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Financial Fool.
BY
COIN'S
HORACE WHITE.
A Reply to
Coin's
Financial
School.
2X1=1 1
ylas
FOOL
Anal
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==
S. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY,
NEW YORK.
ILLUSTRATIONS
DAN BEARD.
☺
ENNY PHOOL GUD SEE
IT! Jusk DAWKINS
BY
Dan Bea
ozy
کار



COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL;
5424€
THE ARTFUL DODGER EXPOSED,
OR,
A COMPLETE REPLY TO
"COIN'S FINANCIAL SCHOOL.
BY
HORACE WHITE.
THE PEERLESS SERIES, No. 85. Issued Quarterly, July, 1895.
Subscription, $1.00 per year. Entered at New York Post-Office as
second-class matter.
Copyright, 1895, by J. 8. Ogilvie Publishing Company.
NEW YORK:
J. S. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY,
57 ROSE STREET.
1896
CONTENTS.
Introduction.
Chapter
I. Coin's First Falsehood.
II. Our First Silver Dollar.
III. Another Forgery.
IV. A Few Nuggets.
V. The "Crime of 1873."
VI. The Debate with Lyman J. Gage.
VII. Coin Enlists in the Cavalry.
VIII. Coin's Series of Explosions.
IX. Coin's Lecture on the Greenback
System.
X. Juggling with Prices.
XI. The English Octopus.
Conclusion.
ì
54246
· E
[v]
>
Page
7
9
19
28
37
44
57
65
74
86
94
97
IIO
INTRODUCTION.
I propose to examine with some thorough-
ness a book of 155 pages, entitled " Coin's
Financial School."
"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 is 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 consid-
erable 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 ac-
quire it without any antecedent 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
[vii]
viii
Introduction.
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 il-
lustrations which, of course, cannot be an-
swered. If anybody is deluded 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
alone is a proposal to establish the single
standard of silver, which is as well repre-
sented by a man with one leg as is the single
standard of gold.
COIN'S FINANCIAL FOOL.
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 pub-
lic document, which begins in this way:
At the Christian era the metallic money of
the Roman empire amounted to $1,800,000,-
coo. 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 two pence per bushel.)"
[9]
10
Coin's Financial Fool.
The statement in parenthesis, which is in-
troduced 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 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
Coin's Financial Fool.
II
2
penny per day. See Matthew xx: 1-16,
which tells us that a certain householder went
out early in the morning to hire laborers 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 un-
til they found that some others who had been
hired later in the day were also receiving a
penny. We 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
12
Coin's Financial Fool.
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 sup-
pressed 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 Na-
tions" 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

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"COIN," THE ARTFUL DODGER, MUTILATES ADAM SMITH.
Coin's Financial Fool.
13
have imagined, that as its lowest price was
then much lower than in later times, its ordin-
ary 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 fif
teenth, or beginning of the sixteenth century,
which approaches to the extravagance of
these.
The price of corn, though at all times lia-
ble to variation, varies most in those turbulent
and disorderly societies, in which the interrup-
tion of all commerce and communication hin-
ders the plenty of one part of the country from
relieving the scarcity of another. In the dis-
((
14
Coin's Financial Fool.
orderly state of England under the Planta-
genets, who governed it from about the mid-
dle of the twelfth till toward the end of the
fifteenth century,. one district might be in
plenty, while another at no great distance, by
having its crop destroyed either by some acci-
dent 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 cen-
tury, no baron was powerful enough to dare
to disturb the public security.'
Finally, Fleetwood's tables give the prices
of wheat in 1453 at 5s. 4d. and in 1457 at 7s.
8d. per quarter, the intermediate year, 1455,
being Is. 2d. per quarter, all being the money
of that period, not of Adam Smith's period.
Coin's Financial Fool.
15
"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 an-
other case.
It is within the recollection of
many persons 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 con-
sumed 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 per ton. It
was a common estimate in those times that
there was as much fuel in a ton of corn as in a
16
Coin's Financial Fool.
1
ton of coal. If this was true, the value of corn
at the farms must have been between six and
eight cents per bushel, being less than the price
of wheat in 1455 as quoted by Fleetwood.
What would be said of any future historian who
should take that for the true price of corn in
Illinois in the middle of the 19th century?
We have not got through with this pre-
tended 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 to
the most degraded conditions of serfdom and
slavery. The disintegration of society was al-
most complete. History records no such dis-
astrous transition as that from the Roman Em-
pire 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,
(C
A
Coin's Financial Fool.
17
shake off the shackles of feudalism, and to re-
light and uplift the almost extinguished torch
of civilization.”—[Report United States Mone-
tary Commission of 1878.]
There was a monetary commission in 1878
composed of Reuben E. Fenton, W. S. Groes-
beck, 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 discov-
ered that the last sentence in the paragraph,
the one referring to Columbus and the dis-
covery of America, the only thing which gives
18
Coin's Financial Fool.
any point to the pretended quotation, is itself
a forgery. We present below the sentence
as it stands on page 50 of the report, and as it
stands in "Coin's Financial School."
REPORT, PAge 50.
