Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1893-09-26

" r.
cent is silver.
One of the principal scarecrows
put forth by the enemies Of silver
money as a reason why silver
should be demonetized, is the
claim that more silver is produced
each year than can be used for the
purpose of money, and that if free
ly coined by the government all
the silver product Of the mines
will be coined, as the best means
of obtaining the highest price for
the metal. Few Of the people who
are not familiar with the amount
and the cost Of silver mining have
any means for knowing the truth
fulness or untruthfulness of such
claim.
The best answer to such bare
faced misrepresentation of the
facts is the statement that no more
silver can be produced in any
country of the world than can be
made use of as money in such
country or in others; and in our
country the decrease Of the metal
has begun and will continue till
no more is found or mined. There
could be twice as much put upon
the country al money without det-
riment to the business of the ma
ton and the whole world would
be better off financially if it were
so.
But few members of this house
know, Mr.. Speaker, the fact that
gold cannot be produced without
silver; and for the benefit of those
who are not aware of it, 1 here
copy part of a letter Of a gentle
man who has taken a great deal of
interest in finding out where gold
can be produced without silver,
and which L believe my colleagues
will find as interesting as 1 did.
1t reads as follows:
The director of the United States
mint reports the production Of
gold in the United States for the
calander year 1891 to have been
1913, 175,000 Financial circles il
the eastern half of the United
States are of the opinion hat thi.
metal should continue the sole
standard of American money; thai
too much silver has already beer
coined into dollars; that the pres.
entpurchase of silver bullion SHOULD
cease and that our financial pros
perity in the coming years de
ponds upon the adoption of thei.
opinion. Inferentially, if thei
views be correct, they depend up
on the far western stStes and ter
ritories to produce the gold tina
shall sustain the credit Of tn,
United States and its ability tc
supply foreign lands, as has beef
} done to the net extent of abou
1925, 900, 900 in the past thre.
, years. lie the United States de
ponds upon the mining states an,
territories to do all this, then al
) the industries of these mimi.
: states and territories which ena
0 BILE them to meet this extraordl
. nary demand, are deserving of tn,
fostering care of the entire coun
try, and particularly of those mon
ey-centered parts which are 81
t strenuous in their advocacy of gol
as the only standard of America.
money.
L lately addressed letters to tn
n three great smelling companies G
Denver for the statistical infol
mationsupon the union of gold an
silver in the ores which are mine
and which they buy and treat
o Their replies are the basis for thi
. brief paper, the object Of which
q to show that the gold necessary t
. sustain the United States upon
70 gold basis can not be obtaine
q without producing the silver also
that there mast be a steady an
ready means of consuming silve
8 at n price substantially no lowe
than now, to insure the productio
: of the gold.
First, it should be clearly under
y stood that the supply of gold fro
: the ground or placer diggings ha
# diminished to such an extent i
y nearly all the mining states an
r territories that it is not considere,
@ in this paper. The greater pal
Of the supply of gold is now fror
K mineral veins, which must under
rgo treatment.
10 The three great smelling estaI