The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1894-09-28

liz. Pops raise a great howl about the de-
mone.zation of silver in 1873 Some 10 or 20 years
after they discovered great crime had been COM
lnittci. Affer the constitution was adopted IN
1Saa lie tnount or silver coined was little over
IS 500 eco Since the decentralization of silver IN
1873 there has been coined OF silver over
$50 coo GOO Since We want more SILVER IN crcnia-
ton which 81 me tVo laws should we adopt the
former CT the later2 1t like The Pops" do
not know what they want They have been crying
for sreenbacks without limit and when this theory
exploded they began TO cry Free Silver and
the Lord only knows what they will want next
Dark Horse
The above is stab at silver under
cover OF Populist abuse, and shows the
true sentiment of the Republican party
towards the white metal. 1t Is true that
more silver has been coined since than
prior to the act of 1873, but the figures
OF the Dark Horse are incorrect. Since
that time there has been coined of silver
S4I6,412, 835. bat from this must be sub
tracted S5,O78, 472 of trade dollar silver
that has been recoined which would
leave s411, 33344 1868, and not s540,000,OO0,
coined since 1878; the total silver coined
since the mints were first established
in 1913 is S491, 51O,223 which would leave
$50, 175,8 $50, and not s8,500O00, coined
prior to 1873. The Dark Horse distorts
figures to further it's argument.
The iniquity of the demonetization of
silver, however, is not in the amount
that has been coined, but in the fact
that it IS not a legal tender for public
or private debts. taxes. or revenues, all
of which must be paid in gold alone.
Ii the first place no great amount of
silver could be coined because the en-
tire production i'll the United States
prior to and including 1878 was only
S19O,45O,O00, while since then 1901, 256, 465
has been produced In 1869 when the
specie payment act was passed. which
deInonetized paper money amounting
to nearly 52,O0O,00O,OOO, large amounts
Of silver necessarily had to be coined
to supply the needs of the country.
The demonetizing of this vast sum of
paper money was the first act in the
conspiracy that eliminated in the en-
tire destruction of silver as a money
metal i'll tho repeal of the Sherman law
az the last session of the national con-
gress. From 1884 to 1873 it was i'm
possible for the United States to circu-
late the silver dollar i'll this country.
During all that time France maintained
gold payments and the unlimited coin
age OF silver at the ratio of 1515 to l.
Our silver dollars were worth 3 per
cent more than their face value to melt
and sell in bullion form; consequently
when the action of 1873 was taken there
were no silver dollars in circulation,
and the disastrous effects of that act
were not apparent until some time
afterwards.
Silver's~ demonstration was one of
the most reasonable, diaboIical acts
ever committed by any legislative body.
John J. Ingalls, in his great speech on
the silver question in the United States
senate, January Ii, 1891, said:
Now there is a deep seated conviction among
tae people which fully share that the demoneti-
cation of silver in 1873 was one element OF great
conspiracy to deliver the fiscal system of this
country over those by whom it has, in my OPP
inion, finally been captured. l see proof of the
assertion that that the characterization act of 1873
was trardenty corruptIy procured, but it is i'm
possible to avoid the conviction that it the
part a deliberate plan and conspiracy formed by
those who have been called SPECTATORS to still
further increase the vaIue of the standard by which
their Accommodations We're to be measured. The
attention of the people not called to the sub
ject 1t is one of the anomalies and phnomena of
legislation That bill was pending in its various
stages for four years in both houses of congress.
1t passed both bodies by decided majorities. II
was read and reread and reprinted 10 times ap-
pears by the records. 1t commented upon by
newspapers; it was the subject Of discussion in
financial bodies, and over the country and yet we
have the concurrent testimony of every senator,
every member of the house of representatives who
was pI esenI during the time that the legislation
was pending and proceeding, that he knew moth