- 000,000 of silver, and that is all subsidiary, while it possesses $461,000,000 of gold. This was mostly bought at a high premium and is hoarded. The currency of the people is paper. India gives another excellent example of the workings of free silver. Its laws have provided for the coinage of gold as freely as silver, but, though it produces considerable gold and has imported more, there is practically none coined and none at all in circulation. India has a stock of gold estimated to amount to $600,000,000, but it is entirely withdrawn from monetary use. Mexico also coins gold as freely as silver, the ratio being 16.51 to 1. But its stock amount to only $5,000,000 and none of that is in use. The South American countries are practically all on a paper basis. The general conclusions to be drawn from thic review are: Gold standard countries are able to use silver in relatively small quantities as a subsidiary coin. No bimetallic country or group of countries has been able to maintain the free coinage of silver. The strong bimetallic countries have, in effect, made their silver redeemable in gold. The countries which have persevered in the free coinage of both metals are on a silver basis, gold being entirely out of use. "I cannot conclude in any better way than by handing you an editorial on "The Practical Course," from the Chicago Times-Herald. No words of mine could put the matter half as forcibly or half as plain. Read this, my boy." 204 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. Will Money read as follows: Silver monometallists, who are masquerading in the name of bimetallists, will doubtless realize, as time passes, that their pur- pose cannot be accomplished by detaching the United States from the rest of the manufacturing world. The folly of building a Chinese wall around seventy millions of people and giving them the alternative of isolation from the commerce of the globe, or of par- ticipation in it at an enormous sacrifice and constant confusion of values, they ought to know will not be undertaken by the Congress of the United States. The silver monometallists are either in hope- less hallucination or wilfully blind to the common sense of money. There is one method, and one only, by which silver can be made to play a beneficial part in the pecuniary organization of trade. That one method lies in an international governmental agreement to be maintained with the fidelity which is demanded in the observance of all other treaties between governments. The President and the most intellectual of the Democratic leaders in the next Congress will undoubtedly work with the Repub- licans of the same conviction for the furthering of an effectual inter- national agreement, the prospects of which have clearly improved in western Europe and the British islands during the past six months. There is not yet any formal indication of concert by gov- ernments for the effectuation of a bimetallic compact; but there are universal signs that the best informed judgment, both on the con- tinent and in the United Kingdom, is growing rapidly toward a demand not only that there shall be an international conference for the purpose of giving silver its equitable place in currency, but that such a conference, unlike preceding ones, shall not be merely for deliberation, but shall have power to act authoritatively for the nations represented in it. Patriotism, sagacity, even enlightened selfishness, should inspire American silver men to abandon their scheme for making silver the substitute for gold in the money of the United States, and should inspire them to co-operate with the real bimetallists toward hasten- ing such a conference. Although England has preserved for several years past an appar- ently stubborn hostility to an international remonetizing of silver, it is not improbable that the next general election, not long to be deferred, will carry to Parliament a mandate the cabinet to be created by the verdict at the polls will be bound to obey. The most reliable test of national opinion, especially upon monetary ques- tions, is not always to be had from political organs, under the influence of politicians more solicitous for domestic faction than for international trade. A Chicago gentleman recently from London, was informed by Sir Charles W. Freemantle, director of the Royal Mint, and one of the highest authorities not only in England but in the world on monetary matters, that British financial shrewd- ness is turning steadfastly toward an internationa remonetiza- tion of silver. Sir Charles W. Freemantle, who has been for thirty years identified with the finances of Great Britain, was a member of ་ BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 205 the royal commission on gold and silver appointed in 1886. He is probably the best informed man of his nation on the money ques- tion in every part of the world. It was he who, on taking charge of the Mint, inaugurated the system of giving out annual reports, not only as to the coinage of the United Kingdom, but also as to the monetary conditions of all other countries. His judgment regarding the prospect of England's participation in a monetary conference for proportional rehabilitation of silver is worth more than that of any coterie of politicians. In the Reichstag and the Chamber of Deputies the remonetiza- tion of silver upon a basis to be approved by the concurrent wisdom of nations represented in conference with power to act, has power- ful and numerous advocates. The practicable course regarding the metals is clear. Remon- etization of silver by the United States alone is impossible. If it were not impossible, the menace to the industries and honor of the country would be measureless. Silver men, who are in fact mono- metallists, and gold and silver men, who are the real bimetallists, should combine to bring upon Congress pressure toward, not an international monetary conference for talk only, but for an inter- national conference with power to establish a ratio which the countries participating in the congress will pledge themselves to adopt and maintain, As Will Money concluded his face bore a thoughtful mien. The logic of his father's utterances and the apposite- ness of his quotations had made a deep impression on the lad. CHAPTER IX. THE CONVERSION OF "PROFESSOR COIN." "Call things by their right names. A free silver coinage man is a monometallist, not a bimetallist. Free silver by this country alone means what it does in the semi-civilized countries-distinct monometallism." "The final test of coined money is that it shall be worth as much when run into bars as when it is in coin. If it will stand that test, it is world-money-and all coined money should stand it."- WILLIAM BROUGH in The Natural Law of Money. "Great mistakes are often made like great cables, from a mul- titude of strands."-VICTOR HUGO. The day of the "Professor's" trial drew gradually nearer, and he began to make preparations for his appear- ance before Judge Bradwell, which, with other ceremonies, was to form the final penetential act in his financial career. He was no longer the pert, loquacious youth of the Palmer House. Silent, thoughtful and studious had the pseudo- professor become. There were other discomfitures in store for him. By the early train of Tuesday, May 14, there arrived at Bureau a grandson of Editor Medill, of Chicago, desirous of a verbal contest with the juvenile professor. Young Medill was not the son, but the grandson, of the editor, as mentioned on the ninth page of Coin's alleged Financial School. He was younger than Coin, but with more correct information. The two lads were speedily engaged in a spirited dis- cussion. Said young Medill: "On the ninth page of the report of the proceedings of an alleged financial school, it is said that a 'young Medill' 206 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 207 took part in a dialogue in the Art Institute on the Lake Front with you, and I am represented as saying that 'my grandfather claimed that prior to 1873 there never had been but eight million (standard) dollars of silver coined.' Then, according to the report, you answered by stating that 'about 100 millions of foreign silver had found its way into this country prior to 1860. It was principally Spanish, Mexican and Canadian coin. It had all been made legal tender in the United States by act of Congress. Congress passed laws making all foreign silver coins legal tender in this country.' Then, to prove your statement, you went on to read from the statutes: "Be it further enacted, That from and after the pas- sage of this act the following foreign silver coins shall pass current within the United States, and be receivable by trade for the payment of all debts and demands at the rates fol- lowing that is to say: The Spanish pillar dollars and the dollars of Mexico, Peru and Bolivia, etc.' "Then, according to the report in your comic picture book, 'Young Medill turned red in the face and hung his head.' "Now, Will Money, I have heard that this interview never took place, but that your author was resolved that his catspaw, Coin, should have the best of the argument in the book, whether he actually got the best of it or not. "I have come down here in order to point out some of the errors in his report, and to supply some of its omissions. "It was incorrect to say that I got confused when you had made your little statement and read your extract from the statutes, for I remember reading that law. It is the one passed in 1843. Now, Mr. Money, read the rest of that section. Read the words you skipped or slurred over with an 'etcetera.' 208 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. Very reluctantly the elder lad read: "Of not less than 897-1,000 in fineness and 415 grains in weight at 100 cents each, and the five-franc pieces of boin's Financial Fool THE PROFESSOR AT SCHOOL. France at not less than 900-1,000 in fineness and 384 grains in weight at 93 cents each." "Why did you omit that part of the section in the first place?" asked Young Medill. "Was it to make these BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 209 people who are here believe that all the foreign silver which was in this country prior to 1860 was made legal tender instead of only a few specified coins?" It was the pseudo-professor who turned red in the face and hung his head. "You just said that there was Canadian silver in this country prior to 1860, and that it had been made legal tender, and you read this law of 1843 to prove it. Show me a law which ever made Canadian silver a legal tender in this country," said Young Medill. Will Money was mum. "Was not most of the foreign silver in this country prior to 1860 Spanish or Spanish-American half-dollars, or quarter-dollars, or shillings, or English shillings, or French francs? Was any foreign coin less than a dollar ever made a legal tender? Hold up your head, Money, and answer me that question." Said the alleged professor: "Most of the foreign silver was what you state, and I admit that it never was madə legal tender." "That is not all," said Young Medill. "Were there not other large foreign coins in this country prior to 1860 besides the Spanish and Spanish-American dollar and French five-franc pieces ?" "There may have been," said the elder lad. "Were there not German thalers, and Scandinavian rix dollars, and Austrian dollars?" said Young Medill. "I have heard of them," said Money. "They were not legal tenders by law, were they?" "No." "Now, I want to ask you if they did not circulate the same as the foreign coins which were made legal tenders? Were not they used to pay debts with and buy goods with ?" 14 210 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED "I don't know. Perhaps they did." "On what basis did they circulate-was it not on their bullion value basis ?" "What do you mean ?" asked Will Money. "I mean this: The law of 1843 said certain coins which had 100 cents worth of silver in them should pass for a dollar, and others which had 93 cents worth of silver in them-French five-franc pieces-should pass for 93 cents. Now, then, were the German thalers, millions of them, which had 75 cents worth of silver in them, passed for 75 cents, and they were not legal tenders in this country? Then the Government's way of dealing with foreign silver was just the same as the people's way. Each appraised such coin according to its silver bullion value in gold. Do you deny that ?" The whilom professor got redder in the face and hung his head lower than before. "Now, the fact is," said Young Medill in conclusion, "that the foreign silver which was made legal tender would have passed current just as well for all it was worth without a law of Congress as with it for all what it was worth in gold. Instead of the legal tender quality giving value to foreign silver coins it had no effect whatever on their pur- chasing power. And yet you say," observed Young Medill, "that the country was on a silver basis then, and that the volume of those foreign coins which circulated in this country depended on their being made legal tenders by act of our Congress." The financial boy was cornered and caught out. Young Medill continued: "The free silver extremists allege, and have succeeded in making many of the farmers believe, that the dull times of the last two years are due to the depreciation of silver, or to what they falsely claim to be an 'appreciation of gold. BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 211 causes. They say the prices of commodities and the wages of labor have declined because we have ceased to coin silver, and that it is only when silver is freely employed as a money metal that there is any prosperity in a nation. No fair minded man will deny that the money panic of 1893 and the result- ing industrial depression were due to the operation of other Is the latter part of the claim true? Let us see. "Germany began the policy of discontinuing the coin- age of silver twenty-three or four years ago. It previously had had hard times for a century or more, and substantially the same kind of conditions had been experienced all over Europe. Since then Germany has had a prosperous career. For nearly an average lifetime its people have had the lim- ited amount of about $2.50 of silver per capita, the rest of their money being gold. Is it not an undeniable historical fact known by every reader of history that the period of greatest prosperity enjoyed by Germany since its wars with Julius Cæsar has been subsequent to its unification of the currency and unification of the States? Taking a lot of French gold, substituting it for German silver, joining its twenty-nine states into one nation, and adopting a free State Republican tariff, Germany has prospered to an extent hardly paralleled by any other country in Europe. It has got ahead of France and is crowding close on Great Britain as an active competitor in the sale of manufactured products. "Consider the case of the Latin Union. About twenty years ago it ceased to coin silver. The principal country in that Union is France, which, notwitstanding its frightful experience with Germany, having to pay 1,000 million dol- lars of indemnity in addition to the cost of its own fighting, is more prosperous than ever before. Its money consists of gold and paper redeemable in gold, with as much silver as can be held up artificially to nearly twice its bullion value 212 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. by the sustaining power of gold. France has enjoyed 'good times,' has suffered no great monetary panic, and no great collapse of industrial interests since it ceased to coin silver. Nobody in France pretends to say that the stoppage of the coinage of silver was unwise. On the contrary, the people all know that the measure enabled them to retain their gold, which otherwise would have departed from among them. Similarly, the prosperity of the little King- dom of Belgium since it decided against free silver is some- thing marvelous, its five or six million people having made wonderful progress. The Scandinavian Peninsula, with its nearly ten millions of population, followed the example of France, and it has never seen better times than during the last nineteen years. Switzerland is doing as well since it declared against free silver as ever it did before, and the people of Austria-Hungary are doing better since they began to accumulate gold five years ago for the purpose of reforming the currency than at any other time in the cen- tury. There is no nation the condition of which has been made worse by what the free silver extremists call 'the de- monetization of silver.' "In the United States we never had such times of unin- terrupted prosperity as in the years from 1878 to 1892 inclusive, when the coinage of silver was restricted in amount and all the silver coined by us was held up artifi- cially to a parity with gold. It is notorious that our money panic and industrial crisis of 1893 came about not by the limitation of silver coinage, but by fears that the coinage of silver would be made 'free' on an artificial basis and that the Democrats would adopt the Wilson bill, abolishing a large part of the previously existing protection to American industry. That was what depressed the price of labor and of the products of labor, and wheat suffered along with the rest, being all the more heavy because of the tremendous BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 213 crop of 1891, the weight of the surplus from which was felt through succeeding years. If wheat was depressed by 'silver,' why have not corn and oats been kept down by that same cause? And who can account rationally for the ad- vance in prices of beef and petroleum? Surely the free SILVER MINE THE BOTTOMLESS PIT. silver extremists must think they are preaching to a lot of arrant fools when they ask the people of the United States to believe their trashy utterances about silver. "The following recipe for getting rich, individually and as a people, is given in your alleged Financial School. It is found on page 111 of the pamphlet. "We e express values in dollars, the unit of our monetary system. That unit is now the gold dollar of twenty-two and two-tenths grains of pure gold or twenty-five and eight- tenths of standard gold. If we were to cut this amount in two and make eleven and six-tenths grains pure gold a unit or dollar we would thereby double the value of all the property in the United States except debts.' 214 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. Certainly. And by the same rule the farmer could double the amount of his crops of grain and flaxseed by cutting down the bushel to one-half its present dimensions. He can double the area of his farm by the simple process of halving the acre by which he measures the extent of his land, and having performed both divisions would raise pre- cisely the same number of bushels of grain to the acre as before the change. The grocer and butcher can double the quantity of sugar and meat sold by them without increasing the number of customers, all that is necessary to the de- sired improvement in business being to call a pound what they now call a half-pound. The coal merchant can effect a like improvement in his business by selling half a ton for a whole ton, and then get just as many of the half-worth dollars for the half-worth 'ton' of coal as he received full worth dollars for the full-weight ton of coal. "This would be a 'beautiful' arrangement so long as it was confined to certain classes of objects, but would not answer for all. If a farmer were to cut his wagons in two in order to double the number, or chop each of his horses, cows and hogs in two with a like intent, he soon would find himself a loser by the operation. And none but the rankest kind of a financial fool can fancy hat the farmer or any other honest man or woman could gain anything by the halving process as applied to the unit measures for grain, land, sugar, meat, coal, or any other of the things which it may be desired to buy or sell. Obviously if the new crank plan for getting rich were carried out as far as possible the ratio of the half-unit of value to the half-unit of measure would be precisely the same as that of the full unit of value now is to the full unit of measure or weight, and the only persons who could gain anything by the change from one plan to the other would be the sharper class, who always are on the lookout for some means or opportunities for tak- BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 215 ing a base advantage of the rest of the community. Obvi- ously the same rule would hold good if the change were confined to the money unit as proposed by the financial cranks and would-be swindlers. And that is just why they are clamoring for it, because they hope it would enable the few to get rich at the expense of the whole people. "What do you think of the asininity that can seriously propose as a royal road to wealth the halving of the unit by which the wealth is measured? The proposition is fittingly put into the mouth of a boy, for no sane man would advance it unless with intent to cheat, or as a quibble akin to that by which we are told that to take our bank bills and fold them across is to double our money. Yet this kind of trash is said to find thousands of admirers, and is adopted into resolutions which have been passed by some associations of workingmen and several political conventions. It is enough to make a sensible man blush to think it possible that any considerable number of supposedly intelligent American citizens can be misled by such transparent claptrap as that of your financial fool. "In addition to all this, Master Money, the free and unlimited coinage of silver is a physical impossibility. It is what the lamented Bill Allen, of Ohio, would call a ‘bar- ren ideality.' It is an empty phrase. Why? For the simple reason that the Government has no facilities for the manufacture of silver coin on a scale commensurate with the size of a free coinage undertaking, and could not pro- vide such facilities in a dozen years, by which time a man would have to climb to the highest point of Pike's Peak to look over the top of the pile of silver bullion that would have accumulated. According to Director of the Mint Preston, the Government has at the present time a stock of silver bullion on hand sufficient to keep the mints going at nearly their full capacity for four years in the production 216 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. of dollars. The high point reached by the Government in the manufacture of silver dollars in one year was $40,000,- 000 in round figures. That year the mints ran under high pressure. A big year's record would be $35,000,000. A new mint has been started in Philadelphia which will in- crease the coinage capacity of the Government $35,000,000 to $40,000,000 annually, but the completion of that building and plant is five or six years distant. To meet the require- ments of the law for a free and unlimited coinage of silver THL SOUTHERN STATES NOT AT HOME DONT KNOTA GO AWAY' जा FRLI NOT AT HOME TO-DAY. DEFEATS by the United States, facilities would have to be provided for the annual manufacture of dollars running well up into the hundreds of millions, beginning from the date of the legislation. That is a physical feature which has probably never entered into the calculations of the people who are clamoring for the performance of an impossibility. Silver dollars do not grow on trees by act of Congress, nor in the ground, like potatoes, but are the mechanical product of BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 217 mints whose capacity is limited. The estimates of the amount of silver bullion the Government would have to buy if made a world's market may vary from $150,000,000 to $500,000,000 a year. To coin the inside quantity would necessitate quadrupling the present capacity by some Aladdin like, instantaneous process. The genii of the lamp would have to multiply the present capacity about fifteen times in a night to reach the outside limit." When young Medill concluded the former professor said: "Mr. Medill, I am grateful to you for coming to see me and explaining these matters to me. I want to tell you right here that long conversations with my father, and some careful study on the subject, have completely converted me. I have been a young ass; I know it, and I am going to Chi- cago tomorrow to fully and freely confess it in public. It has been a matter of the deepest regret to me that others who wrote a fictitious account of an alleged school held by me, have, in that pictorial monstrosity, made most improper and unwarranted use of your grandfather's name. I can only hope that my apology tomorrow will be ample enough and accepted by those concerned." Young Medill left for Chicago after lunch, and the rest of the day Will Money worked hard preparing for the im- portant events of the following day. CHAPTER X. EATING CROW, AND THE END. "On the coinage question," began the grocery statesman, "I stand square on the platform " "It ain't standin' square is what is the matter with you, Silas," interrupted his wife, having completed her trade of eggs for calico. "It is standin' round is what is ailin' you an' half these other fellers that orter be out plowin' instead of savin' the country with your mouths."-The Journal, Indianapolis. Are you for silver or gold?" asked the statesman. "That depends," replied the politician. "Which have you got?"-Evening Post, Chicago. Very early on the morning of Wednesday, May 15th, the whilom professor (who will henceforth be called by his right name, Will Honest Money) and his father, stood on the platform at Bureau, waiting for the eastbound fast train for Chicago. Their fellow passengers were few in number, and the elder Money chatted for awhile with Mr. Jansen, the genial host of the Depot Hotel, and Mr. C. L. Nichols, the superintendent of the Illinois Division of the Rock Island Railway, who had been at Bureau all night about an accident on the road. ( 'Going to Chicago, Mr. Money ?" asked hotel proprietor. "Yes, sir. My lad and I are going up for the day." "They tell me the young man has been making quite a stir up there. I remember him as a slip of a boy who could not say a dozen words for himself on account of shyness." "Mr. Jansen," said the youth, "I'll tell you the honest truth. It was all a fake and a fraud, and it is for the purpose of 'taking it all back' that I am going to Chicago to-day with father." 218 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 219 "How about Judge Bradwell's court, eh, Will ?" said the elder Money. "Oh, well, I presume you will withdraw that charge, when I have done the square thing for you and the other gentlemen." "You may be sure I will, my son. I want you back here with me for many a year yet. I only said it in fun." Then with a whistle and a grinding of brakes the expected train pulled in, and a dining car having been picked up, it started for Chicago with the Money family at breakfast hard at work on the good things provided for them and other travelers, in exchange for "a good honest dollar," by Frank Stewart the popular little superintendent of the Rock Island Railway's dining car service. Mr. Money found many friends on the train. At one table sat Dr. W. D. Middleton, of Davenport, Iowa, the surgeon-in-chief of the railroad, with Mr. W. A. Purdy, the genial paymaster and Mr. S. C. Matthews, the business-like little auditor. In another corner Superintendent Nichols was chatting with the Assistant General Manager, Mr. W. I. Allen. All knew the old man. Some one called out, "Come along here and sit down Old Honest Money. You are the man everybody wants. Our friend, the paymaster, says he has no use for anything else." As they reached Ottawa, the breakfast was a thing of the past, and on entering the Pullman cars one kindly- disposed official asked Will Money if he would like to travel as far as Chicago in the engine cab. Lad-like, the proposition delighted him, and in a few moments Will sat on the fireman's side of engine 459 watching her master, engineer 'Tom' Twombly, hurry her along and at times moving his feet out of the way of fireman 220 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED, Fred Decker, as that long athelete tumbled shovelful after shovelful of coal into 459's capacious furnace. It was a novel experience for the lad, and one he hugely enjoyed. In a spare moment the jolly engineer leaned across the cab and yelled to him, "I didn't catch your name, young man, but I fancy I know your face. Are you not the little Professor Coin who caused all the stir up at Chicago? You are. Well, I thought so. I have a copy of your book. Most of us engineers have read it, but I can't say that I can agree with you or that I follow your reasoning." "No, Mr. Twombly, I sincerely hope you will not agree with what was written for me in that book. It is all a fake, and I am going to Chicago to-day to confess it. My father has shown me the utter fallacy of the free-silver craze and the cruel wrongs the adoption of such a currency would inflict on wage-earners who have to work hard like you do. A sound currency is the only safe currency. When your wife goes to buy your groceries her dollar earned by your hard work must be worth and have a purchasing power of 100 cents." 'It would be a black day for me if it had not, and for many a thousand others who have to work hard for all they get," replied the engineer. "I thought there was something funny about that book. Didn't I tell you so, Decker? The idea of a kid of sixteen besting bankers and financiers in arguments about things they had studied for years. Why, it's as silly as if Grover Cleveland were to try to drive this engine, and I were to run his job for him. A precious lot he would know about 'applying the air' to 459 or 'keeping on time,' and still less would I know about the best way 'to put the finances of this country on a sound basis.' Then, delighted with his novel experience of an engine cab, the lad listened to the engineer's occasional shouts BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 221 across the cab as to the places they were passing, and dirty, but very happy, shook the hands of both engineer and fire- man when the train drew in the Chicago depot. "Good day, Mr. Twombly," said he as he clambered down the engine steps. "Father says he will have the BARGAIN DAY ՀԱ ONE RESULT OF FREE SILVER. whole story of my conversion, as he calls it, written out for a publisher. If it is printed I will mail you a copy and will also send one to Mr. Decker." Soon after he was stepping out along Van Buren street with his father on the way to the Chicago Art Institute, which was to be the scene of the first "penitential act." It was a very indignant janitor that he there encountered 222 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. when the elder Money had made known his son's identity. Olaf Swenson, a big burley Swede, was at first in no mood. for apologies. "You have done me a very dirty trick, Mr. Money, in representing that you held a series of lectures or a school of finance in one of the halls of this institution. The directors have been down on me for the rent of the hall, but luckily they knew me fairly well and believed me when I handed them this affidavit. As he spoke the janitor handed Will Honest Money the following document: STATE OF ILLINOIS, COUNTY OF COOK, SS. OLAF SWENSON, of the city of Chicago, county and state aforesaid, being first duly sworn doth depose and say as follows: 1. He is the janitor of the Art Institute in the city of Chicago, and has charge of the halls and lecture rooms thereof. It is abso- lutely untrue that any Professor Coin held a school or class in finan- cial matters there in the month of May, 1894, or at any time. SEAL. (Signed) OLAF SWENSON. Sworn before me this 13th day of May, 1895, R. M. Brand, Notary Public, Cook County. The younger Money perused the affidavit and replied: "Mr. Swenson, I regret extremely that my falsehood caused you any annoyance. A good many things were written for me in that book that I have already discovered are false. I trust that this little gratuity (handing him a five dollar gold piece) with my sincerest apologies will remove all unpleasant feelings." "You have behaved like a gentleman, sir," said the janitor. "I am a poor man but an honest one, paying one hundred cents to the directors for every dollar I receive for the use of these halls, and I accept your apology." "I will do more, Mr. Swenson, I'll write to the secretary as soon as I get home and will tell him of our interview,” said the lad. Then Silas Money took his son to the Central Music BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 223 The invitations had On the platform and be seen the following reputation and ster- Hall where he had invited the principal residents of Chi- cago to meet him "for," as ran the circular, "a most important financial communication." been very generously complied with. in the front seats of the hall were to citizens of national and world-known ling worth: Potter Palmer, Levi Z. Leiter, Lyman J. Gage, Joseph Medill, Marshall Field, Wm. T. Baker, Ferd W. Peck, C. H. Schwab, C. H. Walker, T. J. Lefens, C. H. Chappell, J. J. P. Odell, R. R. Cable, P. D. Armour, L. J. McCormick, C. B. Farwell, O. F. Aldis, - Montgomery, Prof. J. L. Laughlin, Thomas B. Bryan, Wm. J. Chalmers, Jas. W. Ellsworth, Andrew McNally, James McNally, Fred G. McNally, Washington Porter, E. P. Ripley, Edwin Walker, M. W. Kirk, E. T. Pike, Adolph Nathan, Chas. Henrotin, W. Van Benthuysen, S. W. Allerton, Franklin McVeigh, J. R. Walsh, J. C. Richberg, Maj. Moses P. Handy, C. K. G. Billings, R. C. Clowry, C. T. Yerkes, Chas. L. Hutchinson, E. G. Keith, W. D. Kerfoot, A. H. Revell, P. O. Stensland, F. S. Winston, Gen. A. C. McClurg, G. P. Engelhard, H. N. Higinbotham, Geo. R. Davis, H. H. Kohlsaat, J. V. Farwell, M. J. Russell, Lorin Collins, A. S. Trude, Sigmund Zeisler, Sydney C. Eastman, Etc., etc. Arriving on the platform, Silas Money stepped at once. to the front and said: "Gentlemen, I address an audience composed of the best business men in Chicago, representative and world- known. I proceed at once to business. I have facts to present to you instead of financial fallacies. In a recently- issued and widely-circulated pamphlet of the yellow-backed order, 'Coin's Financial School'-(laughter),-you are most of you represented as attending school and being instructed in the elements of free-silver finance by a sixteen-year-old boy. That boy is my son. His name was 'Professor Coin' to those who used him as a catspaw. His right name is William H. Honest Money-(cheers),—and he is here to tell the truth of the story for himself." 224 BASE "COIN” EXPOSED. As he concluded, Silas Money beckoned to his son to advance, and, placing his hand on the boy's shoulder, said: "Gentlemen, I beg to introduce to you my only son, William Henry Honest Money, of Burean, Illinois, formerly and falsely called Professor Coin. He will be brief, but to the point, in the confession and apology which he owes to you all." Rather shamefacedly did the lad, in reality and not in fiction, confront this vast gathering of famous and repre- sentative men. "Gentlemen," he began, "I am far from being the orator that a certain book has represented me. I have heard an old saying about 'fools rushing in where angels fear to tread,' and in the presence of this assemblage I begin to feel the force of the adage. I beg your attention while I read a short affidavit as to some matters of interest to most of you." The boy then read the following: STATE OF ILLINOIS, BUREAU COUNTY, } 88. WILLIAM HENRY HONEST MONEY, of Bureau, in the said county and state, a minor, being first duly sworn doth depose and say as follows: 1. That he did from the 1st day of April, 1894, until the 27th day of April, 1895, falsely call and style himself "Professor Coin," and falsely pretend to have expert knowledge of the sciences of political economy, currency and finance, and did permit others to prepare certain books wherein he was described as holding a series of lectures or a species of financial school at the Art Institute in the city of Chicago. 2. That his true and rightful name is William Henry Honest Money, as aforesaid, that he is not entitled to the appellation of professor and that he has no knowledge of the sciences aforesaid other than the elementary principles thereof which have recently been taught him by his father. 3. That he held no such school or lectures in Chicago or else- where at any time, and that it is absolutely untrue and incorrect that any of the prominent personages, citizens of Chicago or other- wise, attended his alleged school at any time or at any place, or that he entered into debate or discussion with them or any of them at any time. 4. That under oath and in writing, he, said William H. BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 225 Honest Money, falsely called Professor Coin, desires to sincerely apologize to the said gentlemen for the false and fraudulent misuse of their names as aforesaid, and further to apologize to his fellow- citizens of the entire United States for the fraud and falsehoods contained in a certain book alleged to have been written by him, but in truth and in fact written by others in his name. SEAL. (Signed) W. H. HONEST MONEY. Sworn before me this 14th day of May, 1895, W. G. Moore, Notary Public, Bureau County. As the youth concluded the reading of his affidavit and confession, a rousing cheer rang through the hall. An en- thusiast in the gallery waved a grand silken sample of ‘Old Glory,' and the organist, an apostle of honest money him- self, put his best efforts forth on the National Anthem. When the strains ceased, the lad, visibly affected, re-commenced in a broken voice as follows: "Gentlemen, as the puppet, catspaw and hired orator of others, who had pecuniary ends of their own to serve, I desire to confess that I have not only dragged the names of honorable fellow citizens of mine in the dirt of dishonorable ridicule, but I have made slanderous accusations of serious nature against the good names of men far worthier than I. Permit me to read to you and endorse in every way an affi- davit from Mr. Van Benthuysen, managing editor of the Chicago Tribune. It is as follows: STATE OF ILLINOIS, COUNTY OF COOK, SS. WILLIAM VAN BENTHUYSEN, of the city of Chicago, county and state aforesaid, an American citizen, being first duly sworn, doth depose and say: 1. That he is and has for some years been the managing editor of the Chicago Tribune, published by the Chicago Tribune Company (a corporation chartered by the legislature of the state of Illinois), and that he knows and is well acquainted with each and every stock- holder in said corporation. 2. That Joseph Medill, an American citizen, is the absolute owner of a controlling interest in said corporation, and that the remaining stock and shares are owned and held by American citizens only. 3. That no European potentate, nobleman, financier, subject, citizen or person holds, controls or is in any way interested in any stock, shares or property of said corporation to the amount of one 15 226 BASE “COIN" EXPOSED. cent or any sum whatever, nor does any such person control or dictate a solitary utterance of this, an American newspaper. W. VAN BEnthuysen. (Signed) This 15th day of May, 1895, personally appeared before me William Van Benthuysen, and, being per- sonally known to me, did sign, depose and swear to the truth of the statements herein above contained. H. PATTERSON, SEAL. Notary Public, Cook County. As the lad ended his reading another cheer rang through the ample hall. Mr. Lyman J. Gage then arose and addressed the meet- ing as follows: "Gentlemen, as one of those mentioned and persist- ently referred to in a certain and more than erroneous LYMAN J. GAGE. picture book, I have listened with some satisfaction to our young friend's candid and ample confession. I rejoice to find that argument with him has had its proper effect. This momentous question has but to be argued calmly and rationally with any reasonable being to produce, in my judg- ment, a similar result. In so serious a question it is surely the duty of every man who loves his country or regards his country's honor as paramount to every other consideration, to preach the gospel of commercial and financial honesty, even in the highways and byways of the land. I assume FINANCIAL RUIN BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 227 that this meeting is in accord with the resolution which I have the honor to propose, namely: That this non-partisan assemblage of business men of the city of Chicago having heard the candid and ample apologies and state- ments of Mr. William Henry Honest Money, and being convinced that he was more sinned against than sinning, fully accepts the same, and desires to place on record their appreciation of the gentleman's frankness and honesty in thus publicly admitting an error which has caused many of his fellow citizens much annoyance and loss. Mr. Marshall Field seconded the resolution in a few well-chosen words, and a rising vote disclosed a solitary FREE SILVER UNCLE SAM ON TOP. dissentient, who desired to explain his disagreement from the meeting as caused by the fact that he owned a silver THANZ C. GAME.COM 228 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. mine in Colorado, and proposed to sell all the suckers all the silver he could. (A voice-"Uncle Sam won't be your sucker.") As soon as this brief and business-like meeting had dispersed, Mr. Money and his son hurried to the office of the former's attorney. They found Mr. Richberg had just returned from the Central Music Hall meeting. The lad's attorney, Mr. Forrest, soon arrived in response to a telephone message and all wended their way to Judge Bradwell's near-by court. It was a representative assem- blage that they found awaiting them there. The news of Will Honest Money's conversion had spread far and wide and many wanted to witness the closing scene of the pseudo-professor's financial career. Brief indeed were the proceedings, the two able attor- neys employed being far superior to the kind addicted to grand stand or gallery play. Mr. Forrest stepped up to the Judge's desk saying: May it please Your Honor; pursuant to your order of continuance and his bond, my client William Henry Honest Money appears here to day for trial. I am instructed, however, that he has been entirely reconciled to his father and has expressed the most sincere regret for a certain deception and masquerading as a professor of political economy, which somewhat technically, formed the charge of disorderly conduct made against him. With the concur- rence of my learned friend, Mr. Richberg, I shall suggest to you that all the interests of justice will best be served by the young man entering into his own recognizances to be of good behavior for the space of the next six calendar months." CC "Your Honor,” said Mr. John C. Richberg, on behalf of the young man's father I ask you to accede to the request of my friend in which we fully concur. The 'Pro- J BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. 229 fessor Coin' nonsense is all at an end with this fine young His name is Will Honest Money, a far more honor- He has been the dupe and catspaw of fellow. able appellation. JOHN C. RICHBERG. designing and cheap politicians, but under his father's guidance, instruction and care I have every confidence in his being as great a credit to his country as is and always has been my old friend Silas Honest Money. I fully con- cur in my friend's request." The kindly justice turned to the youth. "Will Honest Money," said he, "there's an honest ring in your name and IMANZ কca CND JUDGE BRADWELL. an honest look in your eyes. I congratulate you on your common sense and trust that you may prove a comfort to 230 BASE "COIN" EXPOSED. your father's years, and a credit to your country and state. I shall discharge you on your own verbal promise to be of good behavior. I know I can take your word.” A murmur of applause ran through the court room. The lad shook hands with Judge Bradwell, with Sergeants Lawson and McGarry, and with many spectators; then quitted the court room with the attorneys and his father. That night and henceforth Will Honest Money, un- tainted by any free-silver delusions became and remained permanently a citizen of the Wonder city by the Lake. CLOSED FT ORDER OF DORAN (SIEVIN Stase SHERIFF OF TILLSTU COSITY! THE END. APPENDIX COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL BY HORACE WHITE EDITOR NEW YORK EVENING POST.* I propose to examine with some thoroughness a book of 155 pages, entitled "Coin's Financial School.” INTRODUCTION. "Coin," it should be premised, is a youth about twelve. years of age who opens a school to teach grown men the science of finance. This a piece of clap-trap. The science of finance does not come by nature, as reading and writing came to Dogberry, and it is not particularly "catching." It requires a considerable amount of study. The suggestion here thrown out that a boy can drop his marbles and spinning-tops and deliver valuable lectures on this science is likely to prove captivating, however, to persons who would be glad to acquire it without any antecendent effort, although they would not attempt to play on the bones at a minstrel show without previous practice. They may not perceive the inherent absurdity of taking lectures on this abstruse subject from a boy of twelve, although they would not take his advice on the subject of shoeing a horse. THE ONE-LEGGED MAN. The book is largely made up of pictorial illustrations which, of course, cannot be answered. If anybody is deluded *Reprinted by kind permission of the author. 231 232 "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." in a financial discussion by a picture of a man with only one leg, his delusion may, perhaps, be cured by telling him that the single standard of silver is just as one-legged as the single standard of gold. The object of "Coin's Financial School" is to bring about the free coinage of silver at a legal ratio of 16 to 1 by the action of this country alone. As the market ratio of the two metals is 32 to 1, it is evident that this country cannot make sixteen ounces of silver equal in value to one ounce of gold when the whole world is offering thirty-two ounces of silver for one ounce of gold. Therefore the proposal for free coinage by this country single-handed is a proposal to establish the single standard of silver, which is as well represented by a man with one leg as is the single standard of gold. CHAPTER I. COIN'S FIRST FALSEHOOD. Coin's first picture is that of "Columbus Discovering America, 1492." Immediately beneath it is a pretended quotation from a public document, which begins in this way: At the Christian era the metallic money of the Roman empire amounted to $1,800,000,000. By the end of the fifteenth century it had shrunk to $200,000,000. (Dr. Adam Smith informs us that in 1455 the price of wheat in England was twopence per bushel.) The statement in parenthesis, which is introduced by “Coin,” is false in four different ways, viz.: (1) It is false by conveying to the reader's mind the idea that a penny in 1455 was the same thing as a penny now; (2) it is false by conveying the idea that the price quoted was the average price at that period in the world's history; (3) it is false in giving Adam Smith as authority for the statement; (4) it is false in conveying the idea that the quantity of money in the world was the cause of the low price of wheat in 1455. The first thing in the quoted paragraph is a statement "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." 233 that at the Christian era there was a plentiful supply of money as compared with the later period. Now, we can show, on the best possible authority, that the rate of wages for laboring men at this happy period was one penny per day. See Matthew 20:1-16, which tells us that a certain householder went out early in the morning to hire laborers MEXICAN PEON'S WAGES .33 CENTS PER DAY (OCENTS AMERICAN SILVER) سات FREE SILVER. 