The St. Johns herald., 1891-07-09
The Silver Question.

EDITOR HERALD-When we read the financial reviews, and even the secular press of the country, upon the ''silver question:" now so prominently before
 the people, it really makes one extreme
 ly tired, to say the least.
 Why all this howl, pro and con, over
 debased silver currency? And, why is
 it our silver dollar is worth intrinsically
 no more than 75 cents? And further
 more, why does this government pre-
 meditatedly, with prepense aforethought deliberately rob the people, by syste-
 matically debasing it's silver coin, in- stead of putting into the dollar dollars worth of pure silver? In the early days of the government, before our country had developed into one of the foremost silver producing countries of the world, it was said: "Our coin must be suffi- ciently alloyed so as to prevent exporta- tion," and now, when we produce more silver than we are able to absorb, the government still continues to debase its silver, and at the same time howl itself hoarse over the fact of too much silver. Why should this government discount
 the silver product of our country by the
 use ot worthles alloys, such discount ranging from twenty-five per cent up-
 ward? The government should charge for the coinage of silver no more than the actual cost. If our silver contained 99 per cent of pure silver, there would be no trouble in getting rid of the so- called "dcbased and nasty stuff" With such vast countries as China, Japan, etc., lying contagious to our silver pro- ducing sections, that are practically non- producers of the white metal" and withal clamoring for silver (not worth less alloys), did We but simply coin hon. est money, there would be an ever in- creasing demand for our silver coin. But, as our silver IS now coined, those countries, nor do any others, desire to buy stuff that is only D per cent silver, with the other 9 per cent worthless al- Joy. Now let us examine the fractional coins, and what do we find? Our nickle five cent piece is really worth only three. fourths of cent, yet this government compels its people to receive it at a face value of five cents-a clear case of rob- bery of the people of A cents on each and every nickle so coined and put into circulation. AS for the half-dollar piece there is less pure silver in two of them than there is in one silver dollar; and less pure silver in two quarters than in one half-dollar piece, and this base adul- iteration is continued all along the line, in the same ratio, down to the three cent piece. Is it any wonder, in the face of the above facts, that our silver cons are not wanted for exportation; that even non-silver producing countries do not want the rascally adulterated stuff? h. stead of the government, as it now does, issuing a so-called Give cent nickle," worth but three-fourths of cent, why not coin, in lieu thereof, an honest piece of copper, worth three-fourths of cent, and call it three-fourths of cent and not five cents, which it is not by Az cents? By doing this, the government would be acting honestly by the people l at any rate. If our silver coin contained 100, or even 95 cents worth of the pure metal, China, Japan and the Indies would take it away by the ship load, and thus there would be no danger of our treasury-vaults becoming overstocked 1 by the "nasty stuff" It is a notorious fact that prior to the coinage of the "trade." the Mexican dollar contained | more silver than did our American dol> lar, and in consequence of this fact, our trade with the Orient was greatly dam- aged. To counteraet this condition of l