The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1895-07-02
ARGUMENT BY 1LLUsTRA-,~

~NI IAnH -.
made the following purchases Of o;~
coin at the prices named below.
| One Mexican silver dollar. .....
| One U. S. Trade" silver dollar. "S y
-
And the bank officer handed moho'
in change seventy cents in silver W.
will note that this was a business t,aN
action entirely in silver-that gold L-,
nothing to do with it. By this tranaas
ton I exchanged two dollars in II :"
paper money, silver certificates
two silver dollars, each of which W.
more pure silver in it, and more stand
ard silver in it, than can be found in
United States standard silver dolos
and besides I got seventy cents :,
United States silver coin to boot T..
this transaction I got more silver bnt
I got less money. In fact the onlv raoI
money I got was seventy cents given
me in change, or the boot" in tho
swap.
Note too, the trade" dollar, fl,
which I paid only sixty cents, hay 4o
grains of silver stamped on the fac n
it, while the standard silver dollar in
which all silver certificates are pays.
BILE, has only 4125 grains of STANDARD
silver in ia difference of u grains Of
standard silver in favor of the weight
in my Grade" dollar. What then
makes the difference, and this big ds.
elimination in favor of the STANDARD
silver dollar, and against my trade"
dollar7
Answer: The law makes the stand.
ard silver dollar a legal tender in the
payment of debts up to S. in amount
and the law does not make my Trade"
dollar nor my Mexican dollar a legal
tender.in the payment of debts at all,
to any amount whatever. Then take
away by legislation from the STANDARD
silver dollar even it's small debt paying
quality, above named, and give it moth.
ing more than its weight value, or bull.
lion value, as it is called, and the
standard silver dollar being lighter,
and having less silver in it, would nat.
urally and necessarily drop below the
sixty cent value of my 400 grains
trade" dollar. Men may ridicuIe as
much as they please the idea of fiat
money" but even the limited govern.
ment fiat" of the legal tender quality
to the extent of paying debts to the
amount of S., has by law, and nothing
else, given the standard silver dollar
though weighing u grains less than
my trade" dollar, the debt-payinga and
purchasing value in business transac.
tions an advantage of forty cents in
the dollar over my heavier ''trade"
dollar.
Let the goldbugs get the power in
their hands, and having already stop.
ped the free coinage of silver at our
minis, and it will only be a short step
then to take away from the STANDARD
silver dollar it's present legal tender
and debt paying quality, even up to
SIS in amount, and thus put STANDARD
silver dollars on the same footing with
trade silver dollars, and then look
out for a drop of forty cents IN the
dollar, and even more in the merchan'
disc or market value of all STANDARD
/ cil-or 1OI1o~y EGEN,aEH 0Wo cf1bhOPn
things" Just think of it, too, I hadto
go to a bank to buy my Mexican dollar
and my trade" dollar in order to get
a sample of them. None are to be
found now in circulation among the
people. Government never did issue
any paper silver certificates based on
these coins, or upon the bullion value
in them. And yet all middle aged men
now living know that Mexican silver
dollars circulated freely as money
among our people as far back as we
can remember, until the goldbugs be-
gan their conspiracy to get hold Of the
reins of government. And we also
remember when the ''trad9" silver dol
lar was issued by the government, 1T
was used by the people at its face value
IN all business transactions, without
question. The principal goldbug argu'
ment with the laboring, the wage earn,
ing people ie, that the unlimited use Oh
silver would cause wages to fall, to
their injury, and these same goldbugS
turn around to the business man and
say, the unlimited use of silver as
money would be too bulky and burden
some to him and inconvenient to carry
Bah! By all means, if goldbugs are
right. let the poor laboring man ana
wage Garner be paid in gold, for too
much silver carried about in his ragged
everyday working clothes Is liable 10