The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1892-01-20
why the Silver Barons Demand Free Coin
,,. ond WHY the Farmers Should Nat.

,yh,, Tho Silver Barons Demand Free Coin
ape. and Why the Farmers Should Nat.
To the Editor of The Herald and
News: Why do the silver barons of the
Rocky Mountains demand the free and
unlimited coinage of silver? The 1ol-
lowing brief statement will, | think,
answer this question clearly and
fully.
According to the latest official esti-
mate, the annual product OF the Amer
ican silver mines amounts to 4,olb, SUI
ounces. The present value of silver bull
lion in New York is about 81 cents per
ounce. At the present market price
then the American product OF silver
would be worth S5l ,245 ,3222. But at the
present ratio of 81 grains pure silver,
or 4l2 grains nine-tenths fine, TO the
dollar, the American product would
make up into S70,4S4, ,124. The differ
epce is SIS, 9,23S, 602.
As the law now stands the gov
ernment buys the silver at the market
price. (iust as it buys supplies for the
army and navy, and coins it on It's
own account, SO that this SIS, ,23S, So is
net profit to the government-that IS,
to the entire people, and saves them
from just that amount OF taxation per
annum. But suppose the law changed,
as these silver barons demand, so as 10
give US free silver coinage instead! IN
that case this entire net profit OF Sl9,-
23S. 500 per annum, would 60 into the
already we'll l-tilled purses of these silver
barons. Is it any wonder, then, that
these millionaire harons, like Senators
Stewart and Jones Of Nevada, and
Teller and Wolcott of Colorado, clamor
50 loudly for free silver coinage, and
will be placated with nothing less? The
stake is over S19,000,000 per annum;
certainly enough to whet the appetite
and corrupt the moral sense OF these
sordid, avaricious millionaires. Their
reason, then, for demanding free silver
coinage, and for their almost superhu-
man efforts to mislead the people and
corrupt legislation, is entirely .compre-
hensible.
But lust how and where the people
at large. and more especially our farm
ers and laboring classes are to proht by
the proposed change, we utterly tal! 10
perceive. The increased circulation,
which we are assured is so urgently
needed, even admitting it to be unob-
| iectionable in character, we already.
have in the government purchase OF
about the entire product of the Amer
lean mines, that is 54,O00,C)O ounces
per annum, and the issue Of treasury
notes thereon, according to the Act OF
July, 1890, to the amount of S69.66o,..
600. We would then get no material
increase in circulation over what we
now have by the free coinage of Amer
lean silver alone. Then, too, this Sl9,-
23S, ,S02, which now goes into the gov
eminent treasury, would have to be
made good by increased taxation OF
the people.
Where, then, would the gain to The
country at large come in? And how
| would our farmers and laboring classes
be benefited by turning this sl9.23S,-
S02 into the private purses OF these
! "bloatedn silver barons, instead OF al
lowing it to continue to flow into the
government treasury as it now does?
Especially would l ask some of cur
Alliance leaders, who join in this un-
reasoning clamor for free silver coinage,
to explain how they expect our lmpov-
erished cotton planters of the South to
profit by the proposed change?
CIvIs.