Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-07-25

people. Dy wnlch tney QouDIe the val
ue of every dollar they are possessed
of and get paid two dollars for every
dollar of debt owing them. This dol
lar the people are determined to de-
stroy as a dishonest, thieving dollar.
We infer that Mr.. Sheets has reach
ed the conclusion that silver has de-
preciated TO such an extent that the
bullion in the silver dollar is worth
only fifty cents. We hasten to correct
the error the gentleman has fallen in
to. 1t is remarkable fact that silver
has risen in value, rather than declin-
ed. since 1873. An ounce of pure sill
yer will now buy nearly. if not quite.
as much of any staple article not trust
protected, as it did at the time of its
decentralization. This shows that the
value of the bullion in the silver dol
lar has not greatly varied, when COM
pared with every other commodity ex-
cept gold.
Whereas, a decided decline was to
be looked for, just as decline in po-
tatoes would be expected If they should
be rejected as an article of food.
The fact that silver has thus far
held its own demonstrates that, as
compared with 1873. there has been a
slight rise in its actual value since
then. The conundrum has frequently
presented itself to US: How would the
Silver King be benefited, or what in
ducement could he have under a sys-
tenn of Free Coinage. to coin his silver
into fifty-cent dollars? In other words.
if. after all. his dollar was only fifty
cents worth of silver bullion, with sill
yer a money of final account. how
would he gain anything by coming it,
granting that the position of the gold
bugs is correct, that the value of sill
yer bullion mas declined until silver is
no longer precious metal9
For his information, and In order to
assist him in getting at the facts, We
point out that there was no silver act
of 1872, as he asserts. Silver was de-
monetized in February, 1873, and the
panic occurred in September of that
year; that prior to 1873 there were a
hundred and five million dollars worth
of silver coined in this country, instead
of eighty; that there were a hundred
million of foreign coin circulating in
| the land which hao been made current
coin of the realm by law; that paper
money is not money as he asserts, but
only promise to pay money; that
there are only few million of silver
dollars in the United States Treasury
that can be circulated as money, in
stead of the vast amount ne speaks of,
the residue being represented in the
channels of commerce by silver GER
,iicates; and, in conclusion. that .sthere
cannot be an honest dollar without
1 putting OUlldT , worth vi metal lQIC
it,"
The present gold dollar is an ap-
preciated dollar, and we mean to take
the appreciation out of it. We have
given Mr.. Sheets more space than we
usually accord to communication ad.
dressed to another paper, for the reas
on he has embodied so many of the
fallacies and misstatements that gold
men make in arguing the silver ques
ton, which, in the light of the facts
tumble TO pieces at touch like g
house of cards. We advise Mr.. Sheets
to coil his lariat and give his bronche
a rest; for, at the rate he is going, he
is liable to receive more damage thar
did the Iron Mountain Railroad for re
fusing to establish depot at the poin
where the Houck road crossed it. HI
should repair his think-tank before
taking a new start.