St. Paul daily globe., 1892-02-16
THEFREE SILVER MANIFESTO

Whatever other criticisms may be
passed on the report OF the house coin
age committee, which the GLOBE pub
lished yesterday morning, no one can
find fault with it because of its incOm-
pleteness. All the arguments. good,
bad and Indifferent, are rehearSed with
commendable extensiyeness; and the
seeker after truth has only to make his
way through its pages to feel confident
that he has read everything which can
be said in support of free silver. The
Importance of the subject is apology
enough for the extraordinary length Of
the document; and, if the most prod-
gal expenditure OF printers ink could
ever supply the place of close reasoning
and economic truth, there would be no
absence of either of them in this in-
stance.
The GLOBE has been inclined to treat
the currency problem with judicial
fairness, and. recognizing its complex
ity, to state the views of the oppos-
ing schools with accuracy and full
| ness. Its theory has been that this
course would conduce to the public en-
lightenment more successfully than it
would to assume position of dogmatic
narrowmindednesS such as has char
acterized some of its contemporaries.
The learning, patriotism and political
| experience of many of the advocates of
free silver are so great as to entitle the
question to respectful treatment, and it
! is only the cheap penuy-a-liner VIII, can
afford to dismiss their opinions with
contemptuous abruptness. Two very
extensive sections Of the Union are
practically unanimous for the measure.
without regard to party, and no one
who is familiar with the history Of hu-
man thought would dare to class faith
so deep-seated and widely prevalent
with the worlds intellectual deIuslons.
1t is necessary, however, to draw the
line somewhere, and if the friends of
free coinage have no more substantial
basis for their cause than Mr.. BLAND'S
committee has given to the public, they
cannot expect continuance of courte-
Gus treatment. The committees brief as
published advances one positive argtl-
| ment for opening our mints to the white
metal, and here tiS: Most of our prod
tries using the gold standard, and there
they compete with the grain and the
cotton of nations which employ silver
as a circulating medium. American
wheat for example, is sold in Liverpool
alongside of wheat from India. Sup
pose that it commands dollar bushel.
This dollar is paid in gold. The Hindu
farmer. under the free coinage system
prevailing in his land, can at will OIL
vert this gold dollar into a dollar and a
quarter of silver. The American farm
er can do nothing of the kind, because
our laws will not permit him to take ad-
vantage of the depreciation in silver
for his own profit: but whatever profit
might thus accrue is reserved for the
government. Therefore the Hindu
| farmer gets % cents bushel more than
the American for every bushel of wheat
he raises. and is growing rich with az
gravating rapidIty.
| TO show the faliacy of this notion
thus seriously advanced by COM
mittee of the United States congress. il
! is only necessary to carry it on a step
further. If instead of having silver
| currency India had copper currency,
| and its monetary standard were dollar
consisting of 4l21a grains of copper, all
its farmers would grow rich so much
the faster. In that case they could take
the gold dollar they received for a
bushel of wheat in Liverpool, aud, buy
ing dollars worth of copper bullion.
could have it coined into copper dollars
of the prescribed weight and fineness.
ana instead of being twenty-five cents
better off than their American eempet-
torS by the transaction. would be hun
dreds of dollars better off. Of course,
this is eibbering insanity. The number
! of dollars man has does not determine
his wealth. 1t is the purchasing power