The Livingston enterprise. [volume] (Livingston, Mont.) 1883-1914, 1885-10-03
The Silver Question.

Z
is OF such close and vital interest to th'
West, particularly to the mining state:
and territories, as the inevitable bill fol
the repeal or modification of the silver
coinage act-to demonetize silver anC
make it mere article Of commerce as
copper and lead now are. This bill
when presented will be the elimination
of the organized and determined raid on
silver which has been going on during
over twelve months past for the express
purpose of securing the adverse legisla.
tion now proposed. The hostility tc
silver had it's origin in the city of New
York and has largely infected the east.
ern states and especially the cities that
are the centres of commerce and capital
The press of Chicago is divided on the
subject though yielding steadily to the
pressure that is being brought against
silver. Even st. Paul, which as city
among cities is still comparatively small
but which is ambitious and aims to ape
the manners and court the favors of the
great cities to the east Of her rather than
the great country to the west upon
which she depends, speaks through her
journals for the demonetiZation of silver
West of the Mississippi and south of
Mason and Dixon's line the sentiment
may be said to be unanimous for silver.
The remainder OF the country and par
ticularly the extreme east calls through
it's public men and such of its public
journals as are notoriously in the inter-
ests of monopolists and capital for such
revision of our laws as will make silver
no longer coinage metal.
The raid on silver was organized and
is supported entirely by the capitalists
who speak through the mouths Of the
legislators they have elected or the COL
umns Of the papers they own. Not
merely have they talked and written
against silver but they have systematic
ally boycotted the metal in order to re-
duce it's value in the markets Of the
world. The last report Of the treasury
department, made by Hugh McCulloch,
known ally Of New York capital,
deprecated the coinage Of silver. Pres
ident Cleveland and his secretary of the
treasury are imbued with the same doc
trine. 1t was an open secret that the
appointment of Mr.. Jordan, New
York banker, to be treasurer of the
United States was concession to New
York "gold bugs and his course since
his appointment has abundantly proved
that he is hostile to silver; for, so far as
he could do so and comply with the
statutes, he has treated it as if it were
already demonetlzed. The treasury of
the United States and all eastern bank
ers have for months handled and issued
as little silver as possible. Even from
the city of New York several instances
are reported where banks did not keep
enough silver dollars on hand to supply
the call for them. In the western
country this stress has been keenly felt
in ordinary dealings. In the country
districts and small towns of Nevada,
Utah and Colorado great inconvenience
has resulted from lack of silver dollars
and subsidiary coin and close observers
in Montana are able to detect something
of the same absence Of "change money
as it may be called. \ leading banking
firm in Salt Lake City reports that they
are forced to obtain unusually large
supplies of small silver coin for their
use as it seems impossible to get orders
for silver dollars filled. The marketing
of the crops in Dakota and Minnesota
and the issuance of sums of money to
many small sellers is already beginning
to cause inconvenience from lack of
coin or notes of less than the IS denom-
ination and before the season is over
this inconvenience will be felt 50 severe
ly as to almost bring dollars and smaller
coins to premium in the wheat grow
ing districts. The silver dollars that
are being coined constantly are being
held in the United States treasury and
the eastern financial institutions through
which western banks do their business
are systematically using their endeavors
to keep it there and are quite as system
atically calling for gold. All this is
done for the purpose of depreciating the
importance of silver in public opinion
and it's value in the markets of the
world. And this policy is having it's
effect. A few days ago silver had fallen
to Aid per ounce or aLvuC 80 cents in the
London market or within farthing of
the lowest point it had ever touched Gn
1876) and it may be now even lower. It
is doubtless the intention to so keep sill
yer degraded in the market until con-
gress meets when it's enemies will point
to the fact and demand that the govern
ment no longer imperil it's credit and
depreciate its obligations by maintain
ing as legal-tender money metal sub
ject to such fluctuations and deprecia-
ton in value. And it will be a strong
argument.
All this is very serious matter to
the mining states and territories. The
degradation of silver means the reduc-
ton of the value Of almost every mine
and every bit of mining stock in the
west. It means the operation of mines
now paying fair dividends at no profit
and those now paying little profit at a