Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1894-04-26
Silver in the Platform.

When the Republic takes to double
leads, Democrats in Missouri begin to
sniff the breeze and watch the wood
pile for evidence of the concealed dar-
key who is sure to appear sooner or
later. Like the temperance man who
was ..in favor of a prohibitory law. but
agin its enforcement, the Republic is
in favor of silver, but 'agin' its use as
a money metal. 1t says, The United
States find themselves under a gold
standard system with a large stock of
silver dollars which no act of theirs
can restore to a full money value at a
ratio of 16 to =" We would call the
attention of the Republic to the tact
that the genuine bimetalist does not
intend to restore the 16 to l dollar to
full money value on the gold basis.
That by treating that dollar as a dol
lar of final payment, the bullion value
of the two metals will be brought as
near together as they were in '73.
Bimetalists demand that when liabil-
ity of this government is made paya-
BILE in coin, silver and gold, in equal
parts, should be used in settling the &C.
count. The power to discriminate
against silver by means of the gold
contract should be curtaileG and the
banker be taught that, after all, he
is only a citizen of the United States,
with exactly the same rights as other
citizens, and must obey the law as they
do. The bimetalist believes that,
should this country be placed upon a
silver basis, gold would be congested
in other parts of the world and its val
ue thereby deprecated. while silver
would, by being restored to its use as
a money metal, rapidly appreciate, so
that the double standard would be
reached with little friction. The Re
public talks glibly about broken con-
tracts. Frustrated confidence, and ex-
lied enterprise, when justice threatens
to overtake the creditor classes; but
it is chary of its words in condemna-
ton of the crimes of '73 and '93, where
by our peoples debt was doubled. A
crime was committed when silver was
demonetized; let us make reparation
without delay by at once placing it in
the position it occupied before Lom-
bard street got in its fine work. Then,
from that standpoint, we can begin to
legislate anew. Mexico and Guate-
mala pay the same dollar they con-
tracted to pay twenty years ago, and
wisely refuse to pay one of a greater
value than that which their contracts
call for; and the United States should
see to it that they are not bulldozed in
to different policy. Let the Democ-
racy of this State endorse the 16 to
dollar. There is no need to have ev-
cry silver dollar now in circulation re-
coined in an effort to get silver COIN
age on the present approaching gold
basis. The attempt to do so would
make silver agitation ridiculous. Let
the State convention take definite &C
ton and by all means let it state its
convictions in regard to the ratio.
The Democracy of this state is not
arboreal in its habits. 1t knows what
it wants, and will not be put off, like a
child, with empty promises. The
Free Coinage that is to come ''some
sweet day by and by" is not the kind
it cares for. 1t intends to go to work
in earnest and at once to bring about
practical silver legislation. meantime
keeping an eye on the bunko-steerer.
Let the State Convention endorse the
ratio of 16 to 1, and strike the Wall
street contingent a blow full in the
face!