买 ​IMERCHAND AMERICAN_FACTORY GOLD STANDARD VAGES THE LABORER WITH FREE SILVER. for his vineyard, and that when he had agreed with them for a penny a day he sent them into his vineyard. They were all satisfied and nothing happened to disturb their serenity until they found that some others, who had been hired later in the day, were also receiving a penny. We 234 'COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." need not concern ourselves with the sequel, since the only point important to our purpose is that the rate of wages at this affluent period was one penny per day. A penny in 1455 was not the same thing as a penny now. The penny was originally the 240th part of a pound weight of silver, but monarchs had the habit of cutting pieces off the pound of silver and coining the remainder into 240 pennies, putting the difference into their own pockets. In this way the value of the penny was constantly declining till the reign of Elizabeth. In 1455 the weight of the silver penny was twice as great as it was in the time of Adam Smith, a fact carefully suppressed by "Coin." The other three falsities may be disposed of in short order. The prices of wheat quoted at the end of Book I of Smith's "Wealth of Nations" are not given on his own authority. They are quoted as those of Fleetwood, and we are cautioned by Adam Smith, for various reasons, not to attach too much importance to them. Thus, referring to previous writers who had taken Fleetwood's tables as a basis, he says: Thirdly, they seem to have been misled, too, by the very low price at which wheat was sometimes sold in very ancient times, and to have imagined, that as its lowest price was then much lower than in later times, its ordinary price must likewise have been much lower. They might have found, however, that in those ancient times its highest price was fully as much above as its lowest price was below anything that had ever been known in later times. Thus in 1270 Fleetwood gives us two prices of the quarter of wheat. The one is four pounds sixteen shillings of the money of those times, equal to fourteen pounds eight shillings of that of the present; the other is six pounds eight shillings, equal to nineteen pounds four shillings of our present money. No price can be found in the end of the fifteenth or beginning of the sixteenth century which approaches to the extravagance of these. The price of corn, though at all times liable to variation, varies most in those turbulent and disorderly societies in which the inter- ruption of all commerce and communication hinders the plenty of one part of the country from relieving the scarcity of another. In the disorderly state of England under the Plantagenets, who 'gov- erned it from about the middle of the twelfth till toward the end of "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." 235 the fifteenth century, one district might be in plenty, while another at no great distance, by having its crop destroyed either by some accident of the seasons or by the incursion of some neighboring baron, might be suffering all the horrors of a famine; and yet if the lands of some hostile lord were interposed between them, the one might not be able to give the least assistance to the other. Under the vigorous administration of the Tudors, who governed England during the latter part of the fifteenth, and through the whole of the sixteenth century, no baron was powerful enough to dare to disturb the public security. Finally, Fleetwood's tables give the prices of wheat in 1453 as 5s. 4d. and in 1457 as 7s. 8d. per quarter, the intermediate year 1455 being 1s. 2d. per quarter, all being the money of that period, not of Adam Smith's period. "Coin" wants to make it appear that the price of wheat in one particular year, 1455, was due to the shortage of money at that time. Let us apply that method of reasoning to another case. It is within the recollection of many per- sons now living in Illinois and Iowa that the corn crop of some years before 1860 would not pay the cost of hauling it to the market, and consequently that it was consumed for fuel on the farms or sold for fuel in the adjoining towns. I have been warmed by such fires myself. And this occurred at a time which Coin's Financial Fool would call "bimetallic"; that is, prior to 1873. Now the price of coal in those particular years, when corn was burned for fuel, did not exceed in the country towns $2.00 to $2.50 a ton. It was a common estimate in those times that there was as much fuel in a ton of corn as in a ton of coal. If this was true, the value of corn must have been between six and eight cents per bushel, being less than the price of wheat in 1455 as quoted by Fleetwood. What could be said of any future historian who should take that for the true price of corn in Illinois in the middle of the nineteenth century? We have not got through with this pretended quotation yet. Beginning where we left off above, it continues thus: Population dwindled, and commerce, arts, wealth and freedom all disappeared. The people were reduced by poverty and misery 236 "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." to the most degraded conditions of serfdom and slavery. The dis- integration of society was almost complete. History records no such disastrous transition as that from the Roman Empire to the Dark Ages. The discovery of the new world by Columbus restored the volume of precious metals, brought with it rising prices, enabled society to reunite its shattered links, shake off the shackles of feudalism, and to relight and uplift the almost extinguished torch of civilization.-Report United States Monetary Commission of 1878. There was a monetary commission in 1878 composed of Reuben E. Fenton, W. S. Groesbeck, Francis A. Walker, and S. Dana Horton. The editor of the Indianapolis Journal looked through the report of that year, and finding nothing of the kind here quoted, pronounced it a forgery. Then a reply was made by "Coin," or somebody for him, that 1878 was a typographical error; that it should have been 1876. That meant the report of Senator Jones, of Nevada, and his commission. So the Journal took up that report, and discovered that the last sentence in the para- graph, the one referring to Columbus and the discovery of America, the only thing which gives any point to the pre- tended quotation, is itself a misquotation. We present below the sentence as it stands on page 50 of the report, and as it stands in "Coin's Financial School." have REPORT, PAGE 50. Various explanations been given of this entire break- ing down of the framework of society, but it was certainly co- incident with a shrinkage in the volume of money, which was also without historical parallel. COIN'S FINANCIAL SCHOOL. The discovery of the New World by Columbus restored the volume of precious metals, brought with it rising prices, enabled society to reunite its shattered links, shake off the shackles of feudalism, and to relight and uplift the almost extinguished torch of civiliza- tion. CHAPTER II. OUR FIRST SILVER DOLLAR. The next untruth taught in "Coin's Financial School" is that the silver dollar was the monetary unit in this "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." 237 country from 1792 to 1873. In order to make this more emphatic he gives us a blackboard with the figure 1 on it, this being calculated to carry conviction to the school. The fact is, that the silver dollar was the monetary unit in this country before 1792, but never afterwards. It was made such by the Congress of the Confederation in 1785. This was the silver peso or peseta of Spain, which had been in circulation in the colonies more than a hundred years, and was called here a dollar. Now, in order to keep one's head clear it must be borne in mind that the word unit means one thing, not two, or more things; also that there are several different kinds of units, as a unit of number, a unit of length, a unit of weight, a unit of value. We will now quote the law of 1792 verbatim: That there shall be, from time to time, struck and coined at the said Mint, coins of gold, silver and copper of the following denomi- nations, values and descriptions, viz.: Eagles-each to be of the value of ten dollars or units, and to contain 247 grains and four- eighths of a grain of pure, or 270 grains of standard gold. (Half eagles and quarter eagles of corresponding weight and fineness.) Dollars or units-each to be of the value of the Spanish milled dollar, as the same is now current, and to contain 371 grains and four-sixteenths of a grain of pure, or 416 grains of standard silver. "Coin" having presented the unit to his school as a unit of number, immediately changes it into a unit of value, saying: "Congress adopted silver and gold as money. It then proceeded to fix the unit. That is, it then fixed what should constitute one dollar, the same thing that the mathe- matician did when he fixed one figure from which all others should be counted. Congress fixed the monetary unit to consist of 371 grains of pure silver and provided for a certain amount of alloy (baser metal) to be mixed with it to give it greater hardness and durability." Now gold and silver are not one thing, but two things. If "Coin" had said: "Congress adopted two things as 238 "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." money; it then proceeded to fix the one thing," everybody could have seen that that would be a contradiction of terms. Suppose the law had then provided for the coinage of a gold dollar. Could anybody say, in that case, that the monetary unit was the silver dollar any more than the gold dollar. In 1849 Congress did provide for coining a gold dollar, and more gold dollars were actually coined after that date than all the silver dollars that were coined from the beginning of the Government till 1873. Yet "Coin" tells us that "the silver dollar still remained the unit and continued so until 1873." If the silver dollar was the unit, what, in heaven's name, was the gold dollar? The word "unit" as used in the law meant a unit of number. If it had meant a unit of value bimetallism could not have been established. Suppose the law had said "apples and oranges shall be legal tender, but only the apple shall be the unit of value." That would have been a contradiction of terms. All the confusion which "Coin" has produced rises from the use of the word "unit" in two different ways, first as a unit of number and second as a unit of value. "Coin" exhibits it on a blackboard as a unit of number, and then cunningly asks us to take it as a unit of value. This is thimble-rigging-"now you see it and now you don't see it." It is like saying on one page of the book "twice one is one," and on the next page, "twice one is two." Let us apply one more test to this quibble. The law speaks of dollars or units. This means that dollars and units are the same; consequently we may reject either of them without changing the sense. Let us throw out the word "units," and see how the law would read: "Eagles, shall be of the value of ten dollars and to contain 2471 grains of pure gold; dollars, each to be of the value of the Spanish milled dollar as the same is now current and to "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." 239 contain 371 grains of pure silver." This makes it plain that Congress used the term unit as the "unit" of number, as "Coin" presented it on his blackboard, and not as a unit of weight, or of length, or of capacity, or of value. If we wanted a unit of numbskulls we should not have to look far to find him. But this American silver dollar never got into circula- tion at home. The Spanish dollar, which was in actual circulation here, was abraded by use about two and one-half grains. New Spanish dollars were worth that much more. It was soon discovered that our new dollars would pass in the West Indies as the equivalent of new Spanish dollars. Con- sequently they ran out of the country as soon as they were coined, went to the West Indies where brokers collected new Spanish dollars in exchange for them and sent the latter back to our mint to be recoined. Every one hundred new Spanish dollars produced one hundred and one Ameri- can dollars, and none of the latter remained at home because abraded Spanish dollars passed equally well in domestic trade. That was the reason why President Jefferson in 1805 gave an order to the Mint to stop coining silver dollars—an order which remained in force till 1836. CHAPTER III. ANOTHER FORGERY. At this point in the exercises we read that "Young Medill" starts up (there is no such person as young Medill) and wants to know why it was that a great many foreign silver coins circulated in this country at their value as bullion before the year 1860. "Coin " has an answer ready "It had all been made legal tender," he says, "by act of Congress. We needed more silver than we had, and Congress passed laws making all foreign silver for him. 240 "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." coins legal tender in this country." It is one of the axioms of the silverites that coins circulated by reason of their legal tender faculty and not of their metallic value. This is a fundamental proposition in "Coin's Financial School." Hence, when confronted by the fact that upwards of two hundred different foreign silver coins circulated in this country prior to 1860, he must needs tell a lie to account for something which really knocks the bottom out of his whole system. "Coin" quotes the law, which he says sustains his statement, thus: And be it further enacted, That from and after the passage of this act the following foreign silver coins shall pass current as money within the United States and be receivable by tale for the payment of all debts and demands at the rates following, that is to say: the Spanish pillar dollars and the dollars of Mexico, Peru and Bolivia, etc. The act referred to is that of March 3, 1843. The lie here consists in the insignificant "etc.," which is intended to include all other foreign silver coins circulating in the United States prior to 1860. In order to show the falsity of this we quote the remainder of the section of this law, which is left to the reader's imagination in the innocent "etc." Of not less than 897-1,000 in fineness and 415 grains in weight, at 100 cents each, and the five-franc pieces of France of not less than 900-1,000 in fineness and 384 grains in weight, at 93 cents each. By putting these two pieces together the reader will see that the only foreign silver coins made legal tender by this act were the dollars of Spain, Mexico, Peru and Bolivia, and the five-franc pieces (not the smaller coins) of France. Yet the writer says that "it" (meaning the foreign silver circulating here at that time) "had all been made legal tender in the United States by act of Congress." The truth is that Congress made only two foreign silver "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." 