"Various explanations have been given of
this entire breaking down of the framework of
society, but it was certainly coincident 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."
Coin's Financial Fool.
19
CHAPTER II.
OUR FIRST SILVER DOLLAR.
The next untruth taught in "Coin's Finan-
cial School" is that the silver dollar was the
monetary unit in this 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.
匾
​?
Coin's Financial Fool.
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
denominations, 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 weights 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."
Ap
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Jose Be
Artful Dodger (COIN) AS TEACHER IN "COIN'S FINANCIAL SCHOOL
To
Coin's Financial Fool.
2 I
"Coin," having presented the unit to his
school as a unit of number, immediately
changes it into a unit of value, saying: "Con-
gress 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 mathematician 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 money; it then pro-
ceeded to fix the one thing," everybody could
have seen that that would be a contradiction
of terms. Suppose the law had then provided
CA
22
Coin's Financial Fool.
Could any-
for the coinage of a gold dollar.
body say, in that case, that the monetary unit
was the silver dollar any more then 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?
JTEN *ak va
peta Nectargalta.
1 Janu
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 estab-
lished. 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
Coin's Financial Fool.
23
confusion which "Coin" has produced arises
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 black-
board as a unit of number, and then cunningly
asks us to take it as a unit of value. This is
thimblerigging-" 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.
silver
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, each to be of the value of ten
dollars and to contain 247%½ grains of pure
gold; dollars, each to be of the value of the
((
24
Coin's Financial Fool
Spanish milled dollar as the same is now cur-
rent and to contain 3714 grains of pure sil-
ver." 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
numskulls we should not have to look far to
... anthor
find him. Loote
17
>
If "Coin" were right in his contention, it
would amount to nothing but this, that Con-
gress once chose the silver dollar as the unit
of value and afterwards chose the gold dollar.
As this is what nearly all civilized nations have
all cinlized once head, slavery,
done it is not surprising that we should have
1-
done the same. Common sense would tell us
that if we were to have a controversy about it
at all, it should be over the question whether
the change were wise or unwise. But common
Coin's Financial Fool.
25
sense has very little place in "Coin's Finan-
cial School."
The law of 1892 declared that the propor-
tional weight of silver coins to gold ones.
should be as 15 to 1. Now, Hamilton, the
Secretary of the Treasury, had previously
determined by experiment that the average
weight of the Spanish milled dollar as then
current was 371, not 371% grains. Why was
371% grains chosen? Because Hamilton had
also ascertained that the Spanish dollar, as
then current, was selling in the market for
244 grains of pure gold. So Congress multi-
plied 24% by 15 and took the result, 371, as
the number of grains for the silver dollar. In
other words, they determined the weight of
the silver dollar from the gold one, although
there was then no gold dollar coined.
But this American silver dollar never got
26
Coin's Financial Fool.
into circulation at home. The Spanish dollar,
which was in actual circulation here, was
abraded by use about 2½ grains. New Span-
ish dollars were worth that much more. It
was soon discovered that our new dollars
would pass in the West Indies as the equiva-
lent of new Spanish dollars. Consequently
they ran out of the country as fast as they
were coined, went to the West Indies, where
brokers collected new Spanish dollars in ex-
change for them and sent the latter back to
our mint to be re-coined. Every 100 new
Spanish dollars produced 101 American dollars,
and none of the latter remained at home be-
cause abraded Spanish dollars passed equally
well in domestic trade.
Grah
That was the reason why President Jeffer-
son in 1805 gave an order to the mint to stop
coining silver dollars-an order which re-
Coin's Financial Fool.
27
mained in force till 1836. So this silver dollar
never really got into circulation at all, either
before 1836 or afterwards-certainly a queer
Kap
kind of monetary "unit."
S
J.
28
Coin's Financial Fool.
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 for him. "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 sil
ver coins legal tender in this country.. It is
one of the axioms of the silverites that coins
or to quo 19, 201
D
Mama ve SEN Unges an
circulate by reason of their legal tender fac-
ulty and not of their metallic value. This is
fam
Coin's Financial Fool.
29
a fundamental proposition in" Coin's Finan-
cial 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 ac-
count for something which really knocks the
bottom out of his whole system.
Coin quotes the law, which he says sus-
tains his statement, thus :
<C
})
"And be it further enacted, that from and
after the passage of this act the following for-
eign 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 Mex-
ico, Peru and Bolivia, etc."
The act referred to is that of March 3, 1843.
The lie here consists in the insignificant “ etc.,"
30
Coin's Financial Fool.
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
C
*)
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 piece of France of not less than
900-1,000 in fineness and 384 grains in weight,
at 93 cents each."
(C
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" (mean-
ing the foreign silver circulating here at that
Coin's Financial Fool.
3r
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 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 colon-
ies achieved their independence, to include
their names in the list in order to avoid am-
biguity. So it came about that the dollars of
Mexico, Central America, Chili, Peru and
Bolivia were added to our legal-tender list at
different times. The 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 Constitu-
tion was adopted, the former having been the
money of the colonies and the latter having

"there. Vig both
wi
32
Coin's Financial Fool.
