The Monticellonian., 1894-11-02
FREE SILVER.
a Strong Appeal to the People by the Lit
 tIe Rock Silver Club for Free Silver.

i Strong Appeal to the People by the Lit
 tie Rock silver Club for Free Silver.
 At recent meeting of the Little | Rock Silver Club, composed of the solid
 men of the city and state, the follow | ing address was promulgated
 To THE PEOPLE or ARKANSAS.
 The persistent decline In tho market value Of l property in this state and In the United States | has become the proper subject of alarm. For i this decline there must be some radical cause. | We are firmly convinced that this cause is to | be fouud mainly In the decentralization of silver. In l7ee congress passed an act providing for the free coinage Of silver dollars or units each | to be ot the value of Spanish mtllod dollar as l the same is now current, and to contain S7lla grains of pure or 4e grains of standard silver r i These silver dollars were thus nal the unit and standard by which the value Of alt other | products we're to be measured The free colr. age of gold was also provided for, but the coin age Of gold was made to conform to the silver standard already established. When. in f834 gold had somewhat appreciated in value, con gress reduced the weight Of the gold dollar in order to bring it to parity in value with the silver dollar. This action changed the ratio from 15 -2 to 10 that Of l6 tol.
 This continued until 1873 wheE our large bondholders, residing mainly in England, by some trick or device, md without notioj to tue people, induced congress to abandon the silver standard and substitute therefor a gold stand srd The act for that purpose provided 'that the gold coins of the United States shall be a one dollar piece, which, at the standard weight of 25 sl0 grains shall be the unit of value :" Thus the unit of value was shifted from silver to gold. By the same act silver was proh bited from being used to pay debts in sums of more than B From that time silver ceased to be re demption money and the silver dollar took its place with the greenback dollar as a mere prom is Of ha fO ha bot dollar in gold coin. Silver, being thus demone tized, its coinage was restricted 10 such an amount us 1t was thought the government could safely undertake to redeem in gold This ac tion of the United States forced Germany France, and other European states to adof.t the gold standard, which they immediately did.
 At that time about one-half the worlds sup ply of money was in silver. there Being about S 500, GOO 000 each Of gold and silver. From the earliest times silver has been recognized and used as money. At the very time Of the pas sage of the act of 1873 the intrinsic value of the silver dollar was u fraction more than that of the gold dollar. As compared with gold at the the ratio of i6 to there was proportionately less silver in the world in 1873 than there had been for q century preceding. Yet In the face of these facts and for the sole purpose of in- cyeasing the value of Sold and making all debts payable in gold, one half Of the worlds supply Of money was repudiated and destroyed. Sil- yer DtlHR luus SlTuGk uONu, BOiu began lntQe- diately to rise in value, as the authors Of the act Of 1873 intended it should do It was amere question Of mathematics that since one-half of the worlds money was destroyed the other half must double in value, and gold being mad the standard for measuring values, everything else must appreciate in proportion.
 We are told that gold bas not appreciated but that it is silver which has depreciate1 in value. We deny 1t. Although silver has been disowned and repudiated as a money metal, II Is, nevertheless true that a given amount ot uneoined silver will still purchase In the mar kots of the United States today more O. our products than 1t would have done at any time within the last forty years. The only astonish- ing thing Is that silver as a commodity has maintained it's purchasing power with such ten acity.
 The following table shows the relative mar ket value Of cotton, wheat and silver in the last twentytwo years. estimated by our present gold standard dollar: