The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1895-06-20

down in some deeply subterahneal
strata of our planet hitherto unexplOr
ed there may be found extensive de
pOsits Of silver and gold, miles in area
whole belts, zones In circumference 0
the metals heretofore known as preci
ous-but this Is u mere dream; no one
believes it.. The faith and credit O
mankind in the natural and uncon
querable limitation of supply as t.
disturbed, rs it did at the first dawn OF
commerce ; as it did in the days of the
old patriarch whose silver was "cur.
rent money with the merchant"
There has always been q difference
between the commercial or bullion
value OF the two metals and the legal
or coinage value. This characteristic
or difference attaches to both. No
denomination of the gold coinage OF
the Uuited States has u bullion value
equal to the legal value thereof. The
be. The whole series of these gold
coins is made from bullion only nine
tenths tine. L do not go into the rea-
sous for this-I state the fact. The
whole OF the gold coinage is tithed.it
Is placed under par bullion value by
the subtraction Of one-tenth this is
why these coins outside of our own
country pass only by weight, not by
count. The missing tenth is what IS
called alloy. This alloy is not gold
at all; it Is a mixture of copper and
of copper. Of course, this alloy re-
| duces the commercial value us metal
OF the series Of gold coin. This is now
here spoken of because of very curl
ious claim made by the advocates Of
gold monometalism, that q piece Of
money whose bullion value may be less
than its legal value is unsound and is
dishonest.
1t is the same with the silver coin.
age. the dollar and that part called
subsidiary money. This is coined
gold coins the alloy is tenth,
wholly OF copper and besides this the
proportion of grains Of metal used
diminishes with the denomination of
the coins. The half dollar has but
1872 grains, q good deal less than half
the number of the whole dollar; the
quarter dollar has only ninety-six
grains the dime has only thirty eight
grains-the holder of ten dimes has
only $50 grains, yet he can get halves
or quarters for the whole of those dimes,
Notwithstanding the commercial price
OF the metal in them is very far below
its lawful value. The nickel passes
for five cents--the bullion value of the
metals which compose it is not half
, the legal The cent coined by the
United States, made of 50 parts of
copper and parts in tin and zinc is
worth as metal commercially not inUre
than one-third Of it's lawful Or legal
value, which is the one-hundredth part
of u dollar.
Still we have no other coin than this.
a II ha "a ,ubnO cattlnl
are paid in it. The largest payments
are made in the alloyed gold, and the
silver 1ollar with it's group of fraction
al parts are subsidiary cainage per-
forms the functions of money--is pass
ed, paid and received as coin of ulti-
mate liquidation. Is this an honest
condition of business and finance
According to the test Of the enemies
OF bimetalism that the legal value of
coined money must be the same rs the
commercial or bullion value Of the
metal in it nothing could be more
dishonest. According to that test
! there is not, and cannot be, an honest
dollar OF either silver or gold, nor an
honest part or fraction Of the same
as for the nickel it is viler than the
dime, and the honest penny is banished
forever.
According to this same test and
rule of coinage there is not All honest
coin in the treasury, there is not a
piece of sound, safe money in the
country. | have read the story of q
good woman, poor widow, who long
ago cast her mite into the treasury :,
and 1t was said of her that she had
given more than them all. Tho mite
was the smallest Jewish coin. 1t was
worth in legal value about two mills
OF our money. What was the bullion
value of the mOrsel Of copper out of
which it was made? Not one mill :;
not half q mill--less than this. The
coinage reformer of our day would say
This was dishonest money-unsound.
Why, then, did the celestial benedic-
tion rest upon a fraud so palpable L?
Nay, but this was lawful coin, having
a legal value. 1t was indeed honest
money. The law made ii, she gave it.,
and the blessing and the glory of the
mite yet remain.
THE PLATFORM AND RESOLUTIONS.
The following is the platform and
resolutions adopted by the convention,
upon which all the friends of silver
harmoniZed without any trouble:
Silver and gold coin have in all ages
constituted the money of the world,
they were the money OF tho fathers of
tho Republic, the money of history and
of the constitution.
The universal experience Of man
kind has demonstrated that the joint
use of both silver and gold coin as
money, constitute the most stable
standard of value, and that the full
amount of both metals should form q
medium OF exchange.
The demonetization of either of
these historic metals means an appre-
| citation in the value OF mOneY, O. fall in
the price of commodities, diminu-
tion Of the profits of legitimate busi-
ness, causing Increase in the burden
Of debts, a withdrawal of money from
the channels of trade and industry
where it no longer yields safe and
sure return, and it's idle accumulation
in the banks and the great money cen
tres of the country.
There is no health or soundness in q
fnanciel system under which hoard
cd dollar is productive OF increase to
It's possessor, while On invested dollar
yields q constantly diminishing re-
turn and under which fortunes arc