The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1891-10-16
Confined From Third Page,
temptlble henchman.

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The work and proceedings of the bank
ing power show plainly thatit does not
believe you are sincere in your demands,
or if you are it has power to preventyou
form securing it. For in the face Of
your demand and in spite of the great
agitation nov going on all over the
country, new banking and loan COM
panies are being formed, and in every
large city in the country new buildings
are going up with the words s'National
Bank" carved in large letters over their
doors.
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The second demand quoted above is
''the free and unlimited coinage of
silver"
The Alliance is sincerely in earnest
about this, but does not make an v
s%hadowing issue Of it. 1t would bring
relief, but the Alliance does not believe
it would give all that is needed by the
people. This measure is only a part of
the alliance plan for reforming the en-
tire financial system of the country, and
is specially designed to cripple the pres
ent oppressive power of gold. The ar
gument that the measure would be spe-
cial legislation in favor of silver mine
is specious, but is n~onsensical
and Inconsistent. There are both gold
and silver mines in this country. The
owner of a gold mine can take his gold
TO the mint and have it coined. The
owner of u silver mine can't do this. Isn't
the silver miner entitled to as many
privileges as the gold miner?
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Last winter and spring millions and
millions of our gold-our only monetary
metal-went to Europe. 1t is not easy
to explain why so much should have
been sent, but it went. Now we have
bountiful crops. The crops of Europe
have largely failed. That country wants
our grain, and has begun to pay for it in
some of our own gold. A few days ago
some "statistician" or "fnancier" made
a statement that three hundred millions
of u gold would be sent back here to
buy our grain. This sounded prosperous
and encouraging.
But all these bright hopes have been
blasted by a statement recently made by
a European %financier and money king.
He is Mr.. Robert Giffen, of London,
head of the commercial department and
controller of the coin returns of the
British board Of trade. lie was asked II
$500, DOC, 900 of our gold would be sent
back here to buy our grain. He laughed
at the question and ridiculed it. "Why,"
he said, 'before $780, ZOO, 900 was sent
back to America the Bank of England
and the Bank Of France would both raise
their rates Of discount and check the
drain"
Do you see anything in this? Can't
you see that so long as we have only one
legal tender coin the Bank of Eng.
land and the Bank of France have the
power to contract our currency and
thereby depress the price of our prod.
ucts, both agricultural and mechanical:
Are we the suppliants and minions O
other countries? Oh, men of the United
States, let's up and be doing and watch
ing! Let's study our demands more
deeply and thoroughly, for the more
they are studied the more necessary and
just they appear:
Now, suppose that silver was being
coined in the same manner as gold and
that the government said it was legal
tender, would England and France have
the power over us they have now:
Would their refusal to send back our
gold have such a disastrous effect on the
prices Of our products? No. There
would be a greater volume of "honest'
legal tender money. 1t would circulate.
1t would go among the people and they
would exchange it for food and clothing
from the farms and factories. If it were
legal tender in this country it would be
the same anywhere. Then if England
inc France should get all the gold we
would not feel hurt. We would have
other money, and when they wanted to
sell us anything they had, if they should
refuse u money, they could carry their
stuff back where they brought it from
and fight among themselves for the gold.
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The Alliance is unanimous in its de-
mand for the free coinage measure. At
least one of the old political parties is
badly split up on it. "Democratic' con
ventions in the south want free coinage.
democratic" conventions in the east
declare against it. Democratic" con-
ventions in some states straddle the
question. Some democrats" howl for a
man who is opposed to free coinage of
silver to be the next "Democratic' presi-
dental nominee, and other Democrats
are crying out against the same, man.
And when n reads about and hears
about all this muddle and turmoil among
democrats" he wonders in his soul
"what is Democracy anyhow"