The Dispatch. [volume] (Provo City, Utah) 1891-1895, 1891-02-21
FREE COINAGE.
A Provo Democrat Rises
to Ventilate his Views
on the Matter.
In Which he Presents Some
Stubborn Facts on the
kll-ilnpoItant Subject.
.reapondence of The DIsrArcH;l

| Correspondence of THE DIsrArCH;l
At the breaking out of the Civil
War, the tide of migration to the west
was suddenly checked. The men whc
had taken up the new lands in the
west and improved them, took their
boys and went to the front
l we'll remember that when my mo,
Their returned from horseback jour
ney OF sixty miles to Des Moines, tC
see Governor Kirkwood, of Iowa, con-
cerniDg a soldier son, the second au-
tumn Of the war, that she said she
! had not seen an able-bodied man in
| the cOrn-fields along the country roads
women and children, or men unfit
for arms, were gathering in the crops.
| The taxes on those new lands rose
higher and higher as the struggle went
! on and the cost of everything III
! creased. Think what war prices were
for all the commodities Of civilization
ON those frontiers beyond the rail
reads, Almost the whole west was
forced into debt. Lands were mort
gagged at high rates of interest, and
our currency WAS greatly deprecated.
! The money constantly appreciated,
until, after long hesitation, Horace
Greeley'S truism became matter of ex-
perience, and specie payments were
resumed. Why was the agony so pre-
longed? The answer [ shall give Will
be but partial one. and it has CO.
rolarieS that | shall not touch, but it
has SOuaded like keynote then and
ever since, Lest there should be fail
ureS on Wall street, and at other
money centres"
What note was taken of the num-
btrless failures among that most loyal,
most patient, and, as a rule, most
honest class of citizens, the nerve>and
sinew of our nation, the farmers and
pioneers?
The debtor class in the middle west
let the mortgages take their homes and
pushed on. Again forced to borrow in
o. der TO build upon and cultivate their
new lands in Dakota and elsewhere,
they had made a brave beginning
when Congress demouetized silver and
they were again obliged to pay in a
d itferent currency and higher priced
than they had borrowed. Nothing but
the great natural resources of our
country has prevented a condition OF
suffering and desperation fearful to
imagine.
AS if TO prove that silver and not
gold is the standard Of substantial
values throughout the country, it is
now clearly shown by statistics that
lands and products have declined in
value, OF rather in price, at rate cor
Shall We then say that gold is not
money, but only commodity? Ger
tainly not, if both are needed las seems
unquestionable.
What We say is that our nation is
strong enough financially and morally
TO make the two interchangeable, and
to set the standard for the world.
There might be furry and fluctua-
ton for time, but on a basis so solid
and in position so right, bankruptcy
would be impossible and speedy adj
justment of conditions well-nigh GER
tain.
The theory of bimstallism appears
entirely consonant, by analogy, with
our theory of government. II two
branches in Congress tend to wise
conservatism in legislation, will not
two branches in our currency tend to
stability, and the prevention of undue
fuctuation in either? 1t seems pretty
clear that it is quite superfuous to
legisate IN the interest of the money
lenders: witness the wealth of the Jews
dcpite the prosecutions. contiscations
and unjust exactionS they have
suffered from time immemoriaI. Moth
ing eats like interest. and, as the old
Commodore is reported to have said to
VIM IL. Vanderbilt, the man who
loans his money at seven per cent. Will
soon have added to his own all the
other man s. Let no wrong be done
TO capitalists, but let every safeguard
be thrown around those whom neces-
Sity c0mpelS to borrow.
What would be the effect of free
coinage if other nations should "un-
load' their silver here? Almost the
last utterance OF Secretary Window
WAS to the effect that the gold and
silver of the universe are insufficient
for The trade of the world. Let us
suppose that the free coinage act pro-
duces a silver market which attracts
the silver of the world. If England,
for example, ships her silver here at
her own expense, what viii she take
i'm exchange? Our coin certificates.
: GlN ~ XII. anu iNO llNA W SttASlNll NV
to lose or destroy any of them. When
she wants silver for her Asiatic trade
will she take our minted coins, or will
she ship her bullion back across the
water TO put her stamp upon it, She
cannot demand our gold for it, and we
might indeed Withhold it when she
wished it back, until she paid gold for
it, unless in exchange for our own
products.
II silver is sold to us, it is not only
sid at tie market value. but it must
alsu he purchased back at the gold
standard. so why should other nations
aep;ete their volume of currelcy to fill
one vault with silver? If instead Of
col certificates other nations take our
products for their silver. why, very
! god indeed They must be paid in
:; SLING. and in .onlethins We can
: ~. and when they need more silver
:.,.y must pay us In somethinS and in
10. that We want. Is 1t not
60 probable that with such
- IL. metals in our own
-. a. .lh suCh financial sbund-
Is ,.,i.ttd States of America is
~. italy TO establish bimetai-
- !. monetary TRANSACT Ons of
..1r,, and TO cause silver to APP
!. cclaL i'll value everywhere? Is it
not fairly possible also that an in