The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-05-19


apprehension exist that our country Is
threatened with a deluge of silver,
when it has only about $685. of silver
per capita?
Can we not follow in the footsteps of
the great Republic of Europe? No
country on the face of the earth has
such a financial record as France. In
an incredibly short period Of time she
not only recovered from the enormous
losses of war;, and the. heavy exactions
of a victorious enemy, but was able to
come to the relief of imperial England
and save her from destruction, when
her financial system was tottering, and
the monetary repose of the world
threatened by the fall of the Earrings.
If, at that time, she had only one
hundred millions of silver instead of
seven hundred millions, what destruc-
ton would have followed that financial
earthquake! The broken wrecks would
have been found on every beach, and
desolation and distress would have
swept over the civilized world.
If the whole silver produced in the
world, less than that used in the arts,
were coined into dollars by the govern
ment of the United States, it would re-
guire the worlds product for nearly
ten years to give us the per capita cir
culation of silver that France now has.
Some of the enemies Of silver claim
that they are opposed to it's unlimited
coinage because it is not an honest dol
lar; because it has not a dollars worth
of silver in the silver dollar.
Let us see how that is. The dollar
of our daddies was first authorized in
1892, and it's weight was fixed at 416
grains 1924 fine; the amount of pure
silver in that dollar was 3714 grains.
In 1887 this was changed by law; the
weight of the dollar was reduced to
4124 grains and the finances increased
to 900. The amount Of pure silver re
manned exactly the same, 3714 grains.
This coinage was discontinued under
the act of February II, 1878, and re-
vived again under the Bland act of
February, 1873, and the same dollar is
now coined that has been coined since
| 1887, and it contains exactly the same
amount of pure silver that was and has
been contained in the silver dollar
since the foundation of the government.
I mention this fact simply to explain
that there has been no change in the
dollar of our daddies.
In 1873 the Congress of the United
States authorized the coinage of the
& trade dollar" at the same time that
it demOnetized silver, and that trade
| dollar got into circulation, and that
dollar had in it 420 grains, 900 fine or
7! grains of pure silver more than the
standard dollar has, and yet that trade
| dollar was never worth q single cent
more than our standard dollar, and
finally, when the law making it a legal
tender up to s. was repealed, it fell be-
low the level of the standard dollar,
and was at a discount of near 10 per
cent. when the government called it in.
Now, if putting more silver in the
dollar is to make it a better dollar, why
did not the trade dollar command a pre-
MUM? Then again, if it is the amount
of silver in the coin hat fixes it's value
as money, why is it that the silver
coin of France and Germany and the
Latin Union floats at par with gold
when it contains relatively 3 per cent.
less silver than Ours2
Our coinage is based on sixteen of
silver to oneof gold, and that of France
and Germany and the Latin Union has
only fifteen and a half of silver to one
of gold; and the subsidiary coin of
England has only fourteen and a half
of silver tO1One of gold.
We already have more silver in the
dollar than any other aivilized nation.
If we increase the size and weight and
fneness of the silver dollar until it
meets the demands of it's enemies, then
the buzzard will become a national ne
cessity, and the proper ornament for
our silver coin.
Our Republican friends tell us that
the tariff has reduced the price of all
manufactured products. How strange
that these special guardians of the
manufacturer should insist on legisla-
ton that will depress the price of the
manufactured product. But this is
not the truth-instead of a reduction
of prices, there has been a steady and
constant Ppreciation of the purchasing
power of money.
Lean hardly believe that any fair
man, not blinded by se~lf-interest, will
admit that we have an insufficient cir