The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-07-23
UTAH AND SILVER.
Phil Corcoran interviewed in Buf-
falo.
Some Stern Facts for the Consideration of
the People of the Effete East
A Westerner's Views.

Mr.. Phillip COrc0ran Of Salt Lake city,
years ago on the editorial staff OF The
Ne,os, is in Buffalo, visiting relatives.
Mr.. Corcoran represented Utah in the an
THRUST convention held in Chicago re-
Gently. and, as one of the boilers, met
subsequently in conference at the Palmer
house with General Weaver, the Populist
candidate for president, and ''Crypto-
gram'' Donnelly of Minnesota. Mr..
Corcoran, however, is Democrat and a
strong advocate of statehood for Utah.
s'Of course I am bimetallist,'' said
Mr.. Corcoran to Neacs representative;
F, shut am only so because the history of
the world proves that the adoption of a
single standard has kept the producing
classes in poverty. BY q single standard
do not necessarily mean gold standard,
for there have been times when the yell
low metal has been demonetized. / am
in favor of the free coinage of both metals
at the ratio of 16 to l., or even Is TO /,
should a universal recognition be given
to the latter ratio and silver be restored to
its place in the worlds money.
Just because | come from a silver
country l am not prepared to say that
Utah will go to the everlasting bowwows
because the white metal has dropped to a
point where there is no profit in mining.
| have no patience with such men as Tom
Patterson of Denver, and the Populist
governor of Colorado, who have given
utterance to sentiments as bombastic as
they are reasonable. Of course Colorado,
Nevada and Montana feel the pressure
greater than the other states in the inter
mountain basin, as the mining industry
is their chief industry. Naturally feel
ing of resentment and even disloyalty
might be awakened in the breasts OF these
miners when they reflect that great
country like ours is bound hand and foot
by British Rothschild. But have great
faith in the sober second thought of the
American miner. OF all Americans
have ever met, the man who goes into the
mountains to dig out the money OF the
world is the most patriotic and self
reliant.''
"What becomes of this patriotic
American when his occupation is gone. -
asked the NeDs.
''His occupation is not altogether gone,
although l fail to see how any siluer mine
which assays less than $50 per ton in lead,
and silver, and gold and galena-how any
silver mine can be worked profitably at a
white mans wages with bar silver at less
than so cents. But am one of tho few
in Utah who have waited, yes, wished to
see silver drop so low that the people
would cease to depend upon it as the only
industry that could build up the terri
tory.
when l reflect upon the illimitable re-
sources of Utah, with everything that the
Almighty created laying outdoors and
under the crust of the earth-a standing
invitation for capital and industry to
come and take i'll begin to hope now
that the people will hunt for silver less
and coal more, to hew out marble and
mine iron, for there is everything in
Utah that there is in Pennsylvania, with
the precious metals thrown in.
"Then the price of silver does not cut
much of figure in Utah?''
"Not SO much as in her sister states
and territories; not much more so than in
California. The Mormons are an agricul-
tural people. In Brigham Young's time
he forbade them mining, and as result
the desert has been made to blossom as
the rose. The low price of silver is felt
felt where silver is produced. When you
knock the value out of silver you knock
it out of wheat and cotton, or in other
words, while silver buys justas much az
it ever did, it takes more of these com.
modities to be worth the price of the colo
that has been appreciated through silver's
decline.
ut may sound strange to you," sale
Mr.. Corcoran, Hstrange to some Buffalo.
mans who have an intelligent conception
of everything but the elementary princi.
pies OF money and its uses that the de.
preston is felt more here or in Chicago
than it is in Salt Lake city. The frs
thing observed in Chicago was crowd.
about the banks clamoring for their de-
posits. I do not remember of single
bank failure in Utah; neither can count
r,,a hoy lolf n hr,o So
during my residence there. AS
matter of fact l have seen more
abject poverty and Indebtedness il
one-half hour in Chicago than
have seen all over the inter mountain
country from Montana to Arizona anC
New Mexico.''
'But this talk of secession in the siIve
states" said the reporter, ''does it NEAR
more than bluff?''
''It's worse than bluff replied th,
Utah man. "That is to say, while i
means nothing, such talk only hurts thi
cause of silver among the friends of s1lve
in the east. 1t puts us on the defensive
1t places US in position where we ar,
constantly obliged to answer question:
J we do not care TO have asked. 1t reall,
gives color to the story that the owners o
the mines want to own the earth.''
"But Seriously" asked the reporter
"could the inter-mountain states main
tain government of their own, such al
was outlined by that Montana silver con.
ference?'
81 can answer that best by saying tina
the population of Montana. Idaho ant
Wyoming could be put into Buffalo with
out crowding it, and that the population
of Utah and Colorado might easily b,
spread over Erie county. With irrigation
perfected, there is food for the millions II
this great basin. Yes, just as the Nor
mons created kingdom of their own be-
fore the iron horse pierced the continent
so the people of these states could prospe
if the Rockies on the east and the Sierr;
Nevadas on the west marked the bound
airy lines of civilization
''Why do the silverites insist on the
purchase by the government of a regula,
J supply of silver? Why not make it dis
cretionary?'
1.-The silverites, as you call them, never
insisted on a fixed purchase of bullion
per month. The Sherman silver purchas
act was a sprat thrown to catch TIL
| whale. We had to take the sprat O
nothing. For one believe the Colorad,
OF Utah mine owner has no more right t.
insist that the government shall purchase
SO much silver per month than the Mon
tana mine owner has to insist that tn
government shall purchase all of Mon
tana's product OF copper. What we want
what the country needs, is the free coin
age OF gold and silver, SO that every maj
who produces may take his product u
the mint and have it coined into money
or receive its value in lawful money, sa,
sixteen or eighteen ounces of pure siive
to one of gold. Ii it is established b,
! national or international agreement tina
: the ratio shall be twenty to one (thougl
such an assumption sounds ludicrous) W