The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1895-04-05
Free Coinage of Silver.

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wit:
Q.) An ounce, or 4121s grains of sill
yer, the amount put in dollar, less
the alloy of Al grains, is worth in the
markets of the country only so cents.
The government takes this ounce and
by it's stamp says that it is a dollar,
and the fellow who carried the ounce
of bullion to the mint, makes so cents
clear, while the rest of mankind is tax
ed by the government to pay this so
cents on every dollar so issued. OF
course if the silver dollar is worth, in
trinsically, only SO cents, the credit of
the government makes good the other
so cents, and the credit of the govern
ment is sustained by taxation.
(9.) The Chicago platform says that
gold and silver must be coined on such
terms so as to make the dollar unit of
both metals of equal intrinsic and in
terchangeable value. The gold dollar
today is worth 100 cents in the mar
kets of the world, while the silver dol
lar is worth onty so cents. For the
government to take so cents worth of
the product of the silver miner and
double it's purchasing power by its
stamp, and not do the same by the
owner of gold bullion in class legisla-
tion and discrimination against gold.
The platform says that the two must
be coined without discrimination.
(3.) Free coinage of silver is not an
issuance of money direct to the people.
1t is an issuance only to those who
own silver bullion, and unless you are
one of these owners of silver bullion
you could not expect to be a benefic-
iary by the system. 1t would be an is
suance of money to Colorado and Neva-
da, because they have got the silver,
while states that produce no silver
would be Disseminated against. The
true function of the government is to
issue money, not direct to certain
states and individuals, but to all the
states and people alike.
Silver at the present legal and pur-
chasing ratio. which is 16 to l and 2s
or 80 to / respectively, the greatest
speculating scheme imaginable is open
ed up to the producers of silver at the
expense of the general government.
First, after the bullion owner gets his
ounce of silver coined into one dollar,
he goes to the government and de-
mands in exchange a gold dollar;
with this gold dollar he goes into the
markets of other countries and pur-
chases two ounces of silver. He then
carries this one dollars worth of act
ual silver to the free coinage govern
meut and she stamps it two dollars.
Thus he started with so cents worth of
silver and has made two dollars out of
it on the first deal. Now let's follow
him through the second deal: He
takes his two silver dollars, goes to
the government again and demands
gold; gets two dollars in gold and goes
into the markets of the country and
buys four ounces of silver, and carries
this four ounces of silver back to the
free coinage government and has it
stamped four dollars. Thus it can be
seen that every deal he makes he
doubles his money, and can make one
deal on top of another as long as he
can find silver in the markets of the
country to buy. BY this process silver
would be brought in from foreign
countries and gold would be driven
out. This, best argues the wisdom of
international agreement.
Free coinage of silver at the ratio of
16 to /, is in direct opposition to the
deliverance of the National platform
on this question, which repudiated a
free silver plank, and adopted the fol-
lowing;
1--WE hold the coinage of both gold
and silver without discrimination
against either metal, or charge for
mintage, but the dollar unit of coinage
of both metals must be of equal in
trinsic and interchangeable value"
Now, let's take the last party deliv-
erauce of the Mississippi democracy
and see what it says. The State Con-
vention, which met in jackson on the
sth day of June, 1892, to select dele
gates to the Chicago Convention, enun-
cisted the following platform:
There should be kept in constant
a fulI and sufficient supply /