ADDRESS 
 
 OF 
 
 W. D. Bynum 
 
 AT THE 
 
 ANNUAL BANQUET ofthe NEW YORK JEWELERS’ 
 ASSOCIATION, 
 
 FEBRUARY lO, 1898. 
 
 A SINGLE STANDARD OF VALUE MEASURE. 
 
 Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 Mr. President: 
 
 The money question will be the leading question in public affairs 
 until it is settled upon sound principles. I say upon sound princi- 
 ples, because a, settlement upon any other basis, while it might for a 
 time appease the clamor of a sincere but misguided sentiment, would 
 ultimately result in greater discontent among the people and greater 
 disaster to their material interests. Instead of a financial system 
 that stimulates enterprise, encourages' activity in business, and pro- 
 motes industry, we have one that congests circulation, burdens pro- 
 duction, drives capital into inert instead of .active investments, 
 breeds combinations, trusts and monopolies, which seek to prosper 
 by extortions from the masses of the people. 
 
 Were it possible for us to efface from our laws every line upon 
 the subject of money and frame new ones, it is doubtful if, with all 
 of our experience, we could devise ] a system that would more con- 
 stantly imperil the credit of the nation and prove a, greater menace 
 to the financial, mercantile, manufacturing and commercial interests 
 of the country. 
 
 % 298 ? 
 
2 
 
 The apparently irreconcilable differences of opinion that have 
 arisen over this subject have, in a measure, resulted from the; fact 
 that for a generation we have not only uphefff, but, until recently, 
 extolled a financial system at war with every sound principle of 
 monetary science, until its poisonous influence 1 , like 'that of the 
 fabled Upas, threatens the destruction of everything that comes 
 within its shadows. [Applause.] With the knowledge that we 
 have acquired from the experience of other nations as well as our 
 own, we ought to be able to comprehend the baisic principles of a 
 sound financial system without the least contention. 
 
 T'hte measurement of values is as simple as the measurement of 
 lengths or of quantities. The principle is exactly the same, and 
 the man who has sufficient capacity to understand that, to ascertain 
 the relative lengths or weights of different articles, requires the use 
 of a measure fixed by some invariable law of nature 1 , ought to be 
 able to comprehend that to ascertain their relative values requires 
 the use of a value measure determined by some specific standard. 
 [Applause.] 
 
 Almost from the very beginning of our history as a government 
 Congress was engaged in an effort to solve the difficulty which re- 
 sulted from the operation of the first coinage act, providing for the 
 free coinage of both gold and silver, and only succeeded by estab- 
 lishing, practically, the gold standard in 1834. During the admin- 
 istration of President J ackson, Mr. Ingham, Secretary of the Treas- 
 ury, in compliance with a resolution of the Senate, in a special re- 
 port to that body in 1830, submitted his views on the subject, iu 
 Which he said: 
 
 “Amidst all the embarrassments which have surrounded the sub- 
 ject since the adoption of metallic standards of property, it is re- 
 markable that governments have so tenaciously persevered in an 
 effort to maintain standards of different materials., whose relation is 
 so difficult to ascertain alt any one time, and is so constantly chang- 
 ing, and more especially when a simple and certain remedy is within 
 the reach of all. 
 
 “This remedy is to be found in the establishment of one stand- 
 ard measure of. property only. The evil of having twO 1 standards 
 arises, as already observed, from the impossibility of so fixing their 
 
3 
 
 relative values by law that one or the other may not, ait timels, be- 
 come of more value in the market than estimated by regulations; 
 and when this happens it will be bought and ©old according to its 
 market value, regardless of the law. * * * The adoption of 
 
 one metal a© a standard measure of property is recommended by its 
 simplicity. 
 
 11 No change in the mint regulations can ever be required, and 
 it removes every pretext for dishonest or unwise governments to 
 debase their coins.” * * * All agree that measures of weight and 
 capacity should be based on a unit, determinable by some fixed law 
 of nature, and none will pretend that this measure could be per- 
 fected by referring to two or more variable laws having no connec- 
 tion or equalizing principle to correct their aberrations. Yet such 
 is the theory of two standard measures of property.” [Applause. ] 
 
 Having determined that a stable unit can be obtained only by 
 the use of a single metal as a standard, the next step is to determine 
 what metal it shall be. This question has already been decided by 
 a power and an influence that neither an act of Congress nor the 
 stipulations of an international agreement can change or modify. 
 It has been decided by the laws of economy, that bow to no master, 
 that acknowledge no superior. [Applause.] 
 
 The mlonetary system of every nation upon the face of the earth 
 has had. to succumb to their omnipotence. Great Britain, by reason 
 of her advanced civilization and commerce, more than three-quar- 
 ters of a century ago discovered the operation of these' laws, and 
 conformed her monetary system to them, and from that day to this 
 she has maintained her financial stability and supremacy over all 
 other nations. Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Greece, Switzer- 
 land, Austria-Hungary, Russia, the Scandinavian Union, Chili, 
 Japan, and British India. — one after another in rapid succession, in 
 compliance with their mandates, closed their mints to the free coin- 
 age of silver. Mexico alone, of the responsible powers, still bears 
 the humiliation of seeing her coins hawked about in the marts of 
 every civilized nation in the world, silent witnesses to the lethargy 
 of her people and the degradation of her civilization. [Applause.] 
 