萋
​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 dol-
lar were never made legal tender in this coun-
try. People whose memory goes back of
1860, will recall the fact that the bulk of the
Spanish 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 ninepence, the levy
and the bit, in addition to which there were
English 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
Coin's Financial Fool.
33
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, Austria, Holland, Belgium and Den-
mark, which were not legal tender.
The point is that this writer, pretending to
give us facts which few persons are famil-
iar 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
Sp...
ܚ
34
Coin's Financial Fool.
legal tender, and to support this proposition
he misquotes a law of Congress. In order to
give due solemnity to this and other false-
hoods with which the book abounds, he prints
next after his title-page this text of Scripture:
!
"I thank thee, O Lord of Heaven and
Earth, because thou has hid these things from
the wise and prudent and has revealed them
´unto babes. Matthew, chapter xi. verse 25."
Nobody who had not reached mature years
could have concocted a forgery of this recon-
dite and misleading character.
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
(C
Coin's Financial Fool.
35
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."
This is pure fiction. Neither Jefferson nor
Jackson ever made any such recommendation.
Nor was there any "scarcity of silver" at that
time. The reason why silver dollars were not
coined by our mint between 1805 and 1836
has already been stated.
Next after this false statement about Jeffer-
son 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 15% 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-
(
36
Coin's Financial Fool.
pose as silver for money, it was found that
our silver was leaving us.'
}
The French ratio of 15% to I was estab-
lished in 1785, and was merely re enacted in
1803. Our ratio of 15 to 1 was established in
1792, and that of 15 to 1 in 1834. So
France made a bid" for our silver seven
(6
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,
Coin's Financial Fool.
37
1
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 every-
thing 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?
want? What better evidence could
you have than that of your eyes?
THE POOR MAN'S MONEY.
See how plain the young man makes the
66
38
Coin's Financial Fool.
whole subject of money in a single sentence on
page 8, viz: Gold was considered the
money of the rich. It was owned principally
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 fol-
lows that Congress never advanced any such
reason, but "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.
#
(C
This is very plain as long as you do not con-
sider what the poor man wants money for. If

COINSTRI
FCO витра
A
моя полотене
FAGIN
LL
BONANZA
OLIVER
TWIST.
16551
2x1=1
1+1=1
areful Jove
16h
"COIN," THE ARTFUL DODGER'S ADVICE-"Swipe it Oliver."
Coin's Financial Fool.
39
he wants it as pay for his services, as an accu-
mulation 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 ten-
der and it had a legal ratio with silver. In the
Roman republic the ratio was 240 to 1, and the
contemporary 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 com-
40
Coin's Financial Fool.
monly will be those things, since our people do
not like to carry gold. It wears out their pock-
ets 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 de-
1

FAÇAN
3
ER
16 to 1
18175
MR. FAGIN AND HIS PUPILS RESTORING SILVER.
Coin's Financial Fool.
41
stroyed it as legal tender money in the pay-
ment of debts, except to the amount of five
dollars."
This is accompanied with a picture of Sen-
ator Sherman cutting off the head of a woman
called silver, whose blood spouts in every
direction—a valuable aid to a people earnestly
seeking to know the truth about a moment-
ous 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 "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.
42
Coin's Financial Fool.
#
If we should say that corn has 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 founda-
tion of a demand for equal rights for cereals,
the logic would be the same. What sort of
conception can anybody have of the intel-
ligence of the American people who thinks
that their blood can be stirred 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 com-
mon people, just as the Rev. John Jasper did
with the science of astronomy.
"BIMETALLISM, 1872."
The next contribution to clearness is a pic-
ture representing Bimetallism, 1872," and
"Monometallism, 1894," the former showing
((
G
?
Coin's Financial Fool.
43
the workingman and his little girl in a high
state of prosperity and contentment, and the
latter showing him in the last extreme of fam-
ine and wretchedness. This does not require
much notice. The printer's devil might have
changed the labels, in which case the pictures
would have served equally well so far as any
intellectual purpose goes. But one fact ought
to be borne in mind. In 1872 we had neither
silver nor gold. There was no " metallism "in
it. Specie payments were not restored till
seven years later. Therefore the label "Bi-
metallism, 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.
44
Coin's Financial Fool,
CHAPTER V.
THE CRIME OF 1873.'
"}
CC
The next statement of importance is on
page 20, where it is said that "silver was de-
monetized secretly."
It is not generally easy to prove a negative,
but it can be done in this case, because there
is no way to pass a law secretly in the Con-
gress 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 by the
Department and Congress thirteen times in
the course of its passage, and the proceed-
ings on it occupy 144 columns of the Con-
gressional Globe, which was published daily
Coin's Financial Fool.
45
during the session. That does not look much
like secrecy. Professor Laughlin has com-
piled the legislative history of the bill as fol-
lows:
Procedure,
Submitted by secretary of the
treasury.
Referred to senate finance commit-
tee..
500 copies printed.
Submitted to house..
Reported amended and
printed.
Debated..
April 25, '70
April 28, '70
May 2, 70
ordered
·
Passed by vote of 36 to 14.
Senate bill ordered printed..
