The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-03-25
NOT FOR FREE SILVER.

and House, will vote for the Bland silver
bill is, we believe, without foundation.
Representative Wilson voted against the
free coinage silver bill in the Fifty first
congress, and if Senators Allen and Squire
formerly voted for free silver coinage on
the plea that their constituents favored it,
they have no longer any need to plead
silver question than we did last year.
Since Senators Allen and Squire voted for
.'free silver" the great debate which elected
Mckinley governor of Ohio has taken
place. The result of that debate was to
change Senators Carlisle, Vest and Mills,
who voted for free silver, into opponents
of its enactment.
The Republican party is sure at its next
convention to indorse the silver act o.
July, 1899, and the Republicans of Wash
ington will be obliged to make their battle
this year on the issues of opposition to free
silver coinage and approval of the McKin-
ley tariff. For Senators Allen and Squire
to vote for free silver would seriously en-
barrass them and their party in the impend-
ing canvass, and in our judgment would
really misrepresent the majority of the
Republicans of Washington, who have
been educated by John Sherman's mas
terly exposition of the disastrous conse-
quences of "free silver" to revise their
old opinions. We do not believe the ma
iority of either of the great political par
in, of 10 t1rs ~ IF
"free silver" Is there a man of either
party who will loan money today without
specifying in the bond that the debt shall
be discharged in United States gold coin7
Since Senators Allen and Squire voted
for free silver the law of July, 1890, has
shown that increased coinage of silver
failed to lift the price to $1.2 an ounce;
on the contrary, under increased pur-
chases silver has dropped to so cents an
ounce, the lowest ever known, making the
silver dollar contemplated by the Bland
bill worth SO cents. Senators Allen and
Squire ought to remember that the ques-
ton is one Of patriotism rather than of
party; they owe something to their own
reputation in history, owe some respect to
the opinion of posterity, which, as Napo-
leon finely said, sis the real immortality
of the soul"
The voters of Washington have no pos
sible interest, near or remote, in the enact
ment of free silver. All their interests
are against it. Every wage-earner in both
the great parties that has any brains
and iutal I,Csuca can xaa that <ha y,or,,r+
god go.s to premium, takes to fight and
drops Us to silver standard as the only
legal tender currency We have left, that he.
the wage-earner, the small investor, the
savings bank depositor, the holder of
small insurance policies or pensions, not
the capitalist, not the goldbug, not the
Spectator, is the sure sufferer. Secretary
Bayard, an honest money Democrat, is
right, eternally right, when he says:
cheaper dollar means a poorer dollar, and
the poorer the dollar the poorer must be its
owner. Let this thought be borne in mind
when the immense aggregate OF the wages of
lano' is asse!lsd by any policy that would make
a silTH. dollar or paper dollar OF less worth, Of
less pun raising power, than gold dollar
The situation in Mexico. which is on a
silver standard, illustrates the conse-
quences of free silver" A correspondent
Of the New York Times, writing from
Mexico. says:
Pri.es here are OF course in Mexicen currency,
s1d We get constant illustration of the beau
tiss OF the silver basis. We get At any of the
numerous exchange offcss So per cent prem um
on any Kind OF paper money. The Mexican dol
lar worth less than IS cents. and it passes pre-
eisaly at its value. The American dollar in
worth third more in exchange. (the real differ
ence is about So per Gently because it is thus far
held up to the gold standard Let the weight of
silver in the currency reach the point OF break.
ing down the devices that bind it to gold re-
demption, and the dollar would be Mexicsnizsd
at once Prices would rise in proportion to the
shrinking OF the standard mes uremeut. and wa
should be exchanging with Europe at the Next
can discount.
Arizona is silver-producing territory.
but she wants to transact her business on
a gold basis. Her delegate in congress re-
Gently offered bill authorizing Arizona to
borrow money by the issue of bonds. re-
PAYABLE, principal and interest, in gold.
Delegate Smith said that it would be a
saving of SO, 600 per year to the people of
Arizona TO have the interest on those
bonds payable in gold. Capitalists would
lend at per cent. interest on that condi-
ton, but would charge TO 10 per cent. if
the interest were payable in legal money
Of the United States" Being asked if
these capitalists were foreigners. he re-
piled, mo, they were Americans"
The people of Arizona do business on
business principles, and so do the people
of Washington. Senators Squire and
Allen need not fear TO vote against free
silver" so long as the people of Washing
ton continue to make all their contracts,
mortgages and promissory notes payable
in gold.
Representative Taylor, of Ohio, pune
lures the weakness of the Bland bill when
he offers his amendment making pensions
payable in gold. VIII the Democratic
party dare to vote down this amendment.
enact free silver, and then ask for the votes
of the 10000 pensioners OF the North?
The ST. Louis Globe Democrat tells the
truth when il says that the Republicans
of the West, as whole, are opposed to
free coinage" that "if the scheme were
submitted 10 the popular vote of the Re
publicans residing west of the Alleghenies,
or even west of the Mississippi, it would
be Overwhelmingly defeated" that "out-
side Of Colorado. Montana and Nevada
this doctrine finds no favor in the party,
and even in those states the leading papers
are advising their representatives in con-
gress to display no undue haste in press