 Gold is the only metal at present from which a stable unit of 
 measure can be freely made, and no nation will be able to maintain 
 
4 
 
 a sound financial system that does not unequivocally recognize this 
 fact. ['Applause.] 
 
 The gold standard, however, is not synonymous with gold mono- 
 metallism, nor is it the antithesis of bimetallism, as the advocates 
 of the free coinage of silver continually assert. The standard metal 
 of which the unit of value is composed its one thing; the value meas- 
 ure fixed by that unit is another and a very different thing. The 
 measure may be composed of either gold or silver, the only requisite 
 being a value equal to 'the standard unit. 
 
 The gold in a gold dollar is always the equal in value of a dollar 
 in gold. There can be no variance between the market value of the 
 gold in the unit and the unit; hence they always have, the same value 
 measure in the coins of other nations. With the gold standard and 
 a financial system that will insure the maintenance of every dollar of 
 silver and paper money ait a parity with the same, no citizen of the 
 United States, whether at home or abroad, no matter what may be 
 the character of his money, will ever be under the necessity of mak- 
 ing any inquiry as to its value 1 . It is therefore evident that, to main- 
 tain in concurrent circulation gold and silver coins at a ratio other 
 than that of their market value, the silver must, by redemption by 
 the government, be held to the gold unit. 
 
 In no other way can we maintain bimetallism at the: existing 
 ratio. The advocates of the free coinage of silver, therefore 1 , are not 
 bimetallists, but silver monometallists, parading under a false ban- 
 ner in order that their deluded followers may not be able to discover 
 whither they are traveling until they arrive at their destination. 
 [Applause.] 
 
 We are told that the gold standard i's too dear — that gold. is the 
 money of the plutocrat, and therefore ought not to be made the sole 
 standard of value measure. “We must have a. cheaper money,” ex- 
 claim the friends of free silver. They affect to become greatly in- 
 censed over the oppressions of the poor, who are compelled to receive 
 pay for their labor in dear dollars. They grow eloquent in contem- 
 plation of the marvelous times coming, when the working people 
 may enjoy the luxury of cheap money. They do not seem to realize 
 that when they are rejoicing over the prospects of cheap money they 
 are in reality exulting over the fact that its purchasing power is to 
 
5 
 
 be reduced — that it is only by an appreciation of prices that money 
 mlay be Said to becotae cheap. It appears impossible for them to 
 comprehend that one standard is juist as dear as another — that the 
 silver, even if stable, would be jusit as dear as the gold standard. 
 Their process of reasoning would lead them to discard the yardstick 
 upon the plea that it was too long — that it measured too much — and 
 to discard the foot for the inch. Assuredly a foot, of cloth would 
 not cost ais much as a yard, and why buy by the yard when a foot 
 could be obtained for less money, and why measure by the foot when 
 you could get tweh r e inches for one foot? [Laughter.] 
 
 The inconsistency of the assumption that the laboring classes 
 would be able to secure a larger share of the comforts of life by the 
 use of a cheaper dollar, because they would obtain more of them, 
 with the fact that they are consumers as well as producers, and that 
 whatever advantage they would obtain in the number of dollars they 
 would receive would only be the equivalent of the loss in their pur- 
 chasing power, does not appear in the least to disturb the minds of 
 these new economists. Their position, carried to its logical conclu- 
 sion, would be, that by a cheapening of the measure of value, the 
 laboring classes would be enabled to grow rich and prosperous by 
 defrauding themselves. [Laughter.] 
 
 The most plausible statement made by 'them, however, is that 
 prices are regulated by the volume of money in circulation, and, as 
 the supply of gold is limited, prices are constantly falling, or, as they 
 put it, the value of gold is constantly increasing. There is an ap- 
 pearance of truth in this assumption which leads to great error. 
 There can be no question but an insufficient supply of the Instru- 
 ments of exchange m'ay result in a fall of prices in the local markets, 
 and consequently in an apparent rise in the value of money. 
 
 Whatever impedes trade, whether ft be an inadequate supply of 
 currency or a want of transportation facilities, will result in a fall 
 of prices; therefore, the greater the necessity that, we have a mone- 
 tary system that will at all times and under all circumstances, afford 
 an ample supply of currency. [Applause.] 
 
 It is because of this fact that it is indispensable that our financial 
 system be based upon a solid foundation. An enlarged system of 
 credit is wholly dependent upon a stable standard. It is impossible 
 to establish a system that will mee/t the requirements of the diverse 
 
6 
 
 interests, the varied industries and the fluctuating demands of the 
 different sections without a volume of currency that will expand 
 and contract, as the volume of business may rise and flail in the dif- 
 ferent seasons of the year. Such a volume cannot he supplied by 
 the exclusive use of metallic money, however plentiful the metal of 
 which it might he composed should become. The concurrent use 
 of both gold and silver coins, were it possible to maintain the same 
 at a parity under free coinage, would not give to us a Volume of 
 currency of the requisite qualities for the 1 cheap and easy consum- 
 mation of our trade and commerce. 
 
