Mexico weekly ledger., 1895-06-27
FOR FREE COINAGE OF COPPER.
A Clever Satire on the OFT Repeated
Argument for Free Silver
Coinage.


copper is anu ISE iullly C6AALeA4eo
has been the distinctive money of the
people. In the remote
prehistoric-period, the age of bronze,
when gold and silver were unknown,
copper was coined and used as the
''money of the realm" The bronze
money of Rome was IS per cent pure
copper and couid be found in the pos
session of every dago in the empire,
although the majority of them did not
even know the color of gold. To-day
in these United States copper may be
found in the pocket of the most hum
bic citizen, though you should search
there in vain for the precious metals
Talk of silver as the money of our
fathers! Copper is the money OF the
grandfathers, and is to-day, as it al
ways has been, the favorite money OF
the very poor and the debtor class, as
is proven by the fact that they seldom
use any other. Yet the rapaclty OF
the rich, the greed of the gold and sill
yer bugs who arrogate to themselves
the right to all the thinking on finan-
cial questions and to control h
money of the land for their own ben
eft, has led to the debasement of cop
per as a money metal and the limita-
ton of its coinage until business stag
nation has come upon the people, the
wheel of industry refuses to revoive,
! ar1 amman - nyrAT1 GfarvafinT - lE
abroad in this great land, teeming, as
it does, with every necessity for the
comfort and happiness of men. Who
shall say these unnatural and lament
able conditions have not been brought
about by the crime against copper, by
money functions, a gross discrimina-
| ton against it in favor of silver and
| gold?
How can this country hope to pros
per when the real money of the peo-
pie is limited to the coinage of a few
pennies? How can we hope to be-
| come a great commercial nation and
| capture the trade of CHINA country
that is copper bottomed so to speak,
with brass coins-until we do justice
to copper? How adroitly have the
gold bugs and silver kings led the
minds of the people away from the
true issue. and befuddled them with
abstruse arguments about the relation
of gold and silver-metals the people
rarely ~see-while they are restricting
md G,L,cT.,r. tIo hfSf Cr;nnI af-I hnpnI-
itary coinage of the masses-copper,
Oh We blind. How long! oh, how long
will you be SO deceived? The one
great issue before the American peo-
pie to-day-the II question of econ,
omy worthy the serious attention Of
thoughtful men who are fast falling
into the slavery devised by the Gun
ming of the gold bugs and the silver
kings-is the question of the free, I'M
limited and independent coinage Of
copper. a question before which al
other political issues pale into insignifi-
canoe. OF course it will be urged BY
the gold bugs and silver kings thai
copper is a cheap metal, not worth
nearly its coinage value, and we re
tort, sis that not true of silver?' Il
silver worth nearly its coin valuei
Although all of the production of sill
yer which a be spared from the arts
is absorbed for money by the worlds
mints, would gold be worth its coir
value if there was no demand for itfol
n,opav pTrnosec9 Ttrnat cpnnar fairly
open the minis to it, and if there are
not minis enough, build more mints
Let the historic money Of the grand,
fathers flow out into the channels o.
trade, and again will prosperity smile
upon us and copper will double il
market value.
"But we must have an internationa
agreement" Nonsense. Isn't the
United States big enough to take care
of itself? Isn't it about time we cut
loose from the apron strings of Great
Britain? Doesn't this argument satisfy
the most skeptical that we can safely
engage in the free coinage of copper.
Thirty years ago copper was worth
$50 per pound and wheat was worth
81 per bushel. To-day, owing to The
great crime against copper money
copper is worth 80 cents per pound
and wheat is down to four shillingi
per bushe1. Is it not therefore mani
fest that copper controls the price 0
wheat? Will the wheat raisers O
America longer tolerate these condi'
tons, or will they shake off the shack
les of debt and slavery which binG
them and rise up in their majesty. ant
demand the free, unlimited and indie.
pendent coinage of copper?
Until the unholy alliance between
John Sherman and Grover CLEVELAND
is broken down, we are slaves, ant
copper, the money of the grandfather:
and of the constitution, will be a tramp
among mints, seeking for the free
coinage of life, an outcast and hungry
in the house of its father. Desperate
ills require heroic remedies. The hope
of copper lies in the destruction OF
Grover Cleveland and John Sherman
Let these arch traitors be annihilated
and again will sweet peace and COM
fort and happiness, the children oil
prosperity, come to this distressed anG
debt enslaved people, with copper re-
stored to its own and ~enthroned the
monarch of moDava