Bill reported with substitute and
recommitted
+
Senate.
Dec. 19, '70
Jan. 9, '71
Jan. 10, '71
Original bill reintroduced and
printed.
Reported and debated.
Recommitted…….
Reported back, amended and
printed
Debated.
Amended and passed by vote of 110
to 13.....
Printed in senate
May 29, '72
Reported, amended and printed....Dec. 16, '72
Reported, amended and printed....Jan.
7, '73
Jan. 17, '73
Passed senate.....
Printed with amendments, confer-
ence committee appointed....
Became a law Feb. 12, 1873.
+
House.
June 25, '70
Jan. 13, '71
Feb. 25, 71
Mar.
9, '71
Jan.
9, '72
Jan. 10, '72
Feb. 13, '72
April 9, '72
May 27, '72
S
Jan. 21, '73
46
Coin's Financial Fool.
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 members of Congress.
The clause in question was not a mere 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
Coin's Financial Fool.
47
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
respectively 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 cxcceding 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 unit 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 sub-
sidiary and not full legal tender. But atten-
tion was called to it in other ways. Four
members of the House (Clarkson N. Potter,
W. L. Stoughton, Samuel Hooper, and Wm.
D. Kelly) discussed the omission of the sil-
48
Coin's Financial Fool.
ver dollar and the consequent establishment
of the single gold standard in the House on
the 9th of April, 1872.
Mr. Hooper said:
(6
As the value of the silver dollar depends.
on the market price of silver, which varies ac-
cording to the demand and supply, it is now
intrinsically worth, as before stated, about
three cents more than the gold dollar. By the
act of January 18, 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 rep-
resentative of the dollar of account.'
Coin's Financial Fool.
49
$
Congressional Globe, 2d Session, 42d Con-
gress, 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 with the silver
coins of less denomination, to secure its concur-
rent circulation with them. The silver dollar
of four hundred and twelve and a half grains,
by reason 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 commercial transac-
tions 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
50
Coin's Financial Fool.
reason that its place is supplied by the copper
nickle five-cent piece, of which a large issue
has been made, and which, by the provisions of
the act authorizing its issue, is redeemable in
United States currency."-Ibid., 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 specify-
ing 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 implica-
tion. The value of silver depends, in a great
measure, upon the fluctuations of the market,
and the supply and demand. Gold is practi-
cally 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."
-Hid., page 2308.
(6
b
(Vehdet (OM

So he had gươức le ghatkat ang mga
Coin's Financial Fool.
51
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 re-
quire 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
3210.
Mr. Kelley said :
"I wish to ask the gentleman who has just
spoken (Mr. Potter) if he knows of any gov-
52
Coin's Financial Fool.
ernment in the world which makes its subsid-
iary 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 fluc-
tuate. 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.”
"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 cir-
culate in all parts of your country as legal
tender for a limited amount, and be redeem-
able at its face value by your government.".
Ibid., page 2316.
Že
Coin's Financial Fool.
53
A
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
franc piece, was stricken out by the Senate,
and the trade dollar of 420 grains was in-
serted 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 secrecy 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 cents more than the
gold dollar. Nobody could anticipate that it
would ever be worth less than the gold dollar.
54
Coin's Financial Fool.
The law of 1873 was enacted by the people of
the United States, in the only way they 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. Dur-
ing 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 practise 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 when the
2
Coin's Financial Fool.
55
*
t
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?

56
Coin's Financial Fool.
The fitting answer would be that the govern-
ment had chosen the most stable thing it could
find to serve as the material for the dollar;
that it never intended to guarantee the pur-
chasing 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
Was it honest in 1873 ?
dishonest. Equally dishonest is the demand
that the dollar be changed in the interest of
another class.
Coin's Financial Fool.
57
CHAPTER VI.
(C
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, be-
ginning thus:
<<
When the mints of the world are thrown
open and the governments say, 'We will take
all the silver and gold that comes,' an unlimited
demand is established. The supply is limited.
58
Coin's Financial Fool.
Now, with an unlimited demand and a limited
supply, there is nothing to stop the commer-
cial value of the two metals going up in the
market except the government's 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 371%
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
Coin's Financial Fool.
59
*
action of England had no effect on the price
of silver."
Then he says that the United States de-
monetized 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 com-
mercial ratio of the two metals was never
lower than I to 14.14, and never higher than
1 to 16.25, a variation of only about two points.'
"J
60
Coin's Financial Fool.
What is meant by "two points?" They
are spoken of as something quite trivial.
Bear in mind that the whole question is this:
What deviation of the market ratio from the
legal ratio will suffice to carry one or other of
the metals out of circulation and leave us going
on one leg, as "Coin" is fond of putting it?
The difference between 14.14 and 16.25 is ex-
actly 15 per cent. Is this a 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 something quite insignificant would consti-
tute an absolutely impassable barrier to bimet-

FREE SILVER
Two poung
X
\2x1 = 1
•Riksaalquitur
श
Bhayish
| COINS FINANCIAL
斎
​SCHOOL
'//
(+) >
SAND
FOOL
FINANCIAL
COINS
TURN YOUR SPY-GLASS, MR. L. J. GAGE, AND LOOK THROUGH TH
OTHER END. YOU WILL SEE THAT THE TWO POINTS AR:
LARGER THAN THEY NOW APPEAR TO YOU.