 •No system of coinage can be devised that would give an in- 
 creased volume of currency to meet a sudden demlaind, or that Would 
 contract an excessive circulation after the occasion which had called 
 it into use had passed. Whatever, therefore, may be the metal 
 from which our standard money shall he coined, the volume must 
 he supplemented with a volume of credit money in such a manner 
 as that the volume of circulation will automatically rise and fall 
 with the demand for its use. [Applause.] 
 
 Credit money is much cheaper to productive industries than 
 money ‘of intrinsic value, and instead of laboring to increase our 
 volume of coin to the largest possible amount, we should strive to 
 establish a system that would give to us the largest possible circu- 
 lation of credit money with the least possible volume of coin. [Ap- 
 plause.] By no other system can the stability of prices, so far as 
 they miay be influenced by the volume of money in circulation, be 
 maintained. [Applause. ] 
 
 That a finiacial system, such as will meet the necessities of the 
 people of the Whole country, can only be established on these lines, 
 is evidenced in every section of the country in the different seasons 
 of the year. In some of the Western States, Where money was 
 scarce and rates of interest high a year ago, there is now a super- 
 abundance, — miore than can find profitable investment. 'Such rad- 
 ical and sudden changes in the volume of money in a community 
 will, sooner or later, result in overspecuMiou, and undue increase 
 in land values, to be followed, under adverse conditions, by a shrink- 
 age and ultimately by a depression, if not a panic. 
 
 What, then, are the essentials of a sound monetary system? 
 
First and above every consideration it must be so constructed that 
 the term “dollar,” wherever it may appear, whether in a bond of the 
 government, up'on the face of a bank note, in a Mil of exchange, in 
 a promissory note, in every contract and ogligation bet tween indi- 
 viduals, or upon the pages of a ledger in an open account, shall 
 mean a certain, definite, fixed and unquestionable measure of value. 
 [Applause.] This stability in the measure of value is of greater 
 importance to producers than to dealers, because the dealer dan and 
 will protedt himself against all risks of a fluctuating measure, while 
 there is no one behind the producer upon whom he can cast the 
 burden. If there be the least suspicion that the standard may be 
 dbanged, that credit obligations may be discharged by the return of 
 less value than was received for them, the whole superstructure of 
 credit will crumble at the slightest evidence' of a disturbance. 
 
 The business interests of the country, iso long as the present sys- 
 tem Continues, will be subject to disturbance from every influence 
 that threatens a change of policy. The recurrence of eleotlibns, the 
 introduction of unfriendly measures in either branch of Congress, 
 or a. balance of trade requiring an exportation, of gold, m)a,y a(t any 
 time seriously affect business; and yet we wonder why ilk is that cap- 
 ital is timid; why labor is not wholly employ ed; and why prosperity 
 has not been fully restored to all classes and to all industries. [Ap- 
 plause.] 
 
 Our first duty, then, is not simply more firmly to establish the 
 gold standard, hut to implant it by the force of sound logic and 
 convincing argument so deeply and immovably in the minds and in 
 the consciences of the people that no one will dare to aisSadl it. 
 
 [Applause.] 
 
 With all doubts as to the safety of the standard removed, our 
 system of currency‘must be so reformed as to enable the people of 
 every section of the c'ountry, under proper safeguards, to obtain an 
 ample supply of sound money. I't will be impossible to protect a 
 stable standard of value and maintain the value of all our cur- 
 rency at a parity with the same, for any great length of time unless 
 we so reform our financial system as to remedy the evils and 
 remove the causes of discontent in the agricultural districts. 
 [Applause. ] 
 
8 
 
 No fact has been more clearly demonstrated by the operations of 
 the present system than that the government cannot supply the 
 people by a direct issue, with a currency possessing all the qualities 
 essential to the requirements of the varied interests and localities of 
 the Whole country. A central power of issue, even under the most 
 favorable plan of distribution, can never be made responsive in dis- 
 tricts remote from financial centers. 
 
 While we may not be able to agree fully as to the details of the 
 legislation necessary for the reformation of our monetary system, we 
 ought to be able to unite on the main features of a measure, and de- 
 mand that those whose duty it is to agree and to legislate shall do so 
 without unnecessary delay. [Applause.] 
 
 I realize, perhaps better than most of you, the herculean task of 
 accomplishing this reform. Tt can be done only with the united 
 support of that great, conservative, but irresistible power when once 
 aroused — the bulsiness interests of the country. The business men 
 can no longer afford to yield to others the direction and manage- 
 ment of public affairs, and the sooner they realize that their private 
 as well as their public interests are at stake the easier will be the 
 task and the quicker will the agony be over.