The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1892-11-04
THE SILVER QUESTION.

THE SILVER QUESTION.
II Is Gold That is Going Up, Not silver That
r. Going Down.
The recent defeat Of the free coinage
bilfwas rhe result of persistent, UNI
firing effort on the part of New En-.
gland and its northern allies. The con-
test was bitter, much of the time per.
sonal, and disclosed wide difference Of
opinion among the members Of the old
parties. In fact, an analysis of the vote
upon the question seems to indicate that
it is not a party measure, since both
parties divided on the issue.
This being true, the first question to
solve is the motive which prompts this
action, in order to condemn or approve
such conduct. Is it from principle or
from self-interest that this contest is
made? If from principle, it is worthy
to be placed beside other heroic efforts
Of the past IF from selfish interests, il
should be exposed and condemned
Many are doubtless honest in their OPP
position to this measure and their mo-
tives should not be impugned, but the real
opposition must be- considered as based
on selfish interests alone since self-in-
terests seem to predominant. Without
undertaking to discuss the idea of action
upon principle, it might be we'll to con-
slider the possible mercenary motives
that underlie this contention. The
financial interests of New England and
the east lie in the investments of it's
W1n% -
from that source is advocated, and
whatever decreases this income is OPP
posed. There is but little doubt upon
this point as judged from the past his
tory of that section. The free coinage
bill was opposed on the ground
that it would make money cheap
er and therefore raise the, price
of all the products of labor, which in
turn would enable the debtor to pay his
debts with less hard work This prop
osition New England declared to be
nothing less than partial reputation.
The pensioners were informed that they
would be able to buy less with their
pension money; the department clerks
were warned that their salaries would
purchase less of the products of labor,
and the hired girls and widows of New
England were told that they could
draw less tribute for their alleged saw
ings by the passage of the silver bill,
and the consequent cheapening of
money and the increased price of prod
ucts From this view of the matter the
efforts of New England against free sill
yer is robbed of its garb of hypocritical
can't about an honest dollar, the honor
of the nation and many other
similar positions, and sinks to
the lowest level of pure mercenary self
interest. New England by this action
acknowledges that an increase in the
volume of currency would increase the
price of products, and thereby enable
the farmer to more easily pay his debts,
but opposes this increase because they,
the people of New England, own
the debts. In order to more clearly
show the baneful effects of New En-
glands financial rule, consideration
of the debts of the states of Iowa and
Alabama will give clear example, it
being conceded at the outset that New
England and the east either owns or
COuCiOlS ucdfly all UIlc ucULS Oh Cne ma
ton. The Indebtedness of these two
states as represented in the present
census is:
Iowa S199, oS4, 95s
Alabama. =. .................. S9,os7,9s
1t is fair to assume that at least one
half of this Indebtedness will date back
to 1880 Taking this for granted as the
basis for circulation, the following pro-
positions are made. In 1880 the indebt-
edness would stand
1Al1Ueiulct 1S,olS,SSl
Iowa is the best all-round producing
state in the north as shown by the CEN
sus. In 1880 the average value per acre
of the three great cereals was:
Corn. Observation-Disclosures. 1901
Wheat. Observation-Disclosures. 1913
Oats. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 9.24
In 1889 the value per acre was:
Corn...... 0.69
w noSt.. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 6.v6
Oats. ...............:.::.:.,:. 6,2e
These figures are taken from the re.