Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1893-08-17


n Grant county" Itat ID tile yaar ISL
Getn,ary, 10 urier to make the pas
llafnt II the indemnity oy Efaatt
more ouefou@ demanguzad silver
Boz tie tnta Is that the p3AHeHt
Ell that iBaemnity was cXacfed ~
tIe.many 10 gold and SIcer aud i was
so paid either d. the direct transmits.
sion of gold and silver from France To
Germany. or by bulS trawu in France
upon England, Belgium and Holland,
against money borrowed by France n
those countries. aud upon which bills
the Germans could, if they saw tit.
draw gold aud silver coin About
100, 600 Geo francs Of it, however, it is
stated, was paid by notes of the Bank
of France, which the Germans accepted
in place of an equal amount of gold. II
was further stated in the London Eco
nomist of Sept. Is, 1873, that the in
| demnity had been paid with slight use
of bullion and without drain of specie
from France. largely by reason OF the
system of borrowing money in other
countries towhich France had resorted.
! Whatever wss the real underlying
reason for the dem ouetizatiOn of silver
4 by Germany. whether it was because
the silver circulating there was greatly
/ deprt cated. and the coins OF various
and uncertain value as J have seen it
stated, or whether. as stated by MIR
Mills. the desire to iujure France was
the lone reason. he fact seems 10 DC
hat tie effect ot that act upon the
market value OF silver was exceedingly
slight. The average value OF an ounce
OF silver i'm h. London market, (the
chief silver market ot the WORLDLY from
1870 to 1871 ranged between 59l pence
(Which was the average for 1850 and
81 l Is pence. (Which was the average
tor 1889 Toe lowest point touched
was 80 pence, which was reached for 81
time both in 1913 and 1916; and the
nigh point was 624 pence which was
reached in 1859 In 1871 the average
was CO.. pence, (highest 81; lowest CO.
3.I6) la 1872 he average was go 3 10
pence, (highest GIL; lowest 59l) In
1873 the average was 81 rs, (highest
80 15.16; lowest 81 s. In 1874 the
average was IS > 10, (highest 59l; low
est 81 In 1875 the average was
Sc s pence, (highest 81 5.8; lowest
553 In 1876 the average was 52i
pence. highest $50; lowest 464 La
1877 the average was 81 1916 pence,
/ Taighest 5SI lowest 53l In 1878 the
average was 50 916 pence, highest
DOL lowest 49, In 1879 the average
was 5lI pence, highest $50; lowest
| 49,. And so on, the price steadily and
nearly always downwards. until 1891,
the last year for which l possess the
statistics. the average price was 45l
pence per ounce, highest 49,; lowest
49,
A. silver is a product with a market
value, aud as The market value oi any
product ordinarily depends upon tha
supply Il il as compared with the
demard Tor it, aud IS taking away
! from any such article any one Or NOR.
1 81 the uses to rhlch it has been applied
necessarily tends tD diminish tht
demand tor i in the market, and L tbs
same rate Of supply is maintained tbs
dimjuutlon - the demand for il must
lessen is market value. Il is onlt
r. asonabe o suppose that the stOppagt
I of the coinage of silver as money
metal by the great commercial nation:
Of the world. must have had some
depressing eff upon its pcice. But
this is condition from which all pro
GucerS of sny article whatever ar,
/ liable at least suffer. For instance
ia The silver mines of our country, 81
many Of them, the silver is associated
with lead amoug other minerals. II i,
only with the lead, however, which
those silver ores contain, that we ii
Grant county and the Wisconsin ieaC
mines generally are specially concerned
La mining the silver the silver pro
ducers could not, if they would, aVolC
taking out the OF the earth the lead rs
sociated with it. This lead is to tn,
silver producer practically clear profit
At any rate its value enormously d.
creasea the cost of producing the silver
The Effect Of this upon the lead mine
of Wisconsin, hiss been 70 50 greatly
reduce the malkel value of lead. tha
it does not pay mere II ''prOSpecl for H.
and it hardly pays to produce it ever
I If found in masses So that lead
mining among us has practically ceaseC
ana those formerly engaged IN iha
+ OtGL pdttQn IdhFs Al tllS manu- DNtI
compelled to engage lii other pursuits
or legae the country. And for this II,
have chiefly ID thank the silver pro
] ducers Mr. Mills has. IS it seem.
to me. mistaken The field for his mis-
sionary work He, would probably inc
localities where his efforts would b
likely to De better rewarded that in the
/ Wisconsin lead mines
While l differ widely upon mos
political questions from my friend Mr.
Bushnell. our late representative ID
Congress, | heartily approve Of bis
votes upon the silver question Sc
called, which votes Mr. MIlls inferen.
italy asks the people Of Grant County
10 condemn. And | respectfully sug
gest to Mr. Mills that if he will read
Mr. Bushnel's speech, delivered ii
Congress March Is, 1892, upon tie
question If the free coinage Of silver
he will learn much. which. if not to hi.
specia advantage as a "silverite he
plainly dots pot now know. As we, il
/ the Wisconsin lead mines produce nc
silver Whatever. and therefore have
none to sell. its market value no more
& concerns rs. than does the marzet