241 The coins legal tender, the dollar of Spain and the five-franc piece of France. The Spanish dollars which found their way hither being mostly coined in the Spanish-American mints, it became necessary, when those colonies achieved their independence, to include their names in the list in order to avoid ambiguity. So it came about that the dol- lars of Mexico, Central America, Chili, Peru and Bolivia were added to our legal tender list at different times. reason why the dollars of Spain and the five-franc pieces of France were made legal tender was that they were here and in general use before the constitution was adopted, the former having been the money of the colonies and the latter having been introduced in large quantities by the French armies during the Revolutionary war. The French coins of that period were called crowns. It should be noticed that the Spanish and Spanish- American coins smaller than one dollar were never made legal tender in this country. People whose memory goes back of 1860, will recall the fact that the bulk of the Span- ish and Mexican coins circulating here, were the halves, quarters and eighths, the latter being known in different parts of the country as the York shilling, the nine- -pence, the levy and the bit, in addition to which there were Eng- lish shillings, German thalers in large quantity and variety, besides rix dollars, specie dollars, Danish and Dutch coins. Even the rupees of India were quoted on the coin chart manuals published in New York at that time. It should be mentioned also that new Spanish dollars, fresh from the mint, circulated at one hundred and one cents each, and are so quoted on coin chart manuals of that period. In other words, they passed for one cent more than their legal tender value. Why was this? Because their bullion value was more than a dollar. But the coins of France and Spain did not circulate here more readily than those of Germany, 16 242 "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." Austria, Holland, Belgium and Denmark, which were not legal tender. The point is that this writer, pretending to give people facts which few persons are familiar with, says that the precious metals circulate, not by reason of their value as bullion, but because of their legal tender quality, and when asked how it happened that a great variety of foreign coins circulated here before 1860 at their bullion value, he says that they were all legal tender, and to support this propo- sition he misquotes a law of Congress. In order to give due solemnity to this and other falsehoods with which the books abound, he prints next after his title page this text of Scripture: "I thank thee, O Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Matthew, chapter xi, verse 25." Nobody who had not reached mature years could have concocted a forgery of this recondite and misleading char- acter. MORE OF THE SAME KIND. Directly after the pretended quotation from the law. making all foreign silver coins legal tender, on page 10, "Coin" speaks of a scarcity of silver. "On account of the scarcity of silver," he says, "both Jefferson and Jackson recommended that dimes, quarters and halves would serve the people better than dollars, until more silver bullion could be obtained. This was the reason why only about eight million of the one hundred and five million of silver were coined into dollars.” Neither Jefferson nor Jackson This is pure fiction. ever made any such recommendation. "scarcity of silver" at that time. Nor was there any The reason why silver "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." 243 dollars were not coined by our Mint between 1805 and 1836 has already been stated. Next after this false statement about Jefferson and Jackson comes the following: "During this struggle to get more silver," continued "Coin,” "France made a bid for it by establishing a ratio of 15½ to 1, and as our ratio was 16 to 1, this made silver in France worth $1.03% when exchanged for gold, and as gold would answer the same pur- pose as silver for money, it was found that our silver was leaving us." The French ratio of 15 to 1 was established in 1785, and was merely re-enacted in 1803. Our ratio of 15 to 1 was established in 1792, and that of 16 to 1 in 1834. So France "made a bid" for our silver seven years before we had any ratio or any coinage at all, and forty-nine years before we had the ratio that "Coin" says enabled her to get it away from us. Of course, she did this in the spirit of prophecy, or with the eye of faith. For this reason, says "Coin," "it was found that our silver was leaving us." The debates in our Congress on the act of 1834 furnish a better reason. Our fathers wanted to get rid of their heavy and bulky silver money and to bring gold in its place, and they purposely adopted a ratio which would have that effect. CHAPTER IV. A FEW NUGGETS. It is a common remark among those who have been taken in by "Coin's Financial School" that the writer of it "makes everything so plain.' The Rev. John Jasper had the same advantage over the followers of Galileo when he said "the sun do move." When the Rev. J. J. pointed to the orb of day in the heavens, everybody could see that it passed slowly from east to west. What more do you want? What better evidence could you have than that of your eyes? 244 "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." THE POOR MAN'S MONEY. See how plain the young man makes the whole subject. of money in a single sentence on page 8, viz.: "Gold was considered the money of the rich. It was owned princi- pally by that class of people, and the poor people seldom handled it, and the very poor people seldom ever saw any of it." This is introduced as a reason why (as he says) Congress in 1792 made the silver dollar the monetary unit. We have already shown that Congress did nothing of the kind. It follows that Congress never advanced any such reason, but AUGUST BELMONT. "Coin" having introduced it in this deft way, recurs to it at frequent intervals as a settled fact that gold is the rich man's money and silver the poor man's money. Argal, all poor men ought to be in favor of silver. This is very plain as long as you do not consider what the poor man wants money for. If he wants it as pay for his services, as an accumulation for sickness and a reliance in old age, he wants the best money going, not the worst. If poor money is the right thing for the poor man, there are several kinds poorer than silver; copper for example. This was once legal tender, and it had a legal ratio with silver. "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." 245 In the Roman republic the ratio was 240 to 1, and the con- temporary Greek ratio was 250 to 1. Is there any more reason for poor men having poor money than for having ragged clothes, bad flour and rancid butter? Is there any reason why the poor should not have the same standard of value as the rich, just as they have the same Bible, the same sunlight and the same atmosphere? For it is not the mere handling of gold that is of importance here, but the value of the thing handled. This may be copper, nickel, silver or paper, and most commonly will be those things, since our people do not like to carry gold. It wears out their pockets and their pockets wear out the gold. So long as the various things they carry will bring gold on demand, and so long as a stability of value is secured to them equal to that of gold (be the same more or less), all requirements are satisfied. It will be easy now to erase every suggestion in "Coin's Financial School" that the poor man needs a different kind of money from the rich man, and when these are all erased a large part of the book will be wiped out. SILVER AS A HUMAN BEING. The next piece of lucidity we find is akin to the last. It is on page 16: It [Congress] then deprived silver of its right to unrestricted free coinage and destroyed it as legal tender money in the payment of debts, except to the amount of five dollars. This is accompanied with a picture of Senator Sherman cutting off the head of a woman called silver, whose blood spouts in every direction-a valuable aid to a people earn- estly seeking to know the truth about a momentous public question. To all such let it be said that silver is not a woman, that it is not a human being, that it is not even an animal, and hence that it has no more "rights" than a head of cabbage, and that nobody but a cabbage head would be deceived by such nonsense. Yet a considerable part of 246 'COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." "Coin's" collection of funny pictures and comic literature is made up of hints, suggestions and assertions that silver has been treated with cruelty and opprobrium, while gold has been petted and pampered. If we should say that corn had been mostly banished to the cattle-yard and pig-pen, while wheat has been elevated to the kitchen and dining-room, and should make this the foundation of a demand for equal rights for cereals, the logic would be the same. What sort of conception can anybody have of the intelligence of the American people who thinks that their blood can be stirred LORD N. M. DE ROTHSCHILD. by a picture of silver as Cock Robin in the throes of death from an arrow shot by gold? This is called making the science of finance clear to the common people, just as the Rev. John Jasper did with the science of astronomy. BIMETALLISM, 1782,” The next contribution to clearness is a picture represent- ing "Bimetallism, 1872," and "Monometallism, 1894," the former showing the workingman and his little child in a high state of prosperity and contentment, and the latter showing him in the last extreme of famine and wretched- ness. This does not require much notice. The printer's devil might have changed the labels, in which case the pic- "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." 247 tures would have served equally well so far as any ual purpose goes. In 1872 we had "metallism" in it. seven years later. intellect- But one fact ought to be borne in mind. neither silver nor gold. There was 10 Specie payments were not restored till Therefore the label "Bimetallism, 1872," is itself a lie, without regard to the condition of trade and industry at that time. This was, in fact, quite as bad as it was in 1894, being on the eve of one of the most disastrous panics in our history. CHAPTER V. THE "CRIME OF 1873." The next statement of importance is on page 20, where it is said that "silver was demonetized secretly." It is not generally easy to prove a negative, but it can be done in this cause, because there is no way to pass a law secretly in the Congress of the United States. Every bill must be printed and must be read publicly in each branch. These proceedings are incompatible with secrecy. This bill was printed thirteen times in the course of its passage through Congress, and the proceedings on it occupy 144 columns of the Congressional Globe, which was published daily during the session. That does not look much like secrecy. When this charge is disproved, it is varied slightly by saying that the demonetization of silver was accomplished silently, by the mere omission of the dollar from the list of authorized coins, and that this omission was not noticed. By whom was it not noticed? This law was passed twenty- two years ago. Men are now voters who were not born at that time. Of course it was not noticed by them. Neither law nor custom requires that the particular clauses of bills. in Congress should be noticed by people who are not mem- bers of Congress. The clause in question was not a mere FREE SILVER. MANIA. * WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS } اسلام THE SILENT CRIME OF 1873. BVS স 248 "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." 249 omission of one coin from a list of coins. As the bill passed the House and went to the Senate it was in these words: That the silver coins of the United States shall be a dollar, a half-dollar or fifty-cent piece, a quarter-dollar or twenty-five-cent piece, a dime or ten-cent piece; and the weight of the dollar shall be 384 grains: the half-dollar, quarter-dollar and dime shall be res- pectively one-half, one-quarter and one-tenth of the weight of said dollar, which coins shall be a legal tender for their nominal value for any amount not exceeding five dollars in any one payment. Another section of the bill provided that no other silver coins than these should be issued from the Mint. And a third clause said that the gold dollar should be the u₁t of value. Here were three distinct notifications, and each was sufficient to call attention to the fact that all silver coins were hereafter to be subsidiary and not full legal tender. But attention was called to it in other ways. Four members of the House (Clarkson N. Potter, W. L. Stoughton, Samuel Hooper and Wm. D. Kelley) discussed the omission of the silver dollar and the consequent establishment of the single gold standard in the House on the 9th of April, 1872. Mr. Hooper said: As the value of the silver dollar depends on the market price of silver which varies according to the demand and supply, it is intrin- sically worth, as before stated, about three cents more than the gold dollar. By the act of January 18th, 1837, the standard of the silver coins was increased to nine hundred thousandths fine, which reduced the weight of the dollar from four hundred and sixteen to four hundred and twelve and a-half grains; the amount of pure silver, however, remained the same, namely, three hundred and seventy-one and one-fourth grains. The committee, after careful consideration, concluded that twenty-five and eight-tenths grains of standard gold constituting the gold dollar should be declared the money unit or metallic representative of the dollar of account.-Congressional Globe, 2d Session, 42d Congress, page 2305. * * * * * * * * * * Section sixteen re-enacts the provisions of existing laws defining the silver coins and their weights respectively, except in relation to the silver dollar, which is reduced in weight from four hundred and twelve and a-half to three hundred and eighty-four grains, thus making it a subsidiary coin in harmony of the silver coins of less denomination, to secure its concurrent circulation with them. The silver dollar of four hundred and twelve and a-half grains, by reason 250 "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." of its bullion or intrinsic value being greater than its nominal value, long since ceased to be a coin of circulation, and was melted by manufacturers of silverware. It does not circulate now in commer- cial transactions with any country, and the convenience of those manufacturers in this respect can better be met by supplying small standard bars of the same standard, avoiding the useless expense of coining the dollar for that purpose. The coinage of the half dime is discontinued for the reason that its place is supplied by the copper- nickel five-cent piece, of which a large issue has been made, and which, by the provisions of the act authorizing its issue, is redeem- able in United States currency.-Ibid., page 2306. Mr. Stoughton said: Aside from the three-dollar gold piece, which is a deviation from our metrical ratio, and therefore objectionable, the only change in the present law is in more clearly specifying the gold dollar as the unit of value. This was probably the intention and perhaps the effect of act of March 3d, 1849, but it ought not to be left to inference or implication. The value of silver depends, in a great measure, upon the fluctuations of the market, and the supply and demand. Gold is practically the standard of value among all civilized nations, and the time has come in this country when the gold dollar should be distinctly declared to be the coin representative of the money unit.— Ibid., page 2308. Mr. Potter said: Then, in the next place, this bill provides for the making of changes in the legal tender coin of the country, and for substituting as legal tender coin of only one metal instead as heretofore of two. I think myself this would be a wise provision, and that legal tender coins, except subsidiary coins, should be of gold alone; but why should we legislate on this now when we are not using either of those metals as a circulating medium? The bill provides also for a change in respect of the weight and value of the silver dollar, which I think is a subject, which when we come to require legislation at all, will demand at our hands very serious consideration, and which, as we are not using such coin for circulation now, seems at this time to be an unnecessary subject about which to legislate.-Ibid., page 2310. Mr. Kelly said: I wish to ask the gentleman who has just spoken (Mr. Potter) if he knows of any government in the world which makes its subsidiary coinage of full value? The silver coin of England is ten per cent. below the value of gold coin. And, acting under the advice of the experts of this country, and of England and France, Japan has made her silver coinage within the last year twelve per cent. below the value of gold coin, and for this reason: It is impossible to retain the double standard. The values of gold and silver continually fluctuate. You cannot determine this year what will be the relative values of gold and silver next year. They were fifteen to one a short time ago; they are sixteen to one now. "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL.” 251 Hence all experience has shown that you must have one standard- coin, which shall be a legal tender for all others, and then you may promote your domestic convenience by having a subsidiary coinage of silver, which shall circulate in all parts of your country as legal tender for a limited amount, and be redeemable at its face value by your government.