New-York tribune., 1894-06-11
~ 4 HoT-BED OF POPULISM.
,,,rxs OF THE QUESTIONS THEY ASK
,v ONE or THEM AN oLD-TIMER AND AL
,r,Dy ANSWERED HUNDRED TINES



a.. rs,,or OF The Tribune
70 ms constant reader OF The Tribune. have
ST. oh interested in its answers TO correspond
beh I'M located up here In this hot-ped OF
e's About half OF our population are Foreign,
Popu Xorwegans and Swedes There are rev
arseS ~ ,ho are well posted upon the political
Of the day. and the rank and file follow these
pp|' "a sheep follow the hll-wether Ihese
s'de' ,oaaars make many statements which L
Yapun .,,,ve They ask many questions which l
10 "V - n answer or TO refute 10 their salts
~ ~ o,ou.d Ike TO ask a few OF these CUES
hr"0" &, The Tribune will answer them 1
r0n' ,b.e 10 get them before the people
nay UT was the market value of silver per
Frs ,O-a before II was demonetized? Was silver
e0H ~ AZ a premium with gold at that time Z
rp.,s-Uhat was the need OF d'stToNhs 'he
se'O" mower Of silver and stopping the coinage
q at that tIne' ,...,u,. about,
n,.s What IN your opinion. has brought ABOUT
TIM condition Of such large surplus OF
ee - tbe Eastern banks. and the great lack
n'D' nav +, the West and South?
M noes England issue paper money or banK
-Four" o,.arv dollar OF silver coined which Is in
h',..,,n D. among her people? And II so. now are
rch bis reoee''''I ,r.o..,,-, Notes ,ssuea unon
Pin h,,,,,o, now In the Treasury a constant
ra' ore made use OF b. designing men 10
aimee the gold reserve j" '"'
'~.,,n,l bond issues?
s-I"' 40 many more questions I would ike 10
IDe 1, these are answered TO the satisfaction
iss' W. =, our thick-healed Popu.ists l Will be
-" sa,isded Yours respectfully.
sa'e n y. CIIANrBERLIN.
o,tAs \. D.. May Il. 1891.
$50, Ovr,,inr this article in the STATE or oregon
80. tho Populist party are constantly ASKING
~, came or similar questions.
We w. market value of silver in 1873 was about
onnce. At that time. the standard sill
=" .onor was al a small premium, between l
cont above our standard gold dollars.
rno second question assumes that certain
mas done BY the act OF 1873 which was not
,,sd Mr. Chamberlin asks what was the
~, ~ DESTROYING the debtpaying power of sill
:. There was no need OF doing H. nor was Il
.,,. bv the law passed in 1873.
slver since that time. has been used to pay
,.A.. az freely as IT had ever been before. and
~. .f,er the law passed than ever before. So
gas any money is al par with the best money.
".I,w ,s required to give IT debt paying power.
p.,,,e take such morey whenever they can get
| 4. sin,nv because they want II. 1t requires no
r,,ue 10 induce people to take gold al the pres
-, time. 1t does not make a particle Of diff
.,snce whether gold is coined or not. Every
nan who has money due him will be glad to take
Ns nav IN gold in any shape or form in which 1t
offered 10 him.
| rsgal-tender laws are never required to COM
| ,s naope TO take money which they are anxious
"a get Such laws are only required in case one
desires to pass some money, which people are not
vnpgto take without legal compulson.
The law in 1873 simply stopped the coinage OF
silver dollars That law was passed without the
las: opposition on the part Of any party in the
United States Silver was al that time above
par 1t was not being used as the currency
Q. The country. I: wa: above par. ard sold al 4
premium
The silver men cared nothing about that law be-
cause they did rot desire to get their silver coined
20 bng qs they could get more for it unconed
than coined There was at that time no oppo-
aion 10 the bill by any one, because the condi-
tins were such that no one was much inter
Olei in the question. The shrinkage in the price
If silver did not begin az the date OF the passage
Of that law. II began months afterward. when
the output OF silver in the United States became
60 enormous.
It's mistake to assume that silver is not now
used for paying debts More silver is used as
money to-day than has ever been used before
either In the world al large or In the United
States. Our silver is not deprived Of It's debt
paying power. II has simply ceased b be the
metal used for the ultimate redemption Of oui
paper money and the silver dollar has ceased t.
he the unit Of value In this country.
Sin reply 10 the third question. would say
that. IN +ho. berlip hos g
sumed something which is not a fact There =
very large amount OF surplus money In the
hanks Of the Eastern states. but there is no such