The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1891-12-12
POWDERLY ON SILVER.

new to the fund of knowledge of the sub
ject gained by reading, thoughtful men
he puts his conclusions IN such a plain,di
rect way that they may be proftably re,
produced. referring to the gold-bug
cry that If we have free silver coinage
foreigners will send their silver over to
this country and have it coined he says:
"If a dollars worth of silver comes from
across the water, a dollars worth of some
American product will be exchanged for
it unless the foreigner is reckless enough
TO send his bullion for nothing. If he
does we are the gamers. IF he deter
mine to coin his silver into American
dollars they must circulate and pay for
labor and commodities here, for as soon
as they go abroad they must go through
the cruciblc and appear in another form
as the money of another nation and gold
must do exactly the same"
In this connection Mr.. Powdcrly
might have added that there is no dan
ger of foreign silver being sent to this
country for coinage in the event we en-
act a free coinage law. Those nations
which employ silver in their coin cur
rency value it higher than VIC do our
own. We count sixteen dollars of silver
as worth one dollar of gold. France
counts fifteen and one-half dollars as the
equivalent of one dollar in gold. Eng
land and Germany, gold standard
tries. value their silver higher and will not
part with fifteen and one-half dollars of
it for one in gold. 1t is worth from
three to four per cent more to them in
its present coin form than it would be if
coined into American dollars. .Asiatic
countries hold their silver still higher.
some of them reckoning sever dollars of
it worth one of gold. 1t is nonsense to
say those countries would send their
high priced silver coins to a country to
be minted into a coin of less value
than their own.
Mr.. Powderly truly says that every ar
gument made against silver can with
equal force be made against gold for
there is no such thing as "money in the
world" What he means is that gold
and silver when properly shaped and
stamped represent what we call money
Divest either of their purchasing power
in the markets of the world and they
Immediately become merchantable ar
ticles like iron and wheat and cotton
and other like staples. To make this
matter palmer we will suppose that the
gold and silver, hat they deprive both
of their purchasing power and throw
them upon the markets of the world as
articles of barter and trade: and that the
nations issue "a paper currency secured
by their public property of all kinds
Where would gold and silver then be-.
Just where silver is now Il merchant
able article, the supply being measured
by the demand for their employment in
the arts.
But this is Il DEPRESSION. Mr.. Powder
ly continues: 'Wc see no foreign coin
in circulation here. There is no Ameri-
can coin in circulation in any other coun-
try. The fact that gold and silver are
susceptible of 50 many currency changes
cause the workman to believe that paper
is the best material of which to make
money. 1t is cheap, it cannot be monop-
olizcd. it cannot be melted into coin Of
another nation, and if it 60 abroad it
will, like Il true American, come home,
but it will come home in payment for
the product of American labor"
Mr.. Powdcrly is quite right and quite
patriotic in his estimation of the Amcri
can dollar. no matter in what form the
dollar may be represented. And he
doubtless had it in mind, though he did
not say it, that the paper dollar is Sc
cured by gold and silver either in coin
or bullion and that to make the paper Of
one uniform, stable value, the silver and
the gold which secure it's circulation or
youch for its g~cnuincness must also pos
sess one uniform stable value fixed by
the law Of the land. This is what silver
has not nor can it have until it has free
access TO the minis of the country as has
its royal consort- gold. When it has
then Mr.. P%owdcrly's paper dollar Sc
cured by unshacklcd silver coin or bul.
lion can hold it's head as high as the
paper issues Of any other nation on
earth. In that event the paper dollar
would become the ~favoritc currency OF
the country, next to the honest silver
dollar.
OUR underground evening contempt
rarv will plpasp hear in mind that in