-Ibid., page 2316. The proposed dollar of 384 grains, which had been inserted in the bill because it was exactly the weight of two half dollars, and almost exactly the weight of the French five-france piece, was stricken out by the Senate, and the trade dollar of 420 grains was inserted in its place. This was a coin intended to circulate in China. It was considered to be a convenient ingot for the sale of American silver to Oriental countries, and was made a little heavier than the Mexican dollar in order to supersede that coin in the far East. The law of 1873 was not passed secretly or silently or without due consideration. The silver dollar was an obsolete coin. Not one man in ten of mature years had ever seen one. It was worth two or three more cents than the gold dollar. Nobody could anticipate that it would ever be worth less than the gold dollar. The law of 1873 was enacted by the people of the United States, in the only way thev ever enact a law. It has remained on the statute book nearly a quarter of a century and several direct attempts to repeal it have. failed. During this interval silver has fallen, as compared with gold, more than one-half. During this interval all the business of the nation has been adjusted to the gold standard. Indeed, it had been on the gold basis in practice ever since 1834, except during the suspension of specie payments. The whole of the National bonded debt had been contracted on the gold basis, in law as well as in fact, having been refunded subsequently to the act of 1873. Now it is proposed to change the character of the dollar so that public and private debts may be paid with half of what was promised. That is so manifestly dishonest that 252 "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." when the advocates of the policy are pushed pretty sharply, they say that prices have fallen so that the half dollar is worth as much as the whole dollar was in 1873. Suppose this were true, what about debts that were contracted on the gold basis yesterday? There has been no great decline in the prices of commodities in that time. Moreover, people did not agree to pay and receive commodities, but dollars. The question in the forum of morals is not what a dollar will buy, but what a dollar is. A time may come when a dollar will not buy as many useful things as it would in 1873. Suppose in that case, that creditors should say that when they made their contracts, a dollar would buy twice as many useful articles as it will now, and ask Congress to pass a law making the dollar twice as large as before. What sort of answer would they receive? The fitting answer would be that the Government had chosen the most stable thing it could find to serve as the material for the dollar; that it never intended to guarantee the purchasing power of the dollar in terms of any other article or articles, and that any attempt to do so in the interest of a class would be dishonest. Equally dishonest is the demand that the dollar be changed in the interest of another class. CHAPTER VI. THE DEBATE WITH LYMAN J. GAGE. We shall now examine something which has the outward semblance of an argument. It is that part which embraces the colloquy with Mr. L. J. Gage. Mr. Gage, says "Coin," asked the question: "How can you have, at any fixed ratio, the same commercial value on two separate metals that are from time to time varying in the quantity of each produced?" To which "Coin" made an elaborate answer, beginning thus: When the mints of the world are thrown open and the govern- ments say, "We will take all the silver and gold that comes," an un- "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." 253 limited demand is established. The supply is limited. Now, with an unlimited demand and a limited supply, there is nothing to stop the commercial value of the two metals going up in the market except the governments saying, "Hold on-these metals are for money- -we fix the value at which they circulate. This unlimited demand is for silver at $1 for 37114 grains, and $1 for 23 2-10 grains of gold-we stamp those into dollars respectively in those quantities. Observe first that "the mints of the world" (not any less number) are to be thrown open in order to create an unlimited demand. Mr. Gage's attention being thus fixed, "Coin" continued: England demonetized silver in 1816, but as Germany, France and the Latin Union and the United States had their mints open to the free coinage of silver and gold, the demand thus created was sufficient to maintain the parity (equal value) of the two metals, and the action of England had no effect on the price of silver. Then he says that the United States demonetized silver in February, 1873, and was followed by Germany in July, 1873-the fact being that Germany did it on the 23d of November, 1871-that France and the Latin Union did it in 1874, and India in 1893, which accounts for the decline in the price of that metal. Next we have a table of the market ratios of silver and gold from 1687, when it was 14.94, to 1873, when it was 15.92, to show how steady they had been before the latter date. "You will see from this table," continued "Coin," "that from 1687 to 1873 the commercial ratio of the two metals was never lower than 1 to 14.14 and never higher than 1 to 16.25, a variation of only about two points.” What is meant by "two points"? They are spoken Bear in mind that the deviation of the market of as something quite trivial. whole question is this: What ratio from the legal ratio will suffice to carry one or other of the metals out of circulation and have us going on one leg, as "Coin" is fond of putting it? The difference between 14.14 and 16.25 is exactly 15 per cent. Is this a 254 "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." "" trivial matter? Under modern conditions of trade a premium of one-tenth of one per cent. is sufficient to carry either one of the metals to the melting-pot or to foreign countries. Mr. Robert Giffen says that a much smaller premium than the one we have named will suffice to carry gold out of circulation. A fortiori the "two points which " 'Coin" juggles into the reader's mind as some- thing quite insignificant would constitute an absolutely impassable barrier to bimetallism. But the effect was par- alyzing to the intellect of Mr. Gage, who replied that this steadiness of only two points variation "has been due to the enlarged use of these two metals as money under a free-coinage law adopted by the principal nations of the world." Observe that "the mints of the world" have dwindled to "the principal nations of the world," without particular designation. Having got Gage to admit more than "Coin" had contended for, the latter continued thus: "Then, Mr. Gage," said "Coin," "we agree, do we not, that the commercial value of silver and gold can be maintained at par on a fixed ratio of 151 to 1, or 16 to 1, if their free coinage is provided for by the same nations that had such a law in 1873?" "Yes," said Mr. Gage, "we agree thus far." Here "the mints of the world," with which this lecture began, and which if thrown open to both metals would create "an unlimited demand" for both, have shrunk again. A moment ago they were the principal nations of the world. Now they are "the same nations that had such a law in 1873," i. e., the United States and the Latin Union! This is the reverse process of Falstaff's men in buckram. This is the proper place for introducing a letter written. by Mr. Gage himself to the New York Evening Post, viz.: HOLLAND HOUSE, NEW YORK, April 8, 1895. To the Editor of the Evening Post: Sir: In answer to your inquiry about "Coin's Financial } "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." 255 School," and my name as it appears in a certain lecture described therein, I beg to say that I never attended any such lecture, that I never asked any such questions, or made any such answers, as there set forth. It is a fabrication from beginning to end. I have had many letters from all parts of the country inquiring whether or not I was correctly reported in the alleged discussion, all of which I have answered in the negative. It is time the truth was put on foot to overtake the lie Truly yours, ANOTHER FIB. L. J. GAGE. Before leaving this lecture we will notice one other falsification (on page 30). Speaking of various laws which have aided to depress silver, he mentions "the law of 1878 authorizing and sanctioning notes, bonds and mortgages to be taken payable in gold only." "This latter," says 'Coin,' "is a clause in the Bland-Allison act. * * * It dis- criminates against all other forms of money and allows the creditor to dictate that his credits shall be payable in gold." The clause in question made no difference whatever in the status of debtor and creditor, or in that of silver and gold. The Supreme Court had decided long before this time that the right to make a contract payable in gold, or in any other kind of money that the parties might choose, was a constitutional right, and that such contracts were enforceable according to their terms. The Bland-Allison act, therefore, merely conformed to the fundamental law of the land when it said that the silver dollars coined under it should be legal tender "except where otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract." Therefore the statement that the act in question "discriminates against all our other forms of money" is another lie added to an already exten- sive assortment. CHAPTER VII. "COIN "" ENLISTS IN THE CAVALRY. In his third lecture "Coin" explains what he means by 256 "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." an "unlimited demand"-that is, an unlimited demand created by the Government. On page 47 he tells us that Mr. John R. Walsh, president of the Chicago National Bank, occupied a seat near the front and asked the ques- tion: "How can the Government, by passing a law, add a cent to the value of a commodity ?" To which the follow- ing reply was made by the lecturer: "Suppose," said "Coin," "that Congress should pass a law to-morrow authorizing the purchase by the Government of 100,000 cavalry horses of certain sizes and qualities, and the Government entered the market to get these horses. Horses would advance in value, not only the kind of horses desired, but also other horses upon which there would be a demand to take the place of the horses sold to the Government." Here we are favored with a picture of horses as an aid to the understanding. This reply seemed conclusive to the audience, for it was followed by a clapping of hands, and poor Walsh had nothing to say for himself till some time later. Now let us test this proposition by a recent event in our own history. In the year 1890 the silver men in Congress said to their opponents: "Give us a law authorizing the purchase by the Government of 4,500,000 ounces of silver each month. This will create a demand and cause the price to advance." Senator Jones of Nevada said it would cause silver to advance to par, i. e., $1.29 per ounce, the price then being $1.07 per ounce. Congress did what the silver-men asked it to do. And what was the result? There was a brief speculation in silver. The price rose from $1.07 to $1.16 per ounce. The Government began in the middle of August buying 4,500,000 ounces per month, and the price began to fall. And this is the way it went down; the quotations are taken from the Mint Reports: "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." 257 1890. PRICE PER OUNCE. September ..$0 98 October $0 85 September...$1 16 October 0 97 • October 1 08 November 1 03 November December • 0 95 November ... December 085 0 84 • 0 95 ... 1893. December 1 05 1892. 1891. 1 05 January. February 0 93 0.90 January February March 0 84 • • 0 84 0 83 • 0 99 March. 0 87 • April 083 · 0 98 April. 0 86 • May. 083 0 97 May. 087 June 0 81 • • • .. 0 97 June 0 88 • • July. 0 72 · 0 98 1 00 July. August 0 86 · August 0 74 • 0 83 . 0 99 September... 0 83 • January. February March. April May. June July. August A. September... 0 74 October 0 73 During this time the Government has bought 168,- 674,682 ounces of silver, at a cost of $155,931,002 gold, and the price declined a little more than one cent per ounce per month average. In October, 1893, the buying was stopped by the repeal of the Purchase Act. THE CAVALRY PUT TO FLIGHT. Now, this result is exactly the opposite of what "Coin" taught Walsh and his other victims to expect when he spoke. of the Government buying cavalry horses. Why did the price of silver decline when the Government's purchases increased? Because the supply increased also, and because the public knew that the purchases must stop some time, just as purchases of cavalry horses stop some time. The supply of cavalry horses would increase in like manner after a while. It takes five years to produce a cavalry horse. During five years we might expect a considerable advance in the price of horses if the Government's purchases were steady, but at the end of that time the supply would equal the demand, and the price would fall back to the place of beginning. Really the figure of speech adopted by "Coin" is de- ceptive in another way. Free coinage, which he aims at, 17 258 "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." does not imply any purchases by the Government at all. Therefore all his talk about the Government buying cavalry horses is fustian. This is a suitable place, however, to say that free coin- age of both gold and silver does not create an unlimited demand for both metals. It does not even change the pre- existing demand except for one purpose-that of paying pre-existing debts. After this temporary purpose is achieved, then, supposing that the ratio is really effectual, and that the two metals are at a parity in the market, the general preference for gold, arising from its convenience in all commercial transactions which call for the use of a money metal, will be as strong after bimetallism as before. Banks and individuals who have to transfer metal and to store it and take care of it will pay a premium for it equal to the extra cost of handling silver, and when a premium is paid for one of the metals, bimetallism no longer exists. This is on the supposition that the ratio agreed upon is. so near the market ratio that we "start fair." That ratio would be about 32 to 1. If we do not start fair we shall stumble at the first step. There will be an immediate grab for gold, and bimetallism will be dead before it is born. But, it is asked, what could anybody do with gold except to pay his debts with it? He could use it to make new bar- gains on a gold basis. It is admitted that the law can compel people to take silver or copper or anything else for past debts. Our history has many lamentable examples where the law compelled people to accept much less than they had bargained for-continental money for example. But it is firmly denied that the law can compel people in this country to make future bargains in silver if they prefer to make them in gold. Continuing this lecture, we come to the following state- ment (page 52): "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL.” 259 The demonetization of silver destroyed one-half of the redemp- tion money of the United States. It did it in this way: By making gold the unit and closing the mints to silver, it lessened the demand for silver, and its commercial value at once began to depreciate as measured in gold. The demonetization of silver did not destroy a dollar of redemption money, because there was none at that time of either silver or gold. There can be no redemption money without redemption. Even if we had been redeeming our - greenbacks at that time, we should not have redeemed any with silver, because, as "Coin" tells us on page 19: At the time the United States demonetized silver, in February, 1873, silver, as measured in gold, was worth $1.02. Is it likely that the Government would have bought silver at 2 per cent. premium to redeem its greenbacks with when it could redeem them with gold at par? That is what "Coin" wants his scholars to believe. "Here Mr. Walsh arose again, and Coin paused to hear the question" (page 54). This seems to be the proper place to insert Mr. Walsh's denial that he ever asked any questions. To the Editor of the N. Y. Evening Post: Sir: I am very glad that your inquiry of April 9 gives me an opportunity to correct any misapprehension that might be caused by the use of my name in the book called "Coin's Financial School." I never attended any of the lectures referred to in that book, and, therefore, could not have used the language with which I am credited. JOHN R. WALSH. Chicago, April 11. CHAPTER VIII. COIN'S SERIES OF EXPLOSIONS. The next thing in order is "Coin's" lecture on panics illustrated by cuts. He arranges a series of parallelograms divided into sections, one above another, the lowest section being marked "Primary money," the next highest "Credit money," the next "Checks, drafts and bills of exchange,” 260 "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." and the highest of all "Notes, bonds, mortgages and ac- counts," in order to show the genesis of panics and how explosions take place when the three upper sections become BARGAIN DAY UNITE فراشته PITY THE FREE-SILVER WOMAN. No too much expanded in proportion to the lower one. mention is made of the panic of 1873, which came at a time when we were not using any primary money at all. With much affectation of learning spread over three pages, we are led up to this proposition (page 58). Finally the silver-men, pushing their cause, forced the declar- ation from the ádministration that all paper was redeemable in gold and silver at the option of the holder. This meant that they [sic] demanded the most favored and valuable of the two-gold. The Government had stored most of the silver and issued paper money "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." 