Coin's Financial Fool.
61
allism. But the effect was paralyzing 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. Hav-
ing 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 at 15% to 1, or 16 to 1, if their free coin-
age 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
<<
62
Coin's Financial Fool.
this lecture began, and which if thrown open to
both metals would create "an unlimited de-
mand" for both, have shrunk again. A mo-
ment ago they were the principal nations of
the world. Now they are "the same nations.
that had such a law in 1873," i. c., the United
States and the Latin Union! This is the re·
verse 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 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 ques-
tions, or made any such answers, as are there
64
CC
Coin's Financial Fool.
63
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 discus-
sion, all of which I have answered in the neg-
ative. It is time the truth was put on foot to
overtake the lie.
Truly yours,
"L. J. GAGE."
馕
​CC (
ANOTHER FIB.
At
Before leaving this lecture we will notice one
other falsification (on page 30). Speaking of
various laws which have aided to depress sil-
ver, he mentions "the law of 1879 authorizing
and sanctioning notes, bonds, and mortgages
to be taken payable in gold only." This latter,
say's Coin,' is a clause in the Bland-Allison
It discriminates against all our
act.
other forms of money and allows the creditor
to dictate that his credits shall be payable in
gold."
64
Coin's Financial Fool.
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 common-law
right, and that such contracts were en-
forceable according to their terms. The Bland-
Allison act, therefore, merely conformed to the
pre-existing 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 state-
ment that the act in question "discriminates
against all our other forms of money " is an-
other lie added to an already extensive as-
sortment.

2X1=1
WANTED 100000000. JAYS TO
ENLIST IN THE GREEN GOODS
CAVALRY
Copt artful Dodges
in the pertinety for
SA
Paris
INTELIGE
He was
❤❤
#
to the r
1/2
ر مجھے
ONE HUNDRED MILLION JAYS WANTED.
I fort
Wigan Wig
Coin's Financial Fool.
65
+
CHAPTER VII.
<<
COIN ENLISTS IN THE CALVARY.
In his third lecture "Coin" explains what
he means by an "unlimited demand"-that
is, an unlimited demand created by the Gov-
ernment. 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 question: "How can the Gov-
ernment, by passing a law, add a cent to the
value of a commodity ?" To which the follow-
ing reply was made by the lecturer :
་་
*
Coin,"
Suppose," said
that Congress
should pass a law to-morrow authorizing the
purchase by the Government of 100,000 caval-
ry horses of certain sizes and qualities, and the
++
Cat
66
Coin's Financial Fool.
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 au-
thorizing 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
،،
→
**
A
67
Coin's Financial Fool.
would cause silver to advance to par, i. e.,
$1.29.29 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 :
1890.
Sept...$1.16
Oct.. 1.08
Nov. 1.03
Dec.... 1.05
A
PRICE PER OUNCE.
May...$0.97
June.. 0.98
July... 1.00
Conn
Feb. ..$0.90
March. 0.87
April.. 0.86
May... 0.87
June 0.88
1893.
Jan....$0.84
Feb.... 0.84
March. 0.83
April.. 0.83
0.99
0.98
Aug.
Sept.
Oct....
0.97
Nov.... 0.95
July... 0.86 May... 0.83
Dec.... 0.95
Aug. 0.83
Sept. 0.83
Oct.... 0.85
Nov.
June.. 0.81
July... 0.72
Aug.
1892.
Jan...
Jan.... 0.93
0.85
Dec.... 0.84
0.74
Sept... 0.74
Oct.... 0.73
1891.
Jan.... 1.05
Feb.... 0.99
March. 0.98
April.. 0.97
と
​68
Coin's Financial Fool
During this time the Government had
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 vic-
tims to expect when he spoke of the Govern-
ment buying cavalry horses. Why did the
price of silver decline when the Government's
purchases increased? Because the supply in-
creased also, and because the public knew that
the purchases must stop some time, just as
purchases of cavalry horses stop some
time. It takes
five years to produce
a cavalry horse.
During five years
G
we

(2X) DON'T = 1
2+1=
Z
THE EFFECTS OF THE KNOCK-OUT DROPS HAVING PASSED AWAY,
THE CAVALRY ARE PUT TO FLIGHT BY HONEST MONEY.
Coin's Financial Fool.
69
might
expect considerable advance in
the price of horses if the Government's pur-
chases 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 be-
ginning.
Really the figure of speech adopted by
Coin" is deceptive in another way. Free
coinage, which he aims at, does not imply any
purchases by the Government at all. There-
fore all his talk about the Government buying
cavalry horses is fustian.
CC
This is a suitable place, however, to say that
free coinage of both gold and silver does not
create an unlimited demand for both metals.
It does not even change the pre-existing de-
mand except for one purpose-that of paying
pre-existing debts. After this temporary pur-
pose is achieved, then, supposing the ratio is
KONG
only
3.
70
Coin's Financial Fool.
