The Lamar register., 1892-04-16
A PLEA FOR FREE COINAGE.
Address of Colonel a. c. Fisk BEFORE the
rais-Nitssisslppi Congress.

We print below tne speech uciNeieu y VT
onel A. c. Fisk Of Denver, at the recent scs-
sion of the Trans-MississippI Congress, held
In New Orleans, in which he eloquently
urged the advantages of the free coinage of
| silver.
Mr. President and Genisfnen of the Transmissis-
| sippi Consress-We come here representatives, OF
he Western half of this great republic to consider
many questions affecting The interests not ony OF ihs
section but Of the entire Union OF all the questions
hat have been or will be discussed in this congress-
and agitaiing the public mind, none, in my Jndg-
msnt, is Of more Importance than ne qnespoa q
country has enjoyed i-tsperous peace. the perlod
has Witnessed the greatest and mos, rapd develop
meh and advancement in financial industry and COM
/ merce and unbounded courage and adventure; yet
the bonded obligation Of the world has increased until
IL has reached forty thousand million dollars, to say
nothing of private indebtedness The interest on this
sum per annum the Of Per cent, is s. ,ooo-
oooeo for the annual payment Of which The pIopeIues
| this would not be 50 depressing, but rh,h
is considered that many Of the boads bearing interest
were originally purchased for no, more than 7S cents
the dollar. and thai the great bulk Of these bonds
were held in countries where gold Is the only legal
tender those payable where gold Is the srle tender
are made PAYABLE Tor their value on ;heF face which
creates abnormal demand fer gold that metal had
been for twenty years at premium hueuating some
rrpoIts and quotations have failed to show pre-.
| MUM and uea, gold the standard q piiees and
sral properties q 20 per cent below the
actual par but this IS hlere eonyentonaliSm OF the
bsnking and docs nQtCiAtEc tl1t eQA0
has premium Of fTom IS TO 20 per cent hIa the
business Of the world is paying animal interest OF
81 or more on bonds for many Of which i
received only Is cents On The dollar, and . paying u m
gold at the premium Of general properues OF Wages
from IS te per cent This is enc Of the egnaifona
Of the present finances which eouiTonts The aeozr5
property holders and business Of to-day appgrs
sive this burden IS It's hardship consists IN hs is5t
that imposes upon the puhAe The paying Of p-''ts
debts to banks u elAds embodyins ihis premium on
The population Of the world is estimated a, ,oo,
/ in which
geld is alone legal tender. tss ooo.ooo IN ctuhhes
where gold and silver both ar. legal money, and poo
10000 arg in countries where silver alone IS the
money Of the inhabitants Thus you viii that silver
the money OF 90 ofthe r4lo 900 that cons
prices Of properly, o productions and Labor obtn ths
original relations viii silver. They adjusted on
SILVER as the money most eoN enient Tor The use OF nine
tenths Of the population Of the earth. The necessities
| Of mankind prevent is demonetizatiqn, That we
need increase Of circulation Is pain The fndst
prospectus people ~ th= void the French. IL
France The sohey eircilfion is about sixty cents
per capita, the United States about twenty-five The
population Of the United States has increased in the
last years q per cent on average deeennislly
In order therefore, maintain the existing per capita
will be necessary increase the money volume
than $50, ,ooo, per annum- II add So.
annually the amount REQUIRED to retire he rational
| bank notes and maintain present per capita
money volume would have to be increased 81. 90 500
| annually. II our per capita vers increased 70 one
half that Of France, would be necessary increase
our volume Of money f5ocooqaco. ShpFose this iIi-
crease were 10 be reached in Eve years h7Feass
1
qure an increase Of stso, 10000 per Where
| arc We to get this amount cf siVerl We eanf hcpe
| to GET more than one-hA,f iiNt amount ou, Of tbs
worlds annhal produci Of slvet. VIC certainly cAs
get from the gold mines In view OF these facts the
creditor class insists that Tree coinage would make the
United States dumping ground for all the cheap silver
| in the world.
Al the same tine they declare that gold viii 20 to
premium and retire from circulation. They assume
an initiation Of the and ssntrr-sio- ~
| same time depFecled dollar with a shrinking vol
grne OF currency is rather inconsistent suppose
i that BY diminishing the would be-
come depreciated- Where IS all the silver that would
be dumped in our rnts TO come frurnf why aid they
not flood our market with silver prior 1873 when
silver was worth 81 % ounesi Europe would
likely dump her silver into mnts fer the
that our dollar Contains s7t.7s grains while the silver
dollar Of Europe contains using coin at the de-
nomination of s6o9I grains. They would lose by the
traction over per cent BY the transaction Il : e-ti
mated that Europe has s, 900 Of sNe- Suppose
Europe would lose s,So.,SesS5+ No one Vel ae
Suanted with the hnaneerS ui kurpp- vpud k-iir'A
that they would Hsey ssyaEt IN sash a Transaction.