261 on it, which was declared to be redeemable in gold. This cut the base of the column half in two, and left us with only half a founda- tion for our financial system. Thus, we are told, the financial crisis of 1890 (the Baring crisis) was produced, and this is illustrated by an explosion so destructive that gold itself disappears in the picture, while, according to the text, it "was involved under the enormous strain placed upon it," whatever that may mean. These pictures are indispensable because nobody can possibly understand the argument. Take, for example, the quotation printed above, which is really the most intel- ligible part of the lecture. This tells us two things, viz.: (1) that the silver men forced the Administration (meaning the Harrison administration) to declare that all paper money was redeemable in gold or silver at the option of the holder; (2) that this took half of our primary money away and weakened correspondingly the foundation upon which the other things in the column rested. "Coin" had previously told us, on page 52, that silver dollars were not primary money at all, but only token money, and that this fact dated from the demonetization act of 1873, which is true. Here we have silver dollars serving as primary money until "the administration” made a certain declaration, when it ceased to be primary money, and then a series of explosions took place, first the Baring crisis, and then the crisis of 1893, and all the subsequent disasters. The Australian panic is not specifically men- tioned, but surely that is as much entitled to be counted among the results of the declaration of Harrison's adminis tration as is the Baring crisis of England and Argentina. The whole of this jargon about panics is an arrange- ment of pegs upon which to hang the pictures of the explosions. Nobody can understand it, but most people can understand an explosion-that is, they know that when an explosion takes place, the things resting on the explosive 262 "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." material go up into the air. The artist can arrange these as he likes, and there is no danger that anybody will dis- pute the arrangement. HOW PROF. LAUGHLIN GOT LEFT. The next person who tackled "Coin" was Prof. Laughlin of the University of Chicago, and this was the question he put: You have stated since this school began that, so long as free coinage was enjoyed by both metals, the commercial value of silver and gold had never differed more than two per cent., and that this difference was accounted for by the disturbance of the French ratio and the cost of exchange. Am I right in so quoting you?" "You are," replied "Coin." Now “Coin” had not said any such thing. He had said "two points," which we have heretofore shown was fifteen per cent., but he wanted people to understand it in that way. But Laughlin seemed to think that as small a vari- ation as two per cent. offered some chances of the metals parting company, and he asked if there was not some danger of it. Also whether silver coin had not sold at a premium as high as eight per cent. over gold "several times prior to 1857." This last question is absolutely unintelli- gible. It was thrown in for the purpose of making Laugh- lin appear like a fool. 'Coin" began his answer with some wholly irrelevant remarks about the scarcity of small bills in the summer of 1893, which led people to pay a premium for them during a brief period-this by way of showing that a persistent variation between silver and gold, extending over a period of two centuries, is a phenomenon resembling a panic of two or three week's duration. Then he says, addressing Laughlin: At the time you speak of nearly all small money was made from silver, and on account of the French premium for silver our silver was leaving us. Small money was scarce and frequently commanded a premium, not on account of the value of the silver "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." 263 bullion, but upon the demand for small money. Gold dollars com- manded the same premium as silver dollars and fifty-cent pieces. If this means anything, it means that the French people were so short of small coins that they bought ours away from us at a premium, and used it without remelting, because that would have made it bullion, whereas, "Coin" says that the premium was not on account of the bullion, but "upon the demand for small money." Now, in order to buy our small coins at any time after 1853, the French people would have been obliged to pay seven per cent. more for it than it was worth as bullion, because we had reduced its weight in that year and made it subsidiary or token money, as "Coin" had already remarked in an unguarded moment. But history does not mention any time when France was using our small money in her local circulation, although we did use hers at one time. After the foregoing colloquy on the subject of the drainage of our small coin to Europe "prior to 1857" on account of the premium offered for them by the green- horns of France, "Coin" asked Langhlin whether he was PROF. J. L. LAUGHLIN. satisfied with the answer, saying: "I have the exchange- able quotations of silver and gold bullion at the time you speak of." The professor said he was satisfied. glad these questions are asked," said "Coin.” "I am These 264 "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." statements, when used and not answered confuse the peo- ple." Rabelais's debate on the question "whether & chimera ruminating in a vacuum devoureth second inten- tions" is the nearest parallel to this discussion between "Coin" and Laughlin, but the latter says in the following note that it never took place at all: THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, April 13, 1895. To the Editor of the New York Evening Post: Sir: Your inquiry as to whether I made the remarks attributed to me in a small book called "Coin's Financial School," is but one of many which I have received from various parts of the country. The book is filled with so many false and misleading statements that I have deemed it unworthy of notice. But I am glad to give publicity to the denial that any such lectures as are detailed in the book ever took place in Chicago or anywhere else; and here say that I was never present at any such meetings, and that I never made any of the remarks attributed to me on page 68 or on any other page. The whole book is a clever fabrication of falsehoods. Very truly yours, J. LAURENCE LAUGHLIN. 66 THE BOY LIED. "" It will be noticed that Professor Laughlin says that none of these lectures ever took place, although “Coin" says that they took place at the Art Institute in Chicago, beginning on the 7th day of May, 1894. It was shrewdly calculated by "Coin" that most of the readers of the book, catching it up hastily and glancing through it, would conclude that such lectures actually took place, and that the persons whose names were used would pass it over with silent contempt, which would answer all the purposes of an admission that it was true. It all turned out as he anticipated except that after Gage, Laughlin, and the rest had got tired of answering letters from persons who really supposed that they had been truth- fully reported, they decided to make a wholesale denial in order to save their own time and labor. The reading public do not like to have practical jokes played on them even on All Fools' Day. Hence it is no wonder that there "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." 265 has been considerable reaction against "Coin" since the public have found out that "the boy lied." After Laughlin had been polished off, a man named Eustis asked the following question (page 70:) "Then," said Mr. Eustis, "the Latin Union, Germany and the United States, by free coinage, had maintained the commercial value of silver at par with gold?” "Yes," was "Coin's " reply. This phrase, "The commercial value of silver at par with gold," has no meaning unless a ratio is mentioned at which parity is maintained. As no such ratio is men- tioned, we might pass it over as one of a large number of phrases in this book as meaningless as that quoted from Rebelais, but the fact is that the Latin Union's ratio was 15 to 1, that of the United States 16 to 1, and that Ger- many had no ratio, having been on the single silver stand- ard prior to 1871. Eustis appetite for lies was not yet satisfied. He asked one more question: "And the United States," said Eustis, "was the first of these to attack silver and demonetize it? "Yes," said "Coin." The truth being quite different. Germany demonetized it in 1871, the United States in 1873. CHAPTER IX. "COIN'S" LECTURE ON THE GREENBACK SYSTEM. On page 76 a certain Mr. Ridgley of Ogden, Utah, wants to know what is the objection to a purely greenback system of money. The objection which is urged, said “Coin," is this: So long as there was confidence in the Government, it would be a sound, stable money; but so soon as confidence in the Government is shaken, it would depreciate in exchangeable value. When the danger became imminent that the Government was not able to enforce its legal-tender character, having no commercial value, it would become more or less worthless. What is the condition under which a government is not able to enforce the legal-tender character of its paper? Our 266 "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOÓL." Government, during the Revolutionary war, enforced the legal-tender character of continental money until it had fallen to 1,000 for 1. The difference of effort required to enforce the legal-tender character of that kind of paper and of paper worth nothing at all is not perceptible. In fact, no effort was needed to enforce its legal-tender char- acter even after it had become worthless. The only thing requiring an effort was to repeal the legal-tender acts. If these had been left unrepealed, creditors would have been powerless to refuse the paper for past debts. What "Coin" meant by this phraseology we defy anybody to explain. Mr. Ridgley appears not to have been entirely con- vinced, for he proceeded to ask questions, viz.: "Isn't it a fact that when war and great disturbances come, redemp- tion money disappears and paper money takes its place anyhow? So, are not the people at such times embarrassed with a paper money fluctuating with their confidence in the Government, and saddled with a worthless paper money if the Government goes down, and does the use of silver and gold as money ever prevent this condition from arising." The use of redemption money, replied "Coin," does not pre- vent the conditions you describe. Paper money always takes its place at such times. This is a statement that specie payments are always. suspended during wars and great disturbances, but without any definition of a great disturbance. Probably it means any condition where specie payments are suspended-that is, that specie payments are always suspended when they are suspended. This can hardly be denied, but the general proposition that specie payments are always suspended during wars may be. There is no limitation on account of time, or place, or the size of the war. Well, we did not suspend specie payments during the Mexican war. We have had several Indian wars in which we did not suspend. "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." 267 England did not suspend during the Crimean war, or in any other of her numerous wars since 1820. Germany did not suspend during the Franco-German war of 1870. There is no evidence that David suspended during his wars with the Philistines, or Xerxes during his invasion of Greece, or Cesar during his Gallic wars. Equally edifying is his explanation of social conditions during suspension: "After the use of redemption money OWNER NATIONAL CALAMITY. MAN TOO THIN FOR THE WORKINGMAN. ceases, because of war," he tells us, every one is on the same footing. As the paper money fluctuates from day to day all are taking chances alike. If it becomes wholly worthless, all have suffered more or less proportionately, and primary money immediately takes its place.” This is a flat contradiction of observed facts during every 268 "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." era of irredeemable paper. It is not true that "every one is on the same footing." On the contrary, speculators are on one kind of footing and laboring men on another kind. This was the most conspicuous and notable feature of social and industrial life during the civil war, both North and South. It was the same way during the Revolutionary war. A laboring man working for $30 per month would find his wages, when they became due, worth only $15. As the con- tinental money neared its end and the depreciation became rapid, Professor Summer says that "a man might lose his whole wages while earning them." And yet "Coin" tells us that the employer and the employé are on the same footing. A PRECOCIOUS TRAITOR. Continuing to enlighten Ridgley on page 77, after he has told us how primary money (meaning metallic money), takes the place of paper money when the latter becomes worthless, he says: This latter is true, whether a new government is founded on the ruins of the old one at once or not. There may be a long interreg- num, as in France towards the close of the last century, when one form of government was from year to year almost substituted for another. No one knew what was coming next. No stability was in the government itself. During such a period, which may last for years, it would be impossible to make paper money circulate. But money made from property having a commercial value would circu- late, and would assist materially in restoring order and civilization. In fact, it would be hard to restore civilization without its use during such a period. We are approaching such a period now, unless wise statesmanship shall intervene; commodity money-silver and gold-will be our only money, and will have to answer the purpose of a medium of exchange until a stable government can get on its feet and issue paper