The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1891-09-25
A TALK ABOUT MONEY.
Silver Com as Good as Gold, Elk.
cept in the United States.

0llV6T OOlu DIS 0OOQ dS 0O1Q, Elk
cept in the United States.
Alone Of the nations of the earth the
United States destroyed its coinage of
silver, depriving it of legal tender
power, debasing it to tokenage, not
even leaving the dollar among the list
Of its silver coins. A silver dollar is
not coin Of the United States. 1t is
not lawful money or legal tender to
any amount. The statute making the
silver dollar tender to the amount of IS
has been wiped out by the act expung.
ing the silver dollar from our list of
lawful coins. We have none to be
legal tender. You may search the
pages Of history in vain for an act Of
governmental folly like this but it has
been done in the dark, in secret. by a
conspiracy. The bill was not.read in
congress; it was passed without read
ing, on the lying statement that it
"merely simplifed the coinage acts
relating to the mint"
There is no "silver question" in any
other country, because in no other
country could half a dozen congress-
men conspire with half dozen bankers
to plunge millions into financial diff
fculty by demonetizing its silver coin :
age, without losing their lives.
The asilver question is not ques-
ton of "frec coinage" alone.
1t is the characterization Of its silver
coinage by the United States that COM
pels France to stop free coinage Of
lsilver. 1t is such crazy action, from
the standpoint of general welfare, that
the monetary world might we'll stand
aghast and take every precaution to
protect itself from the American
lunatics.
! The United States, and every nation
| in Europe, save France, might have
adopted gold basis. So long as the
silver coinage in use remained legal
j tender, it needed but the French mini
4 open for the free coinage of silver to
keep it at par with gold. All that
could be coined was the yearly crop
less what was wanted in manufactures
and France would have benefited BY
adding that small amount yearly to its
coinage.
j But the United States went beyond
la gold basis. 1t demonetized its silver
coins. Germany had demonetized and
purchased the separate coinage Of its
Kingdoms and principalities in order to
issue an imperial German coinage in
their place, but the United States had
wiped out its silver coinage, with no
intention of issuing new coinage, and
what it would do next no man could
tell.
i 1t was the action of the United
States, and of the United States alone.
that brought upon the whole world the
monetary disturbances under which it
now suffers and while we have a stock
Of 5OO,000,O00 ounces of silver tokens
ON hand-not money, not legal tender,
merely bar silver stamped-all the
other governments of the world COM
bined are helpless. All other govern
ments combined would not dare open
their mlnts to free coinage. Every
ounce of our 5OO,O0O,00O ounces would
be dumped on them for coinage into
legal tenders at 154 to l.
The United States did the mischief !;
it, alone, can undo the mischief,
If we act like honest men we will
make the present token dollars lawful
money and full legal tender, and open
our minis to the free coinage of the less
than 50,0O0,000 ounces in the world
now uncoined and not legal tender,
which, by our action, has been kept
from coinage. That act of good faith
will, within twenty.four hours restore
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