The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-07-13

silver. HAD gOlQ Deeu OcHuuS-
TIED instead of silver, retaining ang
chiefest junction, and deprivlng |
gold of its greatest and chiefest function,
gold would not today be worth 20 per
ounce, and silver's value and purchasing
power would be increased largely above
the former highest figure.
What the bi-metallists do ask and a.
they ask is that the law relating to cOln- \
age as it was for seventy-fve years of the |
country's greatest glory shall be restored |
without addition or expunging syllable. |
With the law re- enacted and after fair
trial is had, if silver shall not without the
purchase OF an ounce of metal by the gov
eminent resume its former relative value
with gold, the bi-metallists will cheer
fully submit to any legislation experiences
will suggest as necessary to make every
dollar of the United States equal in
intrinsic value to every other
dollar bearing its stamp. They
urge the old law with supreme confidence
born of unassailable truths of history
that 1t will Immediately place every
coined American dollar upon par value,
both as coin and bullion, restore the
bonds of weakened love and confidence
and set in happy motion the wheels OF
ali the country's magnificent industries.
| Will you listen to US while we speak in
words OF sober earnestness OF the local eff
| lSClS tu0 unCOuQlGlOQdl T6peaI Oh S1lNSr
will have. The silver mining states and
territories embracing 1000, 900 square
miles of the continent with 1000, 600
Americans inhabiting them depend pecu-
niarly upon silver mining for their pros
perity. The industry is the very
heart from which nearly every
other industry receives support;
agriculture will not thrive without arti-
fetal irrigation; its mines of coal, iron,
stoue and clay, while magnificent, are
worked with such dear labor and SO re-
mote from local markets that their move
ment would be feeble and operation dis
astrous without the stimuious the
mining industry affords. 1t supports our
foundries, operates our machine shops,
supplies our railroads with freight, slim
ulates travel, keeps bright fires in the
shelters and sends customers to the
shops of our merchants.
1t built in valleys and upon mountains
magnificent cities and thrifty towns and
villages from which great manufacturers
of paper. cotton, leather, iron, steel and
clays distribute their finished products
and support thousands of happy families.
But because agriculture is so limited in
area-contined to narrow strips along our
few and scanty streams-our labor so
high and handiwork so remote from other
than local markets, coal is mined, coke
burned, rails are rolled, grain grown,
fruit gathered in the main for the owners
and workers of silver mines and SmelterS,
and proprietors and workmen in the in
dustries and callings are dependent upon
them. The reduction of the price of sill
yer to about 20 cents will shut down SO
per cent. of the silver mines of the coun-
try, and the shelters must soon follow
their example.
There are in Colorado today Is ,000 idle
miners, who know not where to turn II
| ia
be added to this idle army of labor 4, 900
men from the smelters. Stone quarries
are nearly all shut down, railway COM
panies are laying off train crews by the
score; foundries are nearly all out of or
ders, and farmers and fruit growers will
be barely paid for the cost of saving their
crops. Merchants are countermand1ng
their orders; travelling men for eastern
houses are looking almost in vain for
customers.
This is not an exaggeration. The de-
struction OF the silver industry will de-
vastate the country as if swept by cy-
clone reaching from the British possess
sions to the Mexican border line. This
. SorrOWful picture OF Colorado with her
mining industry destroyed but repre-
sents the condition of other mining
states and territories with the same ca
lamity upon them. Ii the silver mines
remain closed half of the American out
put OF lead must be lost as the
greatest bulk OF the lead pro-
duct is taken from silver bearing
. ores. 1t requires one metal supplemented
by the other to remunerate the lead silver
miner. Not less than 55 per cent. of the
gold product of the country depends upon
the maintenance of the silver industry
The placer ore creek washings, the earliest
and most prolific source of our gold sup
| ply is practically exhausted. Those who
| - -, IL Ief,
fully mislead you as to the cost OF produc-
ing silver. We say to you in the mos
: solemn and truthful manner reliable sta
: tistics prove, including but the mos
? legitimate mines in their count, that the
silver of Colorado costs by the time it i.
J on the market not less than S1.29 pei
: ounce. Like gold, some silver is pro.
I: duced for much less than the marke
! value, but the average cost of silver il
! 4 fully the highest price it ever brought il
the market.
All the mining states and territories are
J the debtor class. Stop and consider mer
. of the east how many millions of you
> money is invested with US. the funds O
D the estates of widows and orphans ar
loaned on our lands and have built GU
edifces. Colorado has been the favoritI
field for such investments. Have thu
people OF any state ever proved NOR;
: punctual in prompt repayment? TIL
legislature enacted laws cruel to oul
: people and unrivalled in Hberality tt
. creditors that no man might shirk o
~ escape the repayment of a borrowed dol
e lar. There are held throughout the cas-
u hundreds OF millions of dollars in railwa,
: stocks and bonds in municipal securities
g in trusts and mortgages; payment of tn
: greatest body OF which depends upol
u the prosperity of the silver mininj
!, country.
e We OF Colorado pride ourselves upol
e our commercial and financial integrity
s No calamity can induce US to repudiat
IL a dollar OF honest debt; all our assets ar
:. at the will of our creditors for reimburse
~ ment. But if by bad congressional legis
II lation; if, through congress you shal
~ wipe out the great industry of this sec
&c ton, around which all others have clus
Is tered for vigor and profit, the values {
~ our properties Will shrink, our bushes
V be destroyed, our towns and cities will
~ largely depopulated, and railroads travers
~ ing the western half of the continent wi
~ be sent into bankruptcy.
u Certainly in the face of such unmerite
le infection you cannot blame US ii we al
q, thus deprived OF our ability to meet on
~ obligations. You may, it is true, tax
ie the country in payment, but after you g
" it what will you do with it? But thong
u you may do all in your power, whetht
y in ignorance, or through selfish gree
10 destroy us, we will not submit to til
destiny of poverty without a struggl
= We shall seek to open up new marke
',e and build up our silver industry alon
40 new lines and with new and more syn
OF pathetic neighbors. Colorado aide
e. with her vote to build the tarin wall b.
So tween this country and Me-
leo and the silver producin
as aud using republics of the southel