Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1893-02-23
THE SILVER QUESTION.
ATLANTA Journal.

A valued subscriber writes to the
Journal for information on the sill
yer question:
"Please tell" he says, Gin plain
language, what the fight on the sill
yer question means. 1 read about it
every day, and each day becomes
more muddled. Can't you give
say in a few words-what all this
racket is about?''
1t would take more than 'few
words" to state all that the fight on
the silver question means, but the
recent discussion in Congress mar
rowed itself down to this:
The Democratic party are divided
upon the silver question; some are
absolutely opposed to the coinage OF
silver; some are in favor of limited
coinage, and some are in favor of a
free and unlimited coinage.
The Sherman law now in force al
lows the government to purchase
81, 100000 of silver bullion per
month, and to either coin it or put it
in the treasury vaults as collateral
and issue silver certificates to the
amount of the value of the bullion
so purchased. The bill to repeal
this Act brought about the discussion.
The bill failed to pass.
Another let of Democrats are op-
posed to the Sherman law, for they
favor the free and unlimited coinage
of silver, but when they were con-
fronted with bill to reduce the pur-
chase of bullion from *4.500,000 to
100000 they took the lesser of
the evils, as they claim, and voted
against the repeal Of the Sherman
law.
Under the Sherman law, now in
operation, the men who dig silver
out of the earth, carry it to market
and whatever it is worth in the mar
ket they sell it for, just like any
other commodity-just as if it was
coal, cheese or cotton. The Sher-
man law restricted the government
from purchasing more than four mil
lion FIVE hundred thousand dollars Of
of silver a month, but very soon there
was SO much mined that it was not
worth siXty-fve cents per 412 grains.
The law requires that there shall
be 412 grains of silver in dollar.
At one time it cost the government
more than dollar to buy 4l2 grains.
Now the 412 grains can be bought
for 65 cents, and the government
sa ,.s to itself the difference between
that price and the dollar it issues.
1t is said that on account of the
splendid yield Of silver in some re-
Gently discovered mines that the
government can buy 412 grains,
enough to make a dollar, for lS
cents. The government would then
become manufacturer with good
profits.
If it is true that silver can be dug
out of the ground at a cost of eigh-
teen or twenty cents per Alp grains,
the amount that goes into dollar,
then under the Sherman law, restrict
ing the purchase by the government
of more than s4,50o,o0o per month,
silver Will find its own level just like
any other mmodity, and the silver
smiths and jewelers. throughout the
country will be able to sell you
cheaper silver watches, walters, COB
lets and tea sets. 1t is on account of
this tluctuation in the price of silver
that some are opposed to its coinage
altogether.
The esteemed friend who wrote
for information on the silver queS-
ton seems inclined to free coinage,
aud asked what that meant. The
answer is found in the foregoing re-
sumo. Those who favor free and
unlimited coinage of silver simply
mean to say that when Western
miner digs 4l2 grains of silver out of
his mine, all he has to do IS to carry
it to the United States treasury and
get dollar for it, no matter whe-
ther the market value of the 4l2
grains is 20 cents or 65 cents.
To man who does not own sill
yer mine, or even has any kind reia-
tives that are so fortunate, it might
appear that this would be favorlng
one industry at the expense OF 9th
ers. Why not the farmers of the I
South send ten pounds of cotton
and draw a chrome for it in the
shape of an all-cotton dollar bill.
The failure to pass the bill repeal
ing the Sherman law will stop all
further attempt at silver legislation
this session, and the public will have
a rest until next December, unless
Mr.. Cleveland calls an extra session
of Congress in the meantime.