The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1894-07-20

eO1slnue 20 discharge syeHT duty HoW per
formed by gold. Gan Is Be possible that
free coinage Of silver here VIZ make gold
more valuable abroadf If e takes wings
addition Of $500, 100000 In gold to the
supply OF other nations have tendency to
increase the value of the gold coin3 You
cannot increase the vslue Of gold abroad
by increasing the supply. You must
either diminish the supply or increase the
demand.
Why would our gold leave usf Would
it 60 to Europe 60 pay our debtsf That
could not hurt Us. Would is be used to
make purchaser Certainly, no American
would buy what he did not want from Eu-
rope simply because We adopted free coin
age. Suppose gold should 60 TO premium
of 90 per cent. What would e mean?
Simply, that the price in silver Of all prod
ucts would rise 20 per cent. How wonld
We suffer by thatf They claim that we
have S6oO, 900, goo of gold in the United
States If that should 60 TO q premium
Of 20 per cent, it would make difference
of $120,OO0OOO. The benefit to the farm
ers OF an increase of 20 per cent. on the
price Of corn would equal that in one year.
We are also told that foreign nations win
not take our silver money. For all which
We shall be truly thankful. We do not
want them to take our silver money. We
need every dollar that can be coined right
here. They do not take our silver money
now; but our silver answers our purpose
just as well as if they did. If We were to
coin every ounce of silver that can be
mined in the world for the next five years,
and allow not an ounce to be used in the
arts or by other nations, We would not. at
the expiration of the five years, have as
large per capita circulation as the late
republican state convention of Pennsyl-
vania demanded. We have a population
of 20 millions, in round numbers. The
greatest amount of silver ever mined in
one year was 1872 million dollars -less
than So per capita for the people of the
United States. So, if we had free coinage
for five years, we would not increase our
currency $14 per capita. And does il not
OCCUR to you that if We deprived all other
nations of silver for five years the demand
for silver would become so great that We
should hear no more Of the difficulty of
maintaining the parity? And who would
be injured Absolutely no one. For,
while it might appear that the capitalist
might sustain loss, the stimulus TO en-
terprise which would result from the free
coinage of silver would make such thing
as idle money unknown. The profit to
the capitalist is greatest when capital is
active when industry is Cesseless.
In studying this question, many enOoun-
ter great difficulty because of their wrong
estimation of money. The celebrated Pc
litical economist, John Stuart Mill, says:
"There cannot, in short, be intrinsically a
more insignificant thing in the economy
of society than money, except in the char
acter of a continuance for sparing time
and labor. It is & medium for doing
quickly and cOmmodiously what would be
done though less quickly and commodi-
Ously without it; and, like many other
kinds OF machinery, it only exerts dis
tinct and independent influence of its own
when it gets cut of order.''
Only the miser gets money to hoard it.
Other people seek money to loan or to sell
it. When a man sells corn or cattle or
cotton for money he simply buys money,
and when he buys corn or cattle or cotton
for money he sells money. Every man
who borrows money simply hires it, as one
would hire team from a livery stable.
But, as every one is struggling so to get
money for what it will buy, We seldom use
the word buy without conveying the idea
of purchasing with money.
The capitalist who opposes the free
coinage of silver is sacrificing a perma-
nent advantage for temporary one. It
is never to the advantage of creditors to
bankrupt their debtors. When they do
that, they are in the situation of the man
who killed the goose that laid the golden
egg. This persistent falling of prices is
bankrupting not only the merchants and
manufacturers, but is also bankrupting
the farmers of the land.
Take the example of a creditor in the
East who has loaned $1,000 to a Saline
county farmer. What does he believe will
benefit him most, the prosperity of his
debtor or the bankruptcy of his debtor?
He does not want the farm. He wants his
interest paid promptly and his principal
returned. If the debtor becomes bank
rupt the creditor is compelled to take the
farm; and, if prices continue to fall, he
will be compelled not only to lose mis- in
terest, but, failing to find a purchaser who
will pay as much for the farm as ne loaned
upon it, he finally sacrifices part of his
principal. What is of more Importance,
the farmer is changed from an independ-
emit home owner to dependent tenant.
Suppose we should admit that the re-
monetization of silver would make money
SO plentiful that it would for time be an in
Justice TO the creditor. Then you cannot
avoid the conclusion that the demonetiza-
ton of silver was rank injustice to every
debtor in the land. If the debtors of the
Ad4AA AeSFO lux ~ JOdA9 OOCA SdACAA1S
Justice by reason of the demonstration
of silver, is it anything more than fair
that the shoe should be worn on the other
foot q little while? The debtor class in
this country is by far the larger class, and
if the remonetization of silver would bene-
fit the debtor class, then, in q country
where We are supposed TO be seeking the
greatest good to the greatest number,
there should be nohesitation about adopt
ing free coinage.
Bat this question ought not to be ham
pered by any such considerations. We
favor the free coinage of silver because it
Is emphatiCally right and proper. We are
a new nation. We are yet In the forma-
tive period. The possibilities Of this
country are IN their infancy. If all of the
people of the United States inhabited
Texas, her population would not be as
dense as the population Of Germany.
For thu TavoI0v.uaank of khia fs1uufFv Ne,