A
really effectual, and that the two metals are at
a parity in the market, the general preferance.
for gold, arising from its convenience in all
commercial transactions which call for the use
of a money metal, will be as strong after bi-
metallism 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, bi-
metallism no longer exists.
Alta
This is on the suppposition that the ratio
agreed upon is so near the market ratio that
we" start fair." That ratio would be about
32 to I. 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
}
Coin's Financial Fool.
71
pay his debts with it? He could use it to
make new bargains 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 sil-
ver if they prefer to make them in gold.
Continuing this lecture, we come to the fol-
lowing statement (page 52):
afety
"The demonetization of silver destroyed
one-half of the redemption 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 com-
mercial value at once began to depreciate as
measured in gold."
;
72
Coin's Financial Fool.
A
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 demon-
etized silver, in February, 1873, silver as meas-
ured 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.
66
Here Mr. Walsh arose again, and “Coin"
paused to hear the question (page 54).
Coin's Financial Fool.
73
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, there-
fore, could not have used the language with
which I am credited.
JOHN R. WALSH.
CHICAGO, April 11."
(C
74
Coin's Financial Fool.
1
CC
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," and the highest of all
Notes, bonds, mortgages and accounts," in
order to show the genesis of panics and how
explosions take place when the three upper
sections become too much expanded in pro-
portion to the lower one. No mention is
made of the panic of 1873, which came at a
1
Coin's Financial Fool.
75
time when we were not using any primary
money at all.
With much affection of learning spread
over three pages, we are led up to this propo-
sition (page 58):
"Finally the silver men, pushing their cause,
forced the declaration from the administration
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 govern-
ment had stored most of the silver and issued
paper money 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
foundation of our financial system."
Thus, we are told, the financial crisis of 1890
(the Baring crisis) was produced, and this is il-
lustrated by an explosion so destructive that
gold itself disappears in the picture, while ac-
76
Coin's Financial Fool.
cording to the text, it "was involved under
the enormous strain placed upon it," whatever
that may mean. These pictures are indis-
pensable because nobody can possibly under-
stand the argument. Take, for example, the
quotation printed above, which is really the
most intelligible 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 weak-
ened 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,
<<
Coin's Financial Fool.
77
which is true. Here we have silver dollars
serving as primary money, until "the admin-
istration" 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 subse-
quent disasters. The Australian panic is not
specifically mentioned, but surely that is as
much entitled to be counted among the re-
sults of the declaration of Mr. Harrison's ad-
ministration as is the Baring crisis of England
and Argentina.
The whole of this jargon about panics is an
arrangement of pegs upon which to hang the
pictures of the explosions. Nobody can un-
derstand it, but most people can understand
an explosion-that is, they know that when an
explosion takes place, the things resting on the
explosive material go up into the air. The artist
<
78
Coin's Financial Fool.
can arrange these as he likes, and there is no
danger that anybody will dispute the arrange-
ment.
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.
1

(020 76
WIDENT
FOR
SALE!
COINS
FINANCIAL
FOOL
16 for 5 ce
the entire to form is ofte til NSE MANAGE
ast the alteros gut wiele, AT THE
the
Petite both west 1700 for 2009, to
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+
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eline
(149/
REPUTATION
LPU
엉​ㅇ
​AL
PROFESSOR LAUGHLIN AT THE BOOK STALL.
OLIYA
Twist
1
Coin's Financial Fool.
79
But Laughlin seemed to think that as small a
variation 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 ab-
solutely unintelligible. It was thrown in for
the purpose of making Laughlin 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 persist-
ent variation between silver and gold, extend-
ing over a period of two centuries, is a phe-
nomenon resembling a panic of two or three
(C
80
Coin's Financial Fool
weeks' 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 ac-
count of the value of the silver bullion, but
the demand for small money. Gold dol-
upon
lars commanded the same premium as silver
dollars and fifty-cent pieces."
(C
<
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 pre-
mium, and used it without remelting, because
that would have made it bullion, whereas
(C
Coin” says that the premium was not on ac-
count 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
Coin's Financial Fool.
ປີ 1
people would have been obliged to pay seven
per cent. more for it than it was worth as bul-
lion, because we had reduced its weight in that
year
and made it subsidiary or token money,
“Coin” had already remarked in an un-
guarded moment. But history does not men-
tion any time when France was using our
small money in her local circulation, although
we did use hers at one time.
Sa
After the foregoing colloquy on the subject
of the drainage of our small coins to Europe.
prior to 1857," on account of the premium
offered for them by the greenhorns of France,
"Coin" asked Laughlin whether he was sat-
isfied with the answer, saying: "I have the
exchangeable quotations of silver and gold
bullion at the time you speak of." The professor
said he was satisfied. I am glad these ques-
tions are asked," said "Coin."
Co
These state-
as
(C
CC
Ma
1
82
Coin's Financial Fool.
ments, when used and not answered, confuse
the people.” Rabelais' debate on the ques-
tion "whether a chimera ruminating in a vacu-
um devoureth second intentions," is the nearest
parallel to this discussion between Coin"
and Laughlin, but the latter says in the follow-
ing note that it never took place at all:
(C
A
GR
"THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO.
