Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1893-07-11
Able Addresses by Champions Of the
silver Cause to an Apprecla-
tive Audience.

The Southwest Silver Convention was
called to meet in this city on the 4th Of
July at 8 o'clock, but on account Of the
delay in the arrival of the Governor, who
was TO have made an address at the
morning session, the convention was not
called to order until 1875. At that
time Mayor j. w. Fleming, of this city,
chairman Of the executive committee,
called the convention 10 order and an
nounced that Walter @. Hadley, presi-
dent of the convention, was unable to at
tend. AS soon as the convention had
been called to order the call was read by
ID. P. Carr, secretary Of the executive
committee. Mayor Fleming made a short
address in which he stated hat the price
Of silver had recently fallen TO 60 cents
and urged the delegates to the conven-
ton to do all they could to further the
cause Of silver.
The election Of a temporary chairman
was then declared to be IN order. r. p.
Barnes nominated Judge A. B. Fall and
the nomination was seconded by Robert
Redding. Gov. Slower moved that the
nominations be closed and Judge Fall
was elected as temporary chairman. He
was introduced by Mayor Fleming and
spoke as follows:
Ladies and Gentlemen and Dele
gates to the Southwest Silver
Convention II shall attempt to
do little more now than to express in a
few words my gratitude to you for the
honor which you have conferred upon
me, and to state IN a few words my
position upon the silver question:
question which to-day overshadows
all other questions, here in the United
States especially. 1 regard this honor
as the greatest which could be con-
ferred on this day upon any citizen,
except 1t be possible that of the per-
manent craftsmanship.
You are here not as silver miners
only, but as delegates representing a
question which affects every industry
of the nation; one which affects every
man, woman and child in the land, the
wheat interests of the northwest, the
cotton industry of the south, the fruit
growers of California-the question of
money of the Measure of value.
When silver goes down to 90, wheat
goes down below 60 cents per bushel.
Silver goes up to s3 and wheat at once
rises along with it.
Gentlemen Of the convention, we
know that silver is the true measure
of value, even when stricken from the
list of money metals. Even when de-
monetized, it persists in asserting its
province as a true Measure of values,
not only IN the United States, but all
over the world. We know that aver
since 1878 gold has been going to a
higher premium, while silver has been
keeping track of the great commodi-
ties of the world and measuring the
prices of our products.
Now, on this anniversary of the
birthday of our great nation, we have
met here with elopds hanging over us
just as they hung over our ancestors,
who, in dark days, made that glorious
declaration aud afterwards sealed it
with their blood. They declared
against an oppression which deprived
them of liberty. We have to-day 10
resist an oppression Of a few men who
are attempting to force us absolutely
to a gold standard. We know that
there is not over $500, OOO, 900 of gold in
the United States - not 1915
per capita in eirculation-and yet they
tell us that we must use gold as a
standard of value because silver is a
cheaper money. They forget that
money is simply a measure of value
just as a bushel is to-day a measure OF
capacity, or the yardstick is the meas
ure for cloth. They know that they
cannot distinguish between the actual
value Of the substance composing
money and the measure itself. The
congress of the United States, by the
power given it by the constitution, has
said that 100 cents shall be the meas
ure Of value in this country Just ex
actly as they said that SO inches shall
be the measure of a yard.
We have only s22 per capita OF
money in this country, only $40 of it II
actual circulation. France, as you
know, has s57 per capita in circulation
You have seen France ground down
under the iron heel of Bismarck, and
you have seen her wonderful recuper.
alton. You saw her with s57 per cap
ita. She paid that enormous debt and
took her place as the third of the
great nations Of the earth. This was
because France is an old country with
established industries and a stationary
population, and the F~renchman only
needs TO use his dollar forty times in
the year In order to transact his bust.
ness. But the United States is a new
countryi her population is increasing
at an unprecedented rate she Is
building new industries, new railroads,
reservoirs and canals, and could alb.
sorb the entire population of the
world. She should and could use
three times as much money as one Of
those old countries like France, vel