Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-07-09
SILVER DEBATE.
Ex-Governor Anthony and Senator PETER
Discuss the Silver Question at Ottawa

tauqua assembly yesterday the lead
ing event Of interest was the silver
debate between ex-Gov Anthony
and Senator PETER. Gov. Anthony
spoke first In taking up the silver
question he said that his desire was to
treat the subject fundamentally as a
business proposition The question
was: ''Shan we adopt free, unlimited
coinage of silver-S1 equal to ST. grains
of silver to be open to the whole world
without cost?" He thought not He
asked: 'What makes value? How are
we to determine value? 1t depends
upon cost measured by the labor to Gre
ate it There can be no rule set up by
the government in favor of any COM
modify against another. If we raise
more wheat than we can use, we are
entitled to all we can get for it 1t is
the same with silver mine owners"
Here the speaker took occasion to
say to the audience that he owned 20
acres Of wheat, the best in the state
He asked what right of law had the
government to force him to accept sill
yer in payment for it when its value
had been deprecated. He admitted
that congress had the right to regulate
the amount of the circulating medium
the right and could not have it to regu-
late the prices Of commodities because
of their liability to fluctuations.
The speaker said that the democrats
were sending around Senator Stewards
circular advocating the free and un-
limited coinage of silver, but it must be
remem bered that Stewart was the same
man who substituted for the recent sill
hi
coinage of gold. Then John Sherman
arose and said that he could not vote
for the bill because he was op-
posed to any bill which favored
any one commodity as against
another. IF silver had ever become
demonetized it was in 1854 Its pur-
chasing power became greater. Gold
decreased as silver advanced and vice
versa. The cost of producing silver
was So in Oregon; in Colorado, Ga per
ounce; in Montana, 524. According to
other statistics the cost in Arizona was
SS-T; California, 81: Colorado, &C. .;
Montana, 43.5: Utah, 52.5. Yet a GER
tain element had the audacity to ask
that the nation have free, unlimited
coinage of silver and that the govern
ment allow the producer 129 cents,
which was only meant to enrich the
silver producer and not the laborer or
farmer. In Mexico an ounce of silver
costs A SIS; in South America. "A 5-S;
in Germany, %; in Australia but 16.
Yet certain citizens asked that this gov
eminent institute system of free and
unlimited coinage. which would result
in enriching the silver king instead of
the farmer.
Senator PETER said: 81 am not here
in the interest of the silver monopoly,
but for the people If we insist upon
using silver as one of the metals for the
circulating medium we have the right
to do so. The constitution provides
this. The constitution did not authorize
us to regulate the value of any commod-
ity but to coin money and regulate its
value Originally congress fixed the
law regulating the value ard kind of
metal which is to be used. We are now
proposing to change the law We want
more money and we have a right to have
it. 1t makes no difference to us
whether the cost of production of silver
is pa cents on the dollar or what it is
The masses lose nothing by it The
point is that it is desired to increase
our circulating medium, regardless of
what the metal costs If a citizen
should go to a merchant to purchase
any given article, it would concern him
little what the medium of exchange
had cost to produce it But his princi-
pal concern would be how far it would
go toward purchasing necessaries and
how difficult it would be to earn a like
amount. 1t would make no difference
to him what kind of money it was,
whether paper, silver. gold or what it
was. so that it was accepted in ex-
change for family necessar;es-''
The senator here produced paper
dollar, an article not worth a quarter of
a cent and asked the audience what
they would give for it He then pro-
duced a SO bill-only piece of paper
of the same size-and asked what it
was worth. The echo came, SO.
Yet the real value of the bills, the
speaker said, was nothing. and it there
fore was made evident that the real
value OF money was faith in the ability
of the government to meet its obliga-
tons The people accepted money be-
cause they had faith in it, because of
the governments credit which had is
sued it
Speaking of the silver kings, Mr.. PEI
fer cared nothing for them. The labor
ing man was his chief concern. 1t was
his cause he had assumed to champion.
In order to show the influence which
money, concentrated in the bands OF
few, could exert over the affairs of the
many, he referred to where a man had
received hundreds of thousands of dol
lars for organizing sugar trust in a
day. He referred to the case of the
banker and the lawyer who could af-
ford many carriages and gorgeous lux
ury while across the way a farm was
advertised for sale because the farm
did not pay over per cent while the
banking average was 20 per cent After
the close of the war and previous to- the
resumption of specie payment was a
most glorious period in Americas his
tory. Wall street was responsible for
Americas ills 1t was Wall street
which was fighting free coinage; it was
Wall street which was seeking to ruin
farmers: it was Wall street that was
seeking to enslave the laboring farming
element
The speaker had travelled all over the
east and upon diligent inquiry had
found that farming only paid per cent
He thought it would be fair to allow a