Sh9nd EuTpfs nh-s4take TO buy our gold
VITA her silver. she would first lose ; per
cen, difference in the coins. She would have
to pay transPoItahon insurance, premium gold lie
cut of the Of her money Ali this would probably
cost not less than 10 per cent. or $40 ooo,oo Eu-
rope IS not likely make any such Investments a
| that. and the moaonetas;s mus; invent some ether
story than he dumping ground process % inshtsn the
sry money considered adequate for the supply There
never has been, and IS likely to be- much gold
or silver to supply the worlds need of money. Tosup
in the century with the per capita We nov
have, viii require production 81 metal great
the entire production Of the American continent since
its discovery by Columbus.
With free coinage Of silver the difference between
silver bullion and silver coin must disappear.
The truth IS the world has no silver TO spare II Il
had country would cease TO lose silver by exporfa-
ton and would enjoy the benefit from the increase oi
heT circulation which 'he dumping process volld hnns
Very Little silver into the United States eK
eept from Mexico and the countries south Of It. The
Imports Of silver into the ni;ed States are less than
s7S yearly, while exports sg5 ooo
ooo therefore. ii free coinage should affect the
movements OF silver there would be no resui; from
opening nnts the metals Of foreign production
and it IS doubtful whether such measure would pre-
vent continuation OF our los Of millions of dollars of
silver every year. The free coinage Of silver other
than thai Of domestic production, in the n;s Of the
United States, would scarcely do than keep our
tracing 70 this country silver which spectators might
hnd in Europe, We would be the gamers by the in
crease Of cur home circulation. II BY that the
per capita Of circulation could be increased $40
$50, II would enable take up many Of the bonds
which are to Europe for sale Opposition to
Tree coinage comes wholly from the creditor or banking
class.
The Director Of the Mint places the silver coin Of the
world outside Of the United States at ss5fo ooo
than one-half OF which is in China. Japan and
the Straits, where it is completely buried # it
were thrown into the sea. i he aggregate amount in
Europe is ooaooo about 8. per capita that
continent nearly one-half of which IS by France
France has 800 10000 II is not be expected that
country that has Witnessed the greaiest tfiumphs in
her bi-metaic monetary system OF any country the
world would likely part with her silver Germany has
sIoo oooooo and is not likely that a class Of people
such as the Germans who only silver. but cop
per coin CT small value, would part with her silver
Belgium has $50 800 ,Ooo Italy 7s.oooooo. last i'm
agine the former giving up that small Of silver
the Latter who work for wages as low as fifteen
cents per day, dispensing with their silver selling
al loss. Switzerland has siI. 600 600 and Spain
SO 10000 There is agitation in those countries
IN favor Of demonstration Of silver. Is Austria
Hungary, which has suspended specie payment to
cast any Of its silver upon us How is any Of the
silver to be withdrawn from the peoples Itwold have
to be put into meltingp pot and shipped America
and sold a loss. No one i likely to be found Who
would arest this money from the people, melt it, ship
ii TO America and dispose Of il at a loss
More than one-third Of the money Of the world con-
sists of credit money Paper is issued by the govern
and banks, because there Is geld and silver
enough do the business of the world believe that
gold and silver whose volume is limited BY nature is
better money than that whose volume is limited by
legislation, and long there is dollar Of credit
money in existence and paper money issued by the
government, and there is bank issued BY any
bank and made legal tender the necessity for both
se-larsiid silver as money is fully demonstrated
There are in France about Sioo 600 or notes. not
backed dollar for dollar by actual buloa in the
United Kingdom sbo, 900 co., in Germany, sI6o ooo
ooo: in the United States, s4so 900 900 Wehaye about
three times as much uncovered notes, notes not
backed by actual coin, Germany. times as
much as England. four times much France and
than all three together. Yet. we are not wiling
sver money and baeking these uncovered
gradually and wisely by actual silver coin in the
treasury. The time will come, with increasing popula-
ton and business, when the money volume exceeding
in value the actual coined gold and silver in circulation
well in the treasury when you begin make the
gold and silver in the treasury the basis for uncov