, 1891-02-03
RATES or ADVERTIAINH.
"HONFS7" FIDDLESTICKS.


The Sun quotes from the Albany
Euauing Journal a paragraph in which
the Cheyenne paper is quoted as evi
dence that Wyoming i the only state
west Of the Mississippi which Is a unit in
its opposition to what it Is pleased 10
term the free silver lunacy."
The Sun very family denies the soft
Impeachment aud then proceeds to tx
plain it. views, which arc certainly unique
aud as free from the trammels Of prlcti-
-eAfts as-any GyleWs We have yet had
the pleasure OF hesrinE. 1t says: ,
We desire to saw to the Journal that
the Sun is favorable TO the free coinage
OF silver uuun any equitable basis, but the
senate law a.U now stands would nut this
government At the dIsilvaUttge OF paying
IS per cent abuve the market price for
silver and consequently bring to the
United States mints the silver product
not only Of Mexico. but of al foreign ma
tons which produce the metal. There
are better grounds for the Issuance OF an
unlimited supply Of fat money because
the government does not suffer a direct
loss in the latter case.
What would the Sun consider an
EQUITABLE basis2 When it comes to think
it over would Ito alleged free coinage"
he really free coinage at alp Is anything
free which is confined by a Imitation
Then how can the Sun be in favor cf
free coinagc if its idea is to commence by
imposing restrictions2 That as a matter
of fact our esteemed contemporary has
only the varurst idea OF what il Is talking
about i made perfectly plain by the word
ing Of the closiag paragraph from the
quoted extract. The Sun there say.
There are better grounds for the issuing
of an unlimited supply OF fat money, be
cause the government does not suffer d.
rect loss in the latter case. Does it not?
Then the government may issue an "un
limited" amount Of Fat mrn Y
which Is simply a promise to p Y
based upon nothing but the covert
meut $ credit aud without intrinsic or any
other value except such as the govern
ment's promise gives to it, and redeem
able in what? In government promises
ANbs bp 4DANA4 LUIS lHHANAEtN VI hl ulIlNIH
tied supply Of this fat money, which is
simply a promise to pay, is then prefer
able 70 the issuance Of silver money which
is at least intrinsiclllv of some value in
the markets OF the world even though
hat intrinsic value is only As Of gold
to % OF silver. or hat one silver dollar,
under the existing conditions. should be
worth oaly 70. so or 90 cents in gold.
The currency of "A nation should be a
measure OF value possessing the character
istic of ttlbilty.' says the SIM. ANY
medium of exchange which lacks the oual
ity of uniformity is to that extent defci.
eut What would be sail OF a yard,tick
that was variable. one d,y shrinking to
two feet and the next dav to four"
From these few lines may be addur,d
argument. to prove the souDanrss Of the
views entertained by the free coinage men.
not tree coinage of the vague description
which the Sun is cropping after. but OF the
same unrestricted variety that is now ap-
piled t. gold. There are two propositions
which we have never seen rcfu,ei and
which we do not believe can be refutcd.
The fret Of these Is that from the earliest
historical times gold and silver have been
both used as money and continued to be
so used until the carly part Of the present
century The second is that the supply
of gold Is constantly decreasing and is not
adequate to the money needs o. the world.
Human ingenuity has not vet succeeded i,
devisinu a currency which possesses the
characterize Of absolute stability As
far as human experience goes the nearest
approach To stability IS found in the two
metals. gold aud silver. Nov comes in
the yard stick proposition. In 1873, be-
fore silver was ~dcmonetized, the yard
stick STANDARD measured only \ full yard.
When the n ,i.silyer bill was passed and
half our rtrarI,ting medium thus de-
stroyed the purchasing power of the
money remaining was dolbled-in other
words the yard stick was increased to tw,
yards in length while euphouiously re-
tanning the name Of yard stick. While
the yard stick. representing money, had
"eeu lenbtue"ci out l" 1--WE yarus the
weight OIL d polhu o COTTON n the
dimensions OF a bushel OF wheat remained
tho sam, n,nEa,f,ant1v t.r,,IE.u