The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-05-15
CUNNING OF DEMONS.
TRICKS OF THE DAILY PRESS
How They Try to Destroy Truth by
Catch Words and Nick
Names.
A METHOD OF ASSAILING BIZ
METTALLISM.
philadelphia America.1

philadelphia America.1
The majority Of people do not think
deeply about subjects outside the
range of their daily employments; and,
with persons whose thought is super
fetal, sure method of discrediting
cause which may be good is to employ
disparaging epithets and phrases in
discussing it. Thus millions Of fairly
intelligent Americans, having heard
the standard silver dollar SO often al
luded to as 'lightweight'' dollar and
a dishonest" dollar, have the impress
sion that the coin has been tempered
with so that it contains smaller
quantity Of pure silver than it once
did. So firmly is this conviction i'm
planted in the public mind that many
men can with difficulty be per-
suaded to accept the fact that the
number of grains of fine silver in the
dollar has not been changed since 1892.
It is, however, easy to prove to a man
who is willing to be convinced that
the silver dollar is not dishonest" or
fraudulent. The method is to follow
the course of such dollar from the
mint through all the functions it per-
forms as debt-payer and an instru-
ment Of exchange, and to ask him to
show in what manner any holder Of
the dollar suffers from holding it? Not
only will the coin do the work OF a
dollar in domestic business, but with
it may be purchased, as we'll as with a
greenback or gold dollar, exchange
upon foreign countries. A dollar
which defrauds nobody, and which in
no particular wrongs anybody, can
not truthfully be designated dishon-
est dollar.
"Gulch- owners'' is favorite phrase
applied to producers OF silver by some
journals which desire to express for
those rather unfortunate persons a
feeling Of indignant contempt. The
word ssgulch'' is indeed not musical,
bat there is some difficulty to discern
why .. Eulch, OF itself, should be re-
gardcd aa offensive, or why ownership
of gulch should carry with it greater
discredit than may attach to property
right in q Hill or In parcel Of gfound
covered with undulationS.. In truth,
very little silver, II we understand the
matter, is extracted from g0lches, the
gulch being more frequently the re-
pository of gold; and.Sif to own sill
yer gulch be to deserve some PLEASURE
of reprobation, what is the desert Of
the man who happens to own . gold
H. In ID hi A4aa ~,
be regarded as the friend OF righteous
ness?
Considerable quantities of uncoined
silver are held by the treasury depart
ment as the basis of certain issues OF
paper money. The organs of the gold
standard apparently enjoy abiding to
this metal as pig silver" The word
"pig'' is not usually applied to silver
ingOts. Such application is made.
however, by the journals referred to,
because the associations attaching to
the word are not of the most uplifting
character. Here, also, it may be asked
why, if bar of silver may be reasona-
bly, designated as pig" and If that
designation imply discredit. a bar Of
gold may not also with equal justice
have both the name and the discredit?
The bimetallists of this country are
always alluded to by the gold-standard
press as SILVER men; and the as
sumption, indeed the clear accuse ton,
is that their sole purpose is to place
the country on silver basis. It is a
fairly safe assertion that there is not
one sane man in the United States
who desires silver recommendation, but
uniformly the advocates of silver re-
monetization are bimetallists. They
believe that the nation and the world
require for their prosperity the use of
both metals as standard money, at a
fixed ratio. In other words, what they
want is neither one single standard,
nor the other, but the double stand
ard, for many years in practical opera
tion in this and other lands. The ALE
CATION that bimetallists are "silyer'
men the sense that they wish for sill
YER money alone, is part Of the rath-
er shameless Misrepresentation with
which the gold standard people have
tried to obscure the truth upon this
subject from the view Of the unim-
| formed multitude.
Another phase employed for this
purpose is that which designates gold
as 1.-THE money of civilization" This
| is usually coupled with the intimatiOn
that. il Americans shall 60 upon sill
yer basis, their civilization will be like.
| " to undergo such process of degra-
dation that shortly we shall lapse into
| the social and other conditions which
prevail, say, in Guatemala. Any
American who really entertains such
apprehensions is entitled to have gen
uine doubt only Of his own ability te
hold fast to that measure OF civiliza.
ton he may personally have at.
tanned to. Surely he has no right to
| speak for the rest Of US. When he
! does venture so to speak he conveys a
rather insolent implication for which
no warrant, in fact, can be discovered
I'd to the year 1873, all the civilization
in the world. outside Of the British
Islands, rested upon gold and silver;
! and it would be interesting to inquire
in what manner civilization then diff
Tered materially from that which We
| now have. PROFESSIONALLY none.
tary system which is impOveriShlne
! the wealth producers of this country
! and forcing owning-.farmers to become
tenant farmers would hardly seem cal
culated to promote improvement OF
the American civilization with which
we have been familiar.
| The large employment of offensive
epithets may usually be regarded as a
proof That truth and logic are both
upon the side towards which sucl