IF NOT SILVER, WHAT?


by


JOHN W. BOOKWALTER


SPRINGFIELD, OHIO

1896



"If you will show me a system which gives absolute permanence, I
will take it in preference to any other. But of all conceivable
systems of currency, that system is assuredly the worst which
gives you a standard steadily, continuously, indefinitely
appreciating, and which, by that very fact, throws a burden upon
every man of enterprise, upon every man who desires to promote the
agricultural or the industrial resources of the country, and
benefits no human being whatever but the owner of fixed debts in
gold."--_Speech of the RIGHT HON. A. J. BALFOUR, at Manchester,
England, October 27, 1892._



As a manufacturer and somewhat extensive land owner I have a great
personal interest in the money question. As a traveller I have studied the