The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1894-12-28
Friday, Dec. %, 1894.
For What the Peoples Party is Here.

For What the Peoples Party is Here.
Some of the Populist papers it seems to
us are giving themselves needless concern
about the free coinage Of silver and the
party making silver the main plank or
the only plank in the platform. Such
speculation is idle, but no. less than the
railing which comes from the same source
experimenting that the leaders contem-
plate dropping the nationalistic planks
and forming coalition with the "free
silverites" of the old parties. Silver, these
distressed people say, is commodity, a
product of the country of commercial
value, that free coinage is to create a
monopoly in favor of mine owners and
much more of such loose talk All of
these objections, if they rise to the dig
nifty of objections, apply to gold. 1t is a
prodnct of the country, the free coinage
of gold creates monopoly of the metal,
The editors who express themselves in this
loose way evidently don't understand the
free coinage question. The free coinage OF
silver would greatly weaken if not entirely
break down the gold monopoly, the
most dangerous monopoly OH earth. The
free coinage of silver while benefting the
mine owners, would not be at the expense
of any other industry except the gold
mine owners and the gold monopoly.
The free coinage of silver would benefit
every debtor in this ard other debtor
nations. The gold bug aristocracy of
England are the people that would feel
the effects of free coinage of silver i'll a
way they would not relish The free
coinage of silver means great deal more
to the United States than the addition of
eighty or ninety millions of dollars an
nually to the circulation. 1t means the
immediate advance of silver to I2o cents
an ounce throughout all the single gold
money nations of Europe, or it means an
immediate transfer of trade between
Mexico, Central and South America, to
the United States. These nations would
not buy yard or pound of goods in
markets where their silver was worth only
SIS or 90 cents an ounce when they could
purchase I29 cents worth of the same class
of goods i'll this country for an ounce of
silver. All of Europe produces but
comparatively small quantity of silver
nothing like enough to supply the de-
mand, and if the chief supply did not
come from America, silver would rate
much higher in all European countries
than I6 toI.
This is the true light in which to view the
free coinage of silver There is another
comprehensive view to be taken of the
question. 1t is self evident result that
silver would at once rise throughout the
world to the same value it was at the
minis of the United States, and when this
took place the white metal would flow to
Europe more rapidly than gold 1t could
not be kept in this country No silver
using nation would trade with nations
that would not pay them in merchan-
disc as much as they could buy in the
United States for the same quantity of
silver. The United States could supply
every nation outside of the gold ring
nations with every kind of merchandise.
We could supply every want of the world
with manufactured goods. How long
think you would Europe contemplate
such condition and not tumble to the
racket" Not twenty-four hours.
The law of Congress which opened our
minis to free coinage would act OH the
commerce and business of the world like
pouring into the channels of trade four
thousand millions of new gold, because it
would at once raise silver to the money of
final payment of the world and bring gold
down till the two metals were on the same
plane in purchasing and debt paying
power.
But the apprehension that the Peoples
party will drop all other issues for that of
free silver is idle, and none who under
stand the questions before us for solution
will entertain it for a moment The
Peoples party is the natural result of the
monopolistic systems which rest like an
incubus on the prosperity of this people.
The silver question is but an adjunct to
the great financial question. To wrest
this money monopoly from the hands of
gold ring class and place it in the hands
of the people is the first work of the
Peoples party, and to further this work
the free coinage is necessary, to be fol-
lowed up by the destruction of every
other private monopoly of public utilities
This is the work the Peoples party was
born to perform. The financial plank of
the Peoples party should declare for an
independent financial system free from
all dependence or international alliance
with European nations, including in its
metallic money the free coinage of silver
at 10 to I, or if any change from that
ratio were made let it be I5H to I, but on
no condition whatever allow it to be more
than 10 to I.
Why Don't Returning Prosperity