money. All know and feel the necessity of money, and if chaos comes in this country, it may be years before there is another government sufficiently established to give confidence generally to its issue of paper money. What is it that we are approaching now? Evidently, the condition that France was in towards the close of the "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL.” 269 last century—that is, revolution, reign of terror, Jacobinism, and finally Bonapartism and a stable government. All this is to come "unless wise statesmanship shall intervene.” The only statesmanship that "Coin" knows or cares about is silver at 16 to 1. Therefore, the logic of his position is that unless we have free coinage at 16 to 1 the Government will be broken up and a more stable one put in its place. Who will break it up? Those who are dissatisfied with it, of course. But the only dissatisfied ones are the 16 to 1 silverites. We fear that "Coin" is a precocious young traitor. We advise the Chicago police to keep an eye on him. CHAPTER X. JUGGLING WITH PRICES. On page 108, "Coin" presents a table of prices of wheat beginning in 1872, at $1.40 per bushel (not mentioning the fact that that was the quotation in irredeemable paper), and ending in 1893, at 63 cents per bushel. Then he says: If a dollar buys a bushel of wheat during a time when the supply is normal, and the conditions continuing normal, at a later time a dollar will buy two bushels of wheat, then the dollar has doubled its purchasing power. To complete the sentence he should have said "in wheat "its purchasing power in wheat. But he wanted wheat"-its his readers to understand that if a dollar would buy twice as much wheat at one time as at another it would also buy twice as much of everything else. Mr. J. K. Upton has examined this juggle, as it has been repeated by Mr. W. H. Harvey, in his letter to President Cleveland. Mr. Upton shows that ten years ago the price of wheat was 77 cents per bushel while to day it is 57 cents, a decline of 26 per cent. instead of 50 per cent. On the other hand the price of corn ten years ago was 35 cents per bushel, while to-day it is 45 270 "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." cents, an increase of 28 per cent. As the corn crop of the United States is one-half greater in value than the wheat crop it follows that the farmers of the country have been gainers on these two crops taken together. From this Mr. Upton draws the reasonable inference that the standard of value has nothing to do with the matter. What has to do with the matter is sufficiently plain if you look at the statistics of production. In 1884 the wheat crop was 357,000,000 bushels; in 1894 it was 460,000,000, an increase of more than 100,000,000 bushels, and there was a general increase at the same time in the product of other countries. Would not such an increase of itself explain the fall in value? The corn crop of 1884 was 1,796,000,000 bushels, that of 1894 was but 1,213,000,000, a decrease of 573,000,000 bushels. Would not such a decrease in itself explain the increase of value per bushel. CHAPTER XI. THE ENGLISH OCTOPUS. We have finished our examination of the serious part of "Coin's Financial School." What follows is either broad farce or blatant demagogism. On page 124 we have a picture of “The English Octopus." This represents the island of Great Britain reaching out its tentacles to all parts of the world and sucking in gold. A helpful conceit, surely, to enable earnest citizens to reach a decision on a question of domestic policy. How can it make any difference to England what kind of currency we have? We had a more fluctuating currency than silver at one time, but England did not mind. What we owe to England is payable in England, and if her money is pounds sterling we must pay in pounds sterling, if we pay at all. Therefore it is all one to her whether our currency is gold or silver or paper or chips or whetstones. It may be said that she has some money "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." 271 4 invested in this country in such a way that she must take her pay in our money, whatever it may be. That is true, but she can sell these things, and has been doing so lately to a large extent, and this withdrawal of capital has been the chief cause of the hard times here during the past two or three years. But suppose she does not sell. Suppose that she concludes to take pot luck with us as to these par- ticular investments. How does that fact alter, or in any way affect, the octopus? The theory of "Coin" is that we shall all be better off when we have free coinage at 16 to 1 (which means silver monometallism). If we are better off, the octopus will be better off too as regards his American blood- sucking. But he will be just as much of an octopus as before, and will suck all the harder if he finds the nourish- ment more agreeable. So the only aim of the picture is to create prejudice against England, or to play upon prejudices already existing. That this is the real aim, almost everything that follows shows. Thus, on page 131 we read: If it is claimed that we must adopt for our money the metal England selects, and can have no independent choice in the matter, let us make the test and find out if it is true. It is not American to give up without trying. If it is true, let us attach England to the United States and blot her name [whose name] out from among the nations of the earth. [Applause.] Here we have the idea of England seeking to force her standard on other countries, when she does not care a rap what kind of a standard they have. Mr. Goschen, her leading representative at the monetary conference of 1878, was solicitous that other nations should adopt bimetallism and let England have the gold standard alone. A very fickle octopus. WAR WITH THE OCTOPUS. The next thing that comes out of "Coin's" mouth is a little more brassy than the last. He says: 272 "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." A war with England would be the most popular ever waged on the face of the earth. [Applause.] If it is true that she can dictate the money of the world and thereby create world-wide misery, it would be the most just war ever waged by man. [Applause.] The applause interjected here and there is in further- ance of the idea that there was an audience listening to this DEMOCRATIC PARTY И یم NEW SILVER THE REAL DANGER TO THE REPUBLIC. SPUBLICAN ARTY stuff, composed of people so bereft of common sense as to approve of it. But in the next paragraph he changes his tactics and tells us that England is not forcing the gold standard on us, and that we can adopt silver without fighting her. Why, then, did he talk about a war with England "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." 273 being so popular, and why did his hearers break out in applause about nothing? A little further along he changes his tactics again, and goes in for war once more, saying: Whenever property interests and humanity have come in con- flict, England has ever been the enemy of human-liberty. All reforms with those so unfortunate as to be in her power have been won with the sword. She yields only to force. (Applause). Then he turns against the money-lenders of the United States and rends them, and says: To that end they organize the international bimetallic com- mittees, and say: "Wait on England, she will be forced to give us bimetallism." Vain hope! Deception on this subject has been prac- ticed long enough upon a patient and outraged people. This is a rap at that distinguished money-lender, Senator Wolcott, of Colorado, who showed more interest than anybody else in organizing the existing bimetallic committee. In fact, it was on his motion that the com- mittee was created and an appropriation voted for its expenses. And what is it that Wolcott, the money-lender, is pretending to do? Forcing England to give us bimetal- lism! This is on page 133, but on the preceding page it was shown that England's consent was not necessary at all. The next caper of this queer logician is funnier than any of the previous ones. He tells us that "only 4 per cent. of the business of the people of this nation is carried on with foreign countries, and a part of this 4 per cent. would be carried on with silver using nations, while 96 per cent. of the business of our people is domestic transactions. Home business." So all the talk of war with England was about a baga- telle. Our trade with England is only one-third of our total foreign trade, and therefore only one-third of 4 per cent. of our domestic trade-i. e., 13 per cent. We are disappointed, however, to find "Coin" going in 18 274 "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." for war with England a third time, on page 135, and a fourth time on page 147. Somehow, there is no way of avoiding it; but on page 135 we encounter a proposition which strikes us speechless. It is this: The gold standard will give England the commerce and wealth of the world. The bimetallic standard will make the United States the most prosperous nation on the globe. [Applause.] How these identical effects should be produced by two different policies there is no hint of explanation. It is like saying that cold water will make John the strongest man in the world and whisky will make James the most robust. A LITTLE MORE TREASON. Next we have another threat of treason and civil war, and a pretty strong one, too (page 135): To avoid the struggle means a surrender to England. It means more—it means a tomb raised to the memory of the Republic. Delay is dangerous. At any moment an internecine war may break out among us. Wrongs and outrages will not be continuously endured. The people will strike at the laws that inflict them. This does not look to a change of law by constitutional means, but to the subversion of the Government and the raising of a tomb to its memory. It is hard to say which war "Coin" is most in favor of-war with England or "internecine war." The whole argument of the book, so far as it uses argu- ment, is that we need more money, and that free coinage at 16 to 1 will give us more. That is exactly what the other side deny. They say that it would merely displace gold and give us no more money than we had before, but a poorer kind. In his pretended dispute with L. J. Gage, on pago 38, "Coin" said that he should "leave the subject of independent free coinage by the United States to the last." Looking anxiously for that, we find it to consist of his assertion that "free coinage by the United States will at "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL." 275 once establish a parity between the two metals," meaning a parity at the ratio of 16 to 1. Now all the bimetallists of repute in this country, such as General Francis A. Walker and S. Dana Horton, hold the contrary opinion. AND REPUDIATION. If, however, free coinage at 16 to 1 should banish gold from circulation, a way to get it back is pointed out on page 143, viz: With silver remonetized and a just and equitable standard of values, we can, if necessary, by act of Congress reduce the number of grains in a gold dollar till it is of the same value as the silver dollar. [Applause.] We can legislate the premium out of gold. [Applause.] Who can say that this is not an effective remedy? I pause for a reply. DOWN ON INTERNATIONAL BIMETALLISM. This means passing a law to make fifty cents the equal of a dollar in all cases, which is indeed the aim of the free coinage party generally, although they do not all avow it so frankly. Having got to this point, "Coin" spews General Walker, President Andrews, Senator Wolcott and all other international bimetallists out of his mouth, saying that until they can answer the question quoted above he will "write upon the character of every interna- tional bimetallist the words 'gold monometallist.'” Speaking of General Walker reminds us of another dif- ference between him and "Coin." "Coin" takes for the motto of his book these words: All money is a medium of exchange, but primary money only is the measure of values. General Walker read a paper at the meeting of the American Economic Association, at Chicago, September 13, 1893 (ace published as a pamphlet), entitled "The Value of Money." In this he seeks to prove that prices. of commodities are determined by the demand for, and the supply of, the actual coin and notes circulating as money, འ 276 "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL.” and not the coin only. His reason for holding this opinion is that: Bank notes are money. They are distinct and tangible things, which pass out from the bank and have their own separate life and course; which become the property of him in whose hands they are, just as truly as do coins of gold or silver. Like such coins they pass from hand to hand throughout the community, without refer- མ་ COIN # . ** SILVER SHIN OWNER AS THE STRING PULLS. ence to the character or the credit of the person offering them. Like such coins they are accepted in final discharge of debts and full payment for commodities, without necessary recourse to the issuing bank, except as they may individually become too much worn for further circulation, after performing, it may be a hundred, it may be a thousand, exchanges. For these reasons he maintains that bank notes which circulate as money are, equally with metallic money, factors in determining prices. CONCLUSION. All of "Coin's Financial School" after the picture of the octopus consists of low appeals to Coxey's army, or of unmeaning drivel. It is useless to pursue it farther. The question may be asked how the book came to have so much popularity and such a large circulation. The "COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL.” 277 answer is easy-it is due to the pictures. These, it must be admitted, are very clever, although of unequal merit. Without them not five hundred copies of such a senseless book could have been sold or given away. But what a gloomy fate would be ours if the destiny of the Republic lay in the hands of any skillful designer of comic almanacs! THE COLUMBUS FORGERY. Since the foregoing pages were written the Indianapolis Journal has come to hand with some further remarks on the Columbus forgery already referred to. It says: W. H. Harvey, author of "Coin's Financial School," writes to a Chicago paper, denying that a certain extract printed on the first page of his book is a forgery, as charged by the Journal. As it appears in the book it is credited to "Report United States Mon- etary Commission of 1878.' Not a word of it appears in that report. Now comes Harvey and says it should have been credited to the report of the commission of 1876. This report, he says, contained "the exact language quoted." This is not true. The report contains most of the language quoted, but not all of it. The pretended quota- tion, after describing the effects of the reduction in the volume of metallic currency during the dark ages, says: "The discovery of the new world by Columbus restored the volume of precious metals, brought with it rising prices." This is not in the report. The pre- tended quotation also jumps over eleven lines of the report which go to show that other causes than the reduction of metallic currency may have contributed to the stagnation of the dark ages, and that the introduction of bills of exchange and paper currency certainly contributed to the revival. These eleven lines of the report are omitted because they did not suit the author's purpose, and an entire sentence of his own is substituted. There is no typgraphical error in this. It is garbling and forgery with intent to deceive. CLOSED OT SÜDEN GJ „TRONICE CHIERT TO BENT. St. Paul & Duluth R.R. THE DIRECT ROUTE. DULUTH DULUTH SHORT LINE MINNEAPOLIS ST PAUL BETWEEN ST. PAUL, MINNEAPOLIS AND Duluth, West Superior and Lake Superior Points. A. B. PLOUGH, Vice-Pres't & Gen'l Manager, ST. PAUL. MINN. W. A. RUSSELL, General Passenger Agent, ST. PAUL, MINN THE MARGUERITE SERIES-Continued. BEATRICE HARBADEN No. 47. Things Will Take a Turn - No. 48. Dolly Dialogues... No. 49. 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