Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1892-01-21
The Tariff and Silver Coinage Again

The Tariff and Silver Coinage Again.
Ed. Register-You do me an injustice
in the latter part of your comments on
my letter on the above subject. You
inferentially put me in the list of those
who approved the characterization of
silver, whereas / never uttered word
that could possibly be tortured into
such meaning. / am, and always
have been, in favor of silver as coin
of our country. My letters have not
touched that point at all. They never
intended to do so. They simply touch
ed the point as to the small Importance
of the silver issue as compared with
the greater Importance of the Tariff
Reform issue. l insist that nothing
shall be allowed to obscure the latter
issue. Mills says so; Carlisle says so;
Cleveland says so; four-fifths of the
leading Democratic statesmen of the
country say SO. If the '.free, unlimited
coinage" of silver is to be allowed by
the Democratic party to become one of
it's leading issues in the coming cam
paign, it will mol succeed, l greatly
fear. Leave the silver question alone
for couple of years. We will know
better then how to dispose of it wisely
and in statesmanlike manner. Silver
is of unstable value in the markets
now, and has been for some time. We
will all see more clearly how to deal
with it two years hence, than we do
now, especially as it is a subject on
which Democrats are widely divided in
all the States east of the Mississippi
river.
My last letter, on which you COM
ment so unfairly. was not written to ex-
press any opinion of my own. 1t simply
introduced statement by Senator Car
Isle of Kentucky, as my former letter
did an extract from a speech of Mr..
Mills. desired, not to introduce my
own views, for they would be of no con-
sequence, but to let Democrats see
what leading, thinking Western Demo
cratic statesmen are thinking and say
ing on the subject.
Your remarks rather compel me to
say few words further as to this .'free
coinage" question, and why Democrats
should not make an issue of it in the
coming campaign.
In the first place, free coinage would
not give any substantial relief to the
country. Why not? Because the Gov
eminent is now buying up $54, 200, 900
worth of silver every year, and paying
for it every month in legal tender cur
rency issued for that purpose. The
leading statesmen all agree-even the
free coinage men-that this is fully as
much as would likely be coined under
..free COTTAGE" and is within small
fraction as much as the silver mines
produce each year. This is admitted
by all fair men who have taken the
trouble to know. Now, this being true,
why this clamor about ssfree coinage?"
Who is to be benefited? Not the people,
because they are getting all the time
the legal tender notes issued by the
Government, based on the silver pur-
chased and held ready to be coined
whenever the people want it.
Silver was not demonetized as you
assert. 1t never has been. The coin
age of it was partially suspended or
stopped. Why? Because two or three |
hundred million of dollars in silver coin
that the people did not want to handle
filled the Government vaults, and it yet |
lies piled up in sacks, like cord-wood,
in every sub-treasury in the United |
States. The people, for convenience, |
demanded paper money, and the Gov
eminent had to issue silver notes, or |
certificates, based on this coinage. 1t |
is these silver certificates, issued under
the old law, and the new legal tender
notes, issued now every month in the
purchase of silver, that constitute very
largely the paper currency of the
country to-day. Could you get more
money in the hands of the people by
..free coinage? If so, state how, and
in what way it can be done-not in gen.
eral terms, but in a cool, business, log
zeal way, so that plain people like my
self can understand it. For my part, I
have no preferences, no prejudices,
and am ready to accept the truth, al
ways, when demonstrated.
But again. So long as the silver in
a dollar is only worth 80 or So cents,
the objection to Free Coinage" is
and reasonable one. Re-
this objection is not to the coin
itself; not to the coinage of silver by
the Government, for the Government,
h,,t 1T ia tn Stree COINAGE What is |