The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1894-11-02


the following fashion:
AFTER you have accomplished free coinage. Z
which as you say, consists Of the right Of all
men to present silver bullion at the government
mints to be coined, without charge, for its own
ers, how are you going to secure the benefits Of
this grand privilege to the peopie1 No one win
present bullion to be coined except those who
own 1t; no one will own it but few Colorado
mine owners who will get the sole benefit; it
cannot put one dollar or one cent into the pocket
Of any man who does not own silver bullion;
and the mine owners. when they can reap the
benefit Of such law, will neither give away nor
| sell their bullion
TO this argument Mr.. III. p Walker,
Of Auburndale, seizes the News own
weapons and uses them against it after
the following fashion:
If the above be sound reasoning, why will il
not apply with equal force TO the coinage of
goldl Nobody but owners of gold bullion ever
have il coined, and these owners constitute but
small fraction Of the people. And If it is no adj
vantage to have gold and silver coined, why
should the government engage in the minting
business whatever
If coming silver for-the silver bullion owners
does not benefit the people, how does the pro-
viding of bank notes to bankers benefit the peo-
pleP
How does the making Of money in any man
ner whatever benefit the people,
These questions knock for explanation in your
paper.
Now, gentle reader, how do you sup
pose the News tries to escape the force
of its own arguments thus turned
against itself? Why, it simply says
that it has never contended that silver
bullion ought not to be coined. Then
it must contend that it ought to be
coined. 1t, however, says the demo-
cratic platform stands in the way of
this. But this is an imaginary stumb-
ling block and ought not to stand in
its way q moment. Gold and silver
are the moneys of the constitution
and the platforms of the democratic
party have been pledged to the coin
age of both without discrimination
against either continuously since 1886.
The republican party demonetized sill
yer in 1872, and instead of restoring
free COINAGE it debased silver and
made it a commodity and required
the government to purchase so many
ounces of bullion per month at its
market value. This the democratic
party denounced as q 'makeshift.n
Permit us to ask the News the mean
ing Of this word? Does it not mean
something spurious for something gem
uine? 1t meansa s.makeshift' for the
full restoration of silver to lis consti-
tutional and rightful place along side
of gold. If the dictionary had been
searched through from beginning to
end no stronger term could have been
employed. But not content with this
denunciation of the republican party
for its discrimination against silver
and its abortive attempt to restore it
to its former functions, the democratic
platform of 1892 still further declares:
I'VE hold to the use of both gold and
silver as the standard money of the
country, and to the coinage of both
without discriminating against either
metal or charge for mintage.n "Free
mintage" or without charge for mint
agen means free COINAGE If it
don't, then baker don't spell baker.
Again the News says:
The answer to our correspondents FIRST ques-
ton is that the existing laws authorize the coin
age of both gold and silver, and both are coined,
in practice.
This Is a palpable error. Existing
laws do not authorize the coinage of
both metals nor are both coined. If
the laws authorized the coinage of
both the controversy would no longer
be on.
After saying it did and it didn't and
it does and it doesn't, and that both
metals are now being coined, the
News then reiterates its former state
ment that s'free coinage would only
benefit the mine owners and their i'm
mediate employees
We do not know whether to attri-
butte this statement to blissful igno-
rance or wilfull stupidity. But to cap
the climax the News boastfully pro-
claims that this statement of the case
never has been and cannot be sue
cessfully controverted
Ithas beenand is successfully contro-
verted by every writer who pretends
to be an authority on the subject. A
school boy ought to know and does
know that as the volume of money
increases its purchasing power dimin-
ishes and all forms of property en-
hances in value. An increase in.
the volume of money creates an in
dustrial activity whose influence
reaches all-like the pebble thrown
into the pond, the waves created by it
continue to expand until the whole
area is encircled. Before the demone-
tization Of silver one bale of cotton
would buy what it now requires four
and half bales TO buy. When money
is abundant it searches fer invest
nents; whenit is scarce, itseeks safety
vaults. AS all people, except the
small gold-redeeming bond-holding
class, are hurt by falling prices, so the
reverse Of this is true when prices
climb upwards. When water is album
dant people are l.rodigal Of its use,
but when the rains cease aud the riv-
ers and the wells begin to dry up peo-
pie anticipate the rawlings Of thirst
and those who have supply of water
in cisterns use it sparingly and guard
it carefully. The abundance or search
ty of nancy produce like results. If
our minis were open to the free coin
ageu Of silver it would make money
abundant and cause it to seek emplov-