Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1895-06-27
VALID VALID OBJECTIONS
TO FREE COINAGE OF SILVER, AS
URGED BY THE sILVERITES

Free Coinage Would Raise Interest,
Lower Wages, Paralyze Industry,
Impoverish the Poor and Enrich
the Rich.
II am opposed" says ex-Congress-
man John Dewitt Warner, "to free
coinage of silver, as now urged by its
advocates: First, because it is only q
cloak, and a very thin one at that, for
what they really want-forced cur-
rency of deprecated silver.
81 am one of those who believe that
the main function of Government is to
protect each man in his freedom to do
what he pleases, SO far as consistent
with protecting every other man in
the same right; and am therefore op-
posed to all arbitrary interference by
Government with the business con-
Germs of its citizens, and especially
any Intervention by it in their con-
tracts which shall assist any man to
break, directly or indirectly, the con
tracts he has made.
when q man buys a coat for ten
dollars. the U who sells it to him
buys ten dollars for a coat. / am op.
posed to Government interference in
order to induce a man to accept a diff
ferent kind Of dollar from that which
he would naturally choose, or to OBJ
struct his getting whatever eort of
dollar he prefers; and when it comes
to proposing to compel him to accept
any kind of dollars ior which he has
not contracted, it is no more defensi-
BILE than it would be to compel @ man
to accept a coat different from that
which he had bought.
"Again, ! am opposed to so-called
free coinage'-that is, forced cur
rency-of silver for the very reason
for which it is pressed by its advo-
Gates, namely, that it would raise,
and probably would double, the NOM
inal price of all kinds of property, es-
pecially the commodities in general
use, prices of which are adjusted from
day to day. This means that goods or
services, the prices of which are con-
sentative, will be for a considerable
time at q disadvantage in comparison
with those which are promptly
changed. Generally speaking, whole
sale prices of food and foods fiuctuate
daily; retail prices weekly or month
ly; while rates of wages-the price Of
the one thing the w~age-earner has to
sell-change only at comparatively
long intervals, once or twice a year or
once in n or two years.
"The result. therefore, OF depre.
citation of our currency, which
would put up prices of goods in
general use, would be almost imme-
diately to reduce by one-half the
purchasing power of the wages Re-
celved by labor, and leave to labor a
long period of years of agitation and
organization before the rate Of wages
would BIO correspondingly increased.
1t is hard to imagine q worse disaster
than one which, to start with, practi-
cally reduces the wages of labor by
one-half and saen a demorali-
cation for years to come in the rela-
tions between capital and labor, pend
ingthe readjustment thus necessitated.
"Another reason why I am opposed.
not merely to the so-caled free coin
age of silver, but to the agitation of
1t, is its effect upon the development
of our country. Under normal con-
ditions the capital of all civilized
countries is at the disposal of any n
one who wants to develop either of
them, at q rate OF interest com
mensurate with the risk the lend
er assumes that there is of his
sure and adequate repayment. If we
have abundant capital at low interest
enterprising men can afford to improve
real estate, build factories, lay out
new railroads and enter upon every
kind of undertaking which builds up
the country and keeps labor well en-
ployed at high wages.
eff the rate of interest is high
and money hard to get fewer
can afford to undertake plans
which involve the borrowing of
money, and the result is a stagnation
Of enterprise, a paralysis in the de-
veiopment of the country, and unen-
ployed labor, with its pitiful and dan
gerous consequences. In proportion
as any one who has money to lend
fears that he may get back poorer
money than that which he pays out,
he will be conservative in lending it,
and will either charge very high in
terest or else will keep il lille in banks
and trust companies SO that he can
transfer it instanter in advance of any
considerable depreciation.
cit is the fear of depreciation that
keeps SO much money idle in the coun-
try, and it is one of the main causes for
the very high rate of interest charged
by those who lend money at all in that
part of the country where people be-
lieve that there is a real probability
of our coming to a silver basis. One
year of the prosperity that would
come to us all were the capitalists OF
this country and OF the world at large
absolutely certain that our currency
would never be d~epreciate would be
worth ten-fold more to our people
than oil the benefits which even in
their dreams the free silver advocates
imagine.
again, ! am one of those who do
not believe in new ways to pay old