The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1891-10-07

from competition by a high tariff.
COINED AS GOLD.
The demand is that silver shall be
coined at the mints of the United States
upon the same terms and conditions
which apply to the coinage of gold.
The government does not buy gold. 1t
coins it for the owner of the bullion to
furnish money for the people. The
constitution makes no distinction be-
tween gold and silver in that respect.
It authorizes congress to coin
money. Gold and silver had been
coined as money without restriction
for thousands of years before
the constitution was adopted. The
United States followed the immemorial
usage and coined both gold and silver
as money until the passage of the mint
act in 1873 The demand is that the
coinage of silver shall be resumed and
that silver shall no longer be treated as
a commodity or purchased by the gov
ernment.
Your letter indicates that you have
some feeling or prejudice against the
producers of silver. Why is that?
What injury have they done you or the
government? They are daring and en-
terprising American citizens from every
state in the union. By their courage,
perseverance and sacrifices they have
developed the resources of a vast region
formerly regarded as an inhospitable
and uninhabitable waste. They have
made it possible for numerous railroads
to traverse the continent They have
furnished employment to hundreds of
Il Ii ".
have furnished market for the prod
ucts of the skill and industry of the
older states. They have contributed
largely in support of the government
by the consumption of imports paying
heavy duties They neither asked nor
received special favors from the govern
ment-
SPECIAL CAUSE OF COMPLAINT.
On the contrary, while their loss has
been trifiing compared with the enorm-
Gus sacrifices that the vast mum ber of
producers in the states east of the
Rocky mountains have suffered in be-
ing compelled to buy gold to pay obli-
cations contracted to be paid in either
gold, silver, or paper, and in being
brought in direct competition with the
cheap labor of Asia by the demonetiza-
ton of silver, still they had no reason
to suppose that the custom of ages and
the constitution and laws of the United
| States providing for the coinage of sil-
yer would be set aside or abrogated
Their lives and fortunes have been
spent in the discovery, acquisition, and
development of silver mines. These
mines were appreciated equally with
gold mines Silver had been used as
money longer than gold, and the silver
in the silver dollar was worth a prem
ium of about 8 per cent. above the gold
in the gold dollar. When the mint act
of 1878 passed without their knowledge
or consent, denying to silver the right
| of coinage, they felt that they were
| previously wronged by the action of
congress which deprecated their prop
erty.
ACTUAL LOSS, $3.50, 900, 900.
Why should the miners be represent
| ed as favored class? The demonetlza-
ton of silver has not only destroyed
the fortunes of thousands of honest and
| Industrious citizens by running their
mining property, but the actual loss in
discounts on the silver they have pro-
OuS6Q is dUOuU %1OO,OOO, OOO. O0N~
enty millions of this has gone into
the treasury of the United States.
I am informed by the director
of the mint that while the Bland act
was in force under which 80, 900, 900
worth of silver bullion per month was
purchased at the market price and con-
verted into money at the coin value,
| the United States made about $40, 000,-
| 900 profit in the difference between
such market price and such coinage
| The act of 1890 does not provide for
/ the purchase of silver with money
raised by taxation. On the contrary, it
/ provides for the issuance of paper
money on the receipt of silver bullion
at it's market price, dollar for dollar.
On what authority do you say that
| ''to-day the production of silver is
| probably the most profitable in the
| United States?" Such declaration is
reflection upon the business instinct
of the people of the United States If
your statement be true, then why do
not more people engage i'll the busi-
ness? 1t is free to all.
/ fear, Mr.. Sherman, that you know
| silver. / venture to assure you that
the average cost of the production OF
an ounce of silver for the last thirty
years has been at least So and probably
| 81 You do not take into account
that vast expenditures are necessarily
| made in explorations which produce
nothing. You confne your observa-
| tions to the cost of producing silver
from paying mines after they have
been discovered and developed. If you
| knew any thing about the business,
you would understand that the work
| ing of such mines is like gathering the
harvest after the crop has matured,
without taking into consideration the
value of the land or the expense of pro-
ducing the crop.
have already shown that the gov
ernment buys no silver with the money
of the people under existing law, but
| simply receives bullion and issues GER
tifcates and makes them legal tender.
| You say that s'the government now
buys in the open market more than the
entire domestic production of silver
| bullion because it needs it for coinage
and as the basis of treasury notes." but
you fail to explain the use of such
basis if the gold standard, and not
bimetallism, must be maintained. You
say that ''all kinds of circulating notes
are now equal to each other, and are
kept at the gold standard by redemp-
ton and exchange" Keeping all mon
ey at the gold standard by redemption
in gold is the evil of which bimetallists
complain. This evil is not remedied by
the use of all the domestic product of
silver, or of any other limited amount
| of silver which must be kept at par
with gold by promise of redemption.
The financial distress of the commercial
world is caused by want of real money,
not credit money.
In January, 1878, when gold and sill
yer coin were both real money, it is es.
timated that there were about $500, :
600, 900 of such coin. The director of
the mint now estimates that there is
only SO, 727, 100000 of gold coin in the
world. On your theory that silver de-
pends for it's value on redemption in
gold there is only about half as much
real money in the world as there was
! aiUh4ae0 wears aCO TS SI1ch a 1.edua.