The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-31
CONCERNING ONE JOHN SMITH.
The silver Question Considered as
Affecting smith rs an Individual.

The best way for the average man to
understand the proposed free coinage Of
silver is to bring it home 10 himself and
consider its practical effect on his af-
fairs.
Let US look at the case of man like
many men in the south and call him
John Smith. Say that Smith runs a two
mule farm of fifty acres, worth, with i'm
provements, $,0O0. He owes $500. most
of it represented by a mortgage. With a
fairly good crop year he expects to make
10 bales of cotton beside his corn and
some wheat and forage. He figures that
with cotton at So cents he will receive in
money about $50 and that when the fer
tilzer bills, taxes and living expenses and
cost of the crop are paid ne Will have
mighty little left to pay interest and part
on the principal of his mortgage, to say
nothing of little Christmas hxings and
things needed for his family and calling
for cash. His taxes take two-thirds of
one of his bales. The interest on his
mortgage at 10 per cent swallows two
whole bales. He has read the story print
ed in all of the newspapers of the man
who in 1872 received S72 for a bale of the
same size and quality he got S22 so for
In 1894, who paid his taxes in 1872, at the
same assessment and levy as In 1894 with
SIS and had S57 left to buy other things
with instead of the $3.50 he bad last year
Smith very naturally works 1t out that if
free silver coinage reduces the value of
the dollar by half and therefore doubles
the price of everything else he is bound
10 be gainer-that with cotton at II cents
he will get si5 apiece for his bales, that he
,aa.r, ID IL
instead of two-thirds of one, that one
bale instead of two will meet his interest.
Furthermore, he can take II of his Is bales
and wipe out the mortgage If he likes in
stead of finding the whole proceeds of all
10 falling short of doing 1t. His notes,
taxes and debts call for so any dollars.
Cotton at 5la cents costs as much labor
and requires as much land as cotton at
II cents. With the same labor and land
he can wipe out twice as much debt with
free silver coinage and silver dollars worth
so cents apiece as he could with the money
as L is. That is the way the thing inn
presses Smith. OF course the man who
holds the notes and mortgage would lose
half his money-would receive for the gold
dollars he lent Smith dollars with only
half their power of purchasing clothes and
food for his family, but that is not likely
to worry Smith, although he is a fairly
honest man. The papers call for so many
dollars" The law of the land calls
pieces of stamped silver worth fifty cents
dollars and Smiths conscience will be
cleared, he feels, when he pays them in
at the tax office and to his creditors. That
is the way it impresses Smith as he con-
siders the situation and. ON the whole, he
takes a very natural view of it and we
can not blame him. He works hard and
gets little return for 1t, things look dark
and discouragng to him and this CLEAN
of silver light is bright enough to dazzle
stronger and clearer eyes than his.
But the first thing for Smith to consider
is whether free silver coinage will in
crease the price of his cotton. That Is a
very grave question for him. Let him
consider himself as dealing directly with
the mills which buy his cotton. Ten OF
his bales must be sold to foreign coun>
tries, five of them will be used in this
country. That Is nearly the right pro-
portion. Last year 100000 bales of our
cotton went over the sea, and the mills
of the United States took 100000 using
round figures for convenience. The mills
on the other side sell their cloth to peo-
pie who pay in gold. Therefore these mills
must buy cotton on a gold basis, must
pay for it in gold. 1t seems but reasona-
BILE to presume that the people who buy
five-tenths of our cotton will fix the price
of il. We may have free silver coinage
mere bul We cannot IOICG IL OH l1lNeTDOOl,
and Smith will sell his cotton at Liver
pool prices fixed on a gold standard. But
he will buy his fertilizers, his cloth, his
calicoes, shoes hats, plows, mules, pro-
visions on silver basis. He will pay
more dollars for them because they Will
cost more dollars to produce. But he can
not make the English or French or Ger
man mills take that fact into considera>
ton in bidding for his cotton. Smith may
argue or it may be argued to him that
so long as cents in gold is u cents in
silver here he is all right. But his own
good sense must tell him that when he
sells in cheap country and buys in a
dear one, he is at a constant and serious
disadvantage
But there are other serious considera-
lions. There is the holder of the note and
mortgage. If it is bank, which lends the
money OF its depositors, all the people who
nave money on deposit will be coming
around drawing out their deposits They
Will not care to have the banker pay back
to them in fifty cent silver dollars the
hard gold dollars they deposited which are
good to buy hundred cents worth of cof-
fee In Brazil, or tea in China, or silk in
France. Then the banker will begin to
draw in what money he has out as fast as
he can get it, because he will not want to
get silver dollars for gold ones or fifty
cents for a hundred. If he is a private
money Iender II VIII be the same way. He
can understand things as well as Smith. He
doesn't propose 10 accept silver where he
lent gold. From everybody on all sides will
come the melancholy cry "Stump up.
smith! Pay up, Smith! Come and see US,
SMITH And everybody will jump on
Smith. The man who has the mortgage
VIII foreeloSe Just as soon as he can get
the papers out He would rather have land
than silver at 81 grains to the dollar Sill
yer may be 'the money of the people" but
1t isn't the money of those who lend to and
credit the people and help them make
their crops. Of course having to take land
instead of money may break the banks.
ruin the stockholders, worry the money
lenders. But that viii not help Smith any.
But Mr.. Coin in the other part Of his
famous book tells us that the United
States can single handed take all the sill
yer of the world and make every 81 grains
OF 1t worth sold dollar by stamping an
American eagle, In God =.a Trust" and