The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1893-08-23
And Others, on the Subject of
Free Coinage of Silver.
ST. PAUL, August 1898.

Free Coinage of Silver.
ST. PAUL, August II, '93.
see in the papers that Geo. Gould
has announced on his return from
England, that the Sherman silver act
must be repealed at once. Here is
the article entire
"The situation of course is alarm
ing, and very much demoraliZed.
The main cause is the unSettlement
of conditions due to the silver QueS-
ton. There is another cause, how
ever, that the public is not aware of,
and that is the hostile attitude as
sumed by the legislators of this cOun-
try toward the great corporations;
instead of trying to build them up
the policy Of the state and general
governments is to pull them down
and make them worthless. The peO-
pie forget that the country cannot
prosper unless the great transpOrta-
tion corporations also prosper. Bus
mess has never been more Stagnant
in the southwest than at the present
time, and | look for no change unless
something is done at Washington.
The repeal of the Sherman law will
bring us all back to prosperous times,
but we may hope for nothing until
congress acts, and in that way"
Yes, the repeal of the Sherman law
will bring us all back to prosperous
times (the Gould family and the rest
of the Wall street stock gamblers).
Mr.. Gould has stated the situation
clearly, and according to his notions
and those of Wall St. the financial
panic is due to their inability to float
watered railroad stocks abroad.
Unless the Sherman law is repealed
and congress subjects this country to
the financial policy of England, Mr..
Gould and his coterie of stock gam
blers are going to have difficulty in
floating their watered stocks abroad
for awhile, and hence the great
transportation corporations cannot
prosper in the sense they desire.
That is just where the shoe pinches;
the country be id so long as Wall
street can prosper on stock gambling.
1t is pity that congress has now
been in session nearly week with
out helping the Gould family out
with another hundred millions or so.
Experience has, however, shown
that the great transportation COM
panies will look out for their inter
ests very we'll, and have always done
so, both in and out of congress. 1t lis
time now for congress to proclaim
policy of the greatest good to the
greatest number and a financial poll
cy for America"
This country is only indebted to
England about $4,000, 100000 on &C
count of railrord stocks, etc., and to
deprive Wall street of the opportuni-
ty to still further increase the bur-
den is not in KEEPING with the spirit
of true Western liberality. The bur-
den of this Indebtedness, as we un-
derstand the situation, was payable
in "coin," meaning gold and silver.
AS silver began to be mined and by
it's increasing production we were
adding to our ability to pay off this
great debt, England was startled, for
it is not principal she wants, but
rather to hold us in financial bond
age and keep us paying interest eter-
nally. So England says: eve can
take no more of your stocks unless
you come to a gold basis exclusively"
and Wall street was willing to sacri-
fee the whole people in order that
they might succeed, and weaken our
ability to pay in order to increase
their ability to borrow.
1t seems to any one that a farmer
who had mortgage on his farm,
payable in wheat and oats at GER
tain ratio between them, would be
an idiot to quit raising the most prof
liable product and thus diminish his
ability to pay the mortgage. Yet
such was the position taken by con-
gress when it demonetized silver.
1t is somewhat amusing to read the
different views taken by the finan-
ciers on the present panic, and to
note how generally all of them have
been meeting with editorial approval
in the daily press, for the press does
not concede any one to be financier
unless he is an advocate of the Eng
lish policy of finance.
One says: "We have got too much
silver in the country now, and that
is what makes it so scarce and hard
to get. If we would quit coming sill
yer it would become more plenty"
This reminds one of person COM
planning of being hungry because he
had too much to eat.
"Our circulating medium is too
large" says another, "there is too
much money in the country, which
accounts for it's scarcity" Well,
then, if the gold policy is correct,
opI rO1d &c tho on1v hocic IN uybio1,