The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-10-12

the whole world regards 1t as the safest
money and the most reliable standard
of value that we have among all the
valuables of the earth The value
of silver fuctuateS In all countries and If
the United States government were TO
put the bullion now piled up in its vaults
on the market, ii would force the price of
silver down still lower than the
market price at this time, because its
price is controlled by the law of supply
and demand Just like other commodities.
The advocates of free coinage argue that
the demonetiza tiOn of silver would injure
the masses and producers by contracting
the currency, but such arguments are
weak and without substantiatiug facts,
it is mere clap-trap to catch the
large class of people who do
not take the time and trouble to investi-
gate public questions and inform them
selves as to the real situation. Stats
tics and experience prove to the salts
faction of all well informed people that
there is an abundance of gold with which
to do the business of the world. Ninety
FIVE per cent. of the business of the
United States, and all other civilized
other bills of exchange and evidences of
value, and even if the gold and silver
money in use were doubled, or
tribeled, business would continue to
be carried on in this way as a matter of
convenience, and the metal money, or
very large portion of it, would lie idle in
the vaults of the country. Let congress
adopt the democratic policy of state
banks, so organized and conducted to
make the general government indorser of
their issues of money insuring their
equal value in all the states, as
national bank currency now cir
culates, there would be no danger
of a contraction of the currency
even if silver were totally demonetized.
But there is no desire from any quarter
to dispense with silver as subsidiary
money-it is convenient for this purpose
and will always be so used. The fact
that silver has no standard value among
civilized nations cannot be refuted, and it
is perfectly apparent to intelligent minds,
that the United States alone cannot give
it fixed value, therefore, it is impossible
for this country to make an honest dollar
out of the metal without international
agreement as to its value and ratio of
coinage. There would be just
as much justice, or wisdom,
for the farmers of the United
States to ask congress to raise the price
of cotton or cereal products and give
them fixed value, as there is in the sill
yer miners asking the government to fix
the price of silver above its market value
by giving it free coinage on an equality
with gold, which is the only information al
standard Of value.
1t is significant fact that large major
ity of those supporting the advocates of
free coinage are people who do not under
stand the situation on account of not
having studied the question, or
not having considered but one side
of the issue, and who get their informa-
ton from third party papers, alliance lit
erature and so-called democratic jour
nails that print only what agrees with their
views and policy There are few such
journals, calling themselves democratic,
that embrace every opportunity to widen
the breach in the Democratic party when
ever it has difficult problem to solve
that causes a temporary division of opiu
ion among the party leaders. But intel
ligent democrats no longer trust such pa
pers-they have learned from experience
that this class of journals do not repre-
sent true democracy now any more than
they did nine or ten years ago when they
opposed the issue of tariff reform and
switched off on internal revenue" the
abolition of which they claimed would
pressing the country just as
they are arguing now that free
coinage would cure all the ills affecting
the American people. This class of news
papers, while they have ceased to repre-
sent the true democratic sentiment, still
have influence with people tainted with
third partyism, and those who have not
informed themselves on the silver ques-
ton and other public issues but their
power is waning as intelligence spreads.
The people cannot be fooled always-at
least all of them cannot, though por-
ton of them may, according to old
Abe Lincoln's maxim. The great clamor
started by the silver combine of the
western states, in which the production
of silver is the leading industry, caught
a great many unthinking and uniformed
people. and with the unlimited means of
the millionaire, silver miners, aided by
the third party contingent and designing
politicians, have succeeded In keeping up
a respectable fight for silver, to the great
injury of the country and credit of the
government. But this state of things can
not continue. The intelligence and patri-
otto spirit of the people will rise up
against it, and a campaign of education,
such as we had in 1852 on the great
tariff issue, will settle the silver question
in favor of honest money in accordance
with the enlightened sentiment of the
civilized world and the true interpretation
of the democratic platform. The expert
ence of over one hundred years teaches US
that the sober second thought of the
American people is generally right, and
there is no doubt at all of the fact that
the sentiments of the people are rapidly
formulating against free coinage of silver
under the existing conditions.
The silver miners are directly and pecu'
niarily interested in silver, not as money
but as valuable commodity, for they de
mand gold for it when they sell it to the
government or in the markets; and they
are interested in its price in the same way
that the farmers are interested in the
price of farm products, or the manufacur-
er in the output of his factory. The sill
yer combine is one Of the most powerful
organizations of capital in this or any
other country, and is just as capa-
BILE of corrupt methods as any
other combination of capital and cap
italists; but we never hear anything
of this great monopoly from the silver
people. We hear much of the power of
Wall street and the corrupt methods of
eastern capitalists. They even charge
that the press of the country and men,
bers of congress not in line with their
ideas of free coinage are controlled by
Wall street and eastern capitalists, but
it does not seem to eyer occur to them
that the great millionaire silver miners
could do such terrible things as to corrupt
the press or members of congress They
have much to say about the corrupting
power of capital at Washington in shaping
legislation, but they seem TO ignore the