"April 13, 1895.
"TO THE EDITOR OF THE N. Y. 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 re-
!
Coin's Financial Fool.
83
marks attributed to me on page 85, or on any
other page. The whole book is a clever fab-
rication of falsehoods.
(C
Very truly yours,
"J. LAWRENCE LAUGHLIN."
})
(C
THE BOY LIED."
It will be noticed that Prof. Laughlin says
that none of these lectures ever took place,
although "Coin
Coin" says that they took place at
the Art Institute in Chicago, beginning on the
7th day of May, 1894.
It was shrewedly calculated by "Coin" that
most of the readers of the book, catching it up
hastily and glancing through it, would con-
clude 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 ad-
mission that it was true. It all turned out as
he anticipated except that after Gage, Laugh-
84
Coin's Financial Fool.
lin and the rest had got tired of answering
letters from persons who really supposed that
they had been truthfully reported, they de-
cided 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 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 ques-
tion, 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
((
66
Coin's Financial Fool.
85
silver at par with gold," has no meaning unless
a ratio is mentioned at which parity is main-
tained. As no such ratio is mentioned we
might pass it over as one of a large number of
phrases in this book as meaningless as that
quoted from Rabelais, but the fact is that the
Latin Union's ratio was 15% to 1, that of the
United States 16 to 1, and that Germany had
no ratio, having been on the single silver stand-
ard prior to 1871.
Eustis' appetite for lies was not yet satis-
fied. He asked one more question :
"And the United States," said Eustis, "was
the first of these to attack silver and demone-
tize it ?"
"Yes," said "Coin."
The truth being quite different. Germany
demonetized it in 1871, the United States in
1873.
Dor M
86
Coin's Financial Fool.
<<
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 confi-
dence 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 be-
came imminent that the government was not
able to enforce its legal tender character, having
no commercial value, it would become more or
less worthless."
Mчou
What is the condition under which a gov-
ernment is not able to enforce the legal tender
Coin's Financial Fool.
87
character of its paper? Our government,
during the Revolutionary war, enforced the
legal-tender character of Continental money
until it had fallen to 1,000 for 1. The differ-
ence 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 character 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 phrase-
ology we defy anybody to explain.
Mr. Ridgley appears not to have been en-
tirely convinced, for he proceeded to ask
questions, viz: "Isn't it a fact that when war
and great disturbances come, redemption
}}
88
Coin's Financial Fool.
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 gov-
ernment, 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 prevent 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 dis-
turbances, 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
་
Coin's Financial Fool.
89
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 In-
dian wars in which we did not suspend. Eng-
land 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 in-
vasion of Greece, or Cæsar during his Gallic
wars.
Equally edifying is his explanation of social
conditions during suspension.
"After the use
of redemption money ceases, because of war,"
he tells us, "every one is on the same footing.
90
Coin's Financial Fool.
As the paper money fluctuates from day to
day all are taking chances alike. If it be-
comes 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 era of irredeemable paper. It is
not true that "every one is on the same foot-
ing." On the contrary, speculators are on
one kind of footing and laboring men on
another kind. This was the most conspic-
uous and notable feature of social and indus-
trial life during the civil war, both North and
South. It was the same way during the
Revolutionary war. A laboring man work-
ing for $30 per month would find his wages,
when they became due, worth only $15. As the
continental money neared its end and the
depreciation became rapid, Prof. Sumner says
<
Coin's Financial Fool.
91
that "a man might lose his whole wages while
earning them." And yet "Coin" tells us that
the employer and the employe 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 worth-
less, he says:
((
This latter is true, whether a new gov-
ernment is founded on the ruins of the old
one at once or not. There may be a long in-
terregnum, as in France toward the close of
the last century, when one form of govern-
ment was from year to year almost substituted
for another. No one knew what was coming
next. No stability was in the government it-
self. During such a period, which may last
for years, it would be impossible to make
I
92
Coin's Financial Fool.
paper money circulate. But money made
from property having a commercial value
would circulate, 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, un-
less wise statesmanship shall intervene; com-
modity money-silver and gold-will be our
only money, and will have to answer the
pur-
pose of a medium of exchange until a stable
government can get on its fect and issue paper
<di
J
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 suf-
ficiently established to give confidence gener-
ally to its issue of paper money.
What is it that we are approaching now?
Evidently the condition that France was in
toward the close of the last century-that is,
revolution, reign of terror, Jacobinism, and fi-
Coin's Financial Fool.
93
nally Bonapartism and a stable government.
All this is to come " unless wise statesman-
ship shall intervene." The only statesmanship
that "Coin" knows or cares about is silver at
16 to I. Therefore the logic of his position is
that unless we have free coinage at 16 to I
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 preco-
cious young traitor.
traitor. We advise the Chicago
police to keep an eye on him.
94
$
Coin's Financial Fool.
CHAPTER X.
JUGGLING WITH PRICES.
On page 108 “
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 con-
ditions 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 his readers to under-
Coin's Financial Fool.
95
}
stand 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. He
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 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.
96
Coin's Financial Fool.
