The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1891-09-26
THE WEEKLY TRIBUNE
sEPT. u. 1891.
WHAT is A

This seems a very easy question to an
swer and so it is, but let one blindfol'
himself in the streets Of New York AM
ask the first man he rum against: Wha
is a dollar? and the chances are he would
not obtain the right answer. He ma.
say a dollar is a small gold coin, or hi
may answer that a one dollar United
States treasury note is a dollar. II
either case he would be wrong, for tn
only dollar we have in the United State
is a silver coin Of 4l21a grains of stand
ard silver. A dollar means a silver coli
only. 1t means nothing else. There ii
no paper dollar, no greenback dollar o.
other kind Of dollar. If n examine &
one dollar bill or a one dollar note he
will find each is a promise to pay "one
dollar" But il he look at the face of a
silver dollar he will find it is stamped
"one dollar 1t is not a promise Of a
dollar but the dollar itself.
The silver dollar was first coined by
the government in 1892 about n hun
bred years ago. 1t was composed of
3714 grains of pure silver and AN
grains of alloy, making a coin contain
ing 4121a grams called a standard silver
dollar. That was "the dollar Of our dad
dies" 1t is the dollar of their sons to-
day. 1t Is a pure, honest coin. 1t is
neither dishonest, short-weight nor
fraudulent. 1t is just what it purports
to be-one dollar-no more, no less. For
81 years, that is up to 1873, it was the
unit or measure Of all values, even the
value of gold being measured by it. 1t
was at a premium several years ago; that
is 4121s grains Of standard silver was
worth from 3 to 5 per cent more than
25.S grains of standard gold. In 1873 a
republican congress demonetized the
silver dollar by surreptitiously dropping
it out of the list Of coins to be struck off
at the government mints. This was
done at the instance of the creditor
classes in the east who were enriched by
the enhanced purchasing power of gold
which then became the measure OF all
values in this country.
Now we hear these same classes de-
nounclng the silver dollar as "a fraudu-
lent" "a short weight" dishonest" dol
lar. 1t is the song of gold bugs every
where. They will not remonetize the
silver dollar; that is restore it to its
former position side by side with gold,
but keep it degraded, kicked about in
the markets of the world like iron and
wheat and other commercial commOdi-
ties. In the light of these facts, does it
not sound strange to hear the president
of this great nation a man who it is as
sumed is familiar with the subjects of
which he speaks-declare that he wants
no dollar that is not as good as any
other dollar" What would one think of
a man who would say to one of our
ranchers, "We want no bushels which do
not contain four pecks," or to one of our
merchants, 1--WE want no pound
that does not contain l6 ounces" or
'We want no yard that does
not measure 36 inches When Pres
ident Harrison injected his pau
perized platitude about the silver dollar
INTO his Albany speech he placed himself
n the same position of the man who
would make the remarks above noted to
The rancher or merchant. The dollar
which the president and other gold bugs
leride and sneer at is the same dollar
which for eighty,one years was the dol
ar of the country and which is today it's
dollar. 1t is worth just as much in
1891 as it was ninety-nine years ago. 1t
just as much silver today as it
when it was at a premium before it
was so basely d~emonetized in 1873. For
all purposes of barter and trade it is as
good this moment as when the govern
nent acknowledged it, and it will buy as
much wheat and corr and meat and
very other article but gold as gold itself.
That is the derided dollar-the dollar of
he founders of our government the
lollar the people want and the dollar
hey will have.
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