In 1884 the wheat crop was 357,000,000 bush-
els; 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 de-
crease in itself explain the increase of value
per bushel?
Coin's Financial Fool.
97
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 ques-
tion of domestic policy. How can it make any.
difference to England what kind of currency
we have? We had a more fluctuating cur-
rency than silver at one time, but England did
not mind. What we owe to England is pay-
W
STL
2
98
Coin's Financial Fool.
able 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 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 with-
drawal 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 particular investments.
How does that fact alter, or in any way affect
the octopus? The theory of
The theory of "Coin" is that
we shall all be better off when we have free
coinage at 16 to 1 (which means silver mono-
Coin's Financial Fool.
99
metallism). If we are better off, the octopus
will be better off, too, as regards his American
bloodsucking. But he will be just as much of
an octopus as before, and will suck all the
harder if he finds the nourishment more agree-
able. 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.]"
Uorm
100
Coin's Financial Fool.
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 stand-
ard they have. Mr. Goschen, her leading
representative at a monetary conference of
1878, was solicitous that other nations should
adopt bimetallism and let England have the
gold standard alone. A 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:
"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
Coin's Financial Fool.
IÓI
furtherance of the idea that there was an au-
dience listening to this stuff, composed of
people so bereft of common sense as to ap-
prove 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 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 conflict, 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
say's:
102
Coin's Financial Fool.
"To that end they organize international bi-
metallic committees, and say: Wait on Eng-
land, she will be forced to give us bimetallism.
Vain hope! Deception on this subject has
been practised 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 or-
ganizing the existing bimetallic committee. In
fact, it was on his motion that the committee was
created and an appropriation voted for its ex-
penses. And what is it that Wolcott, the
money-lender, is pretending to do? Forcing
England to give us bimetallism! This is on
page 133, but on the preceding page it was
shown that England's consent was not neces-
sary at all.
S
why
The next caper of this queer logician is fun-
nier than any of the previous ones. He tells
Coin's Financial Fool.
103
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 bagatelle. Our trade with England is
only one-third of our total foreign trade, and
therefore only one-third of four per cent. of
our domestic trade-i. e., 1 per cent.
We are disappointed, however, to find
Coin" going in 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 proposi-
tion which strikes us speechless. It is this:
(<
The gold standard will give England the
commerce and wealth of the world. The bi-
(C
104
Coin's Financial Fool
▼
}
metallic standard will make the United States
the most prosperous nation on the globe. [Ap-
plause.]"
How these identical effects should be pro-
duced 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 whiskey 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):
CC
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."

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"IT MEANS A TOMB RAISED TO THE MEMORY OF THE REPUBLIC."
Coin's Financial Fool.
105
This does not look to a change of the 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."
more.
The whole argument of the book, so far as
it uses argument, is that we need more money,
and that free coinage at 16 to 1 will give us
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 pre-
tended dispute with L. J. Gage on page 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
106
Coin's Financial Fool.
once establish a parity between the two
metals,” meaning a parity at the ratio of 16 to
I. Now all the bimetallists of repute in this
country, such as Gen. Francis A. Walker and
the late 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 neces-
sary, 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 leg-
islate the premium out of gold. [Applause.]
Who can say that this is not an effective
remedy? I pause for a reply."
AGAINST INTERNATIONAL BIMETALLISM.
This means passing a law to make fifty cents
Coin's Financial Fool.
107
the equal of a dollar in all cases, which is in-
deed the aim of the free coinage party gener-
ally, although they do not all avow it so
frankly. Having got to this point "Coin"
spews Gen. Walker, President Andrews, Sen-
ator Wolcott and all other international bi-
metallists, out of his mouth, saying, that until
they can answer the question quoted above, he
will "write upon the character of every inter-
national bimetallist the words, gold mono-
metallist.'
>>
Speaking of Gen. Walker reminds us of
another difference 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 meet-
ing of the American Economic Association, at
((
>>
108
Coin's Financial Fool.
Chicago, Sept. 13, 1893 (since published as a
pamphlet), entitled The Value of Money."
In this he seeks to prove that prices of com-
modities are determined by the demand for,
and the supply of, the actual coin and notes cir-
culating as money, 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 commun-
ity, without reference 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, with-
out necessary recourse to the issuing bank,
except as they may individually become too
much worn for further circulation, after per-
Coin's Financial Fool.
109
forming, 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.
I 10
Coin's Financial Fool.
1
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 answer is easy-it is
due to the pictures. These, it must be admit-
ted, 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!

t
Coin's Financial Fool.
11 1
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:
"As it [the extract] appears in the book it
is credited to 'Report United States Monetary
Commission of 1878.' Not a word of it ap-
pears 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 quotation, 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 re-
stored the volume of precious metals, brought
with it rising prices.' This is not in the report.
The pretended quotation also jumps over
<
II 2
Coin's Financial Fool.
eleven lines of the report which go to show
that other causes than the reduction of metal-
lic currency may have contributed to the stag-
nation of the dark ages, and that the introduc-
tion 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 typographical error in this. It is.
garbling and forgery with intent to deceive."
THE END.
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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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