The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1895-07-11
STEEL RAILS FOR MONEY.
A Clatsop County Farmers Novel view
Of the Silver Question.

Editor of Astorian:-
The silver question seems to be in
teresting to large number OF United
States citizens, and every paper has
something to say on the subject, so
after reading on the subject during the
last two years on both sides 1 have be-
come convinced OF the following facts,
being just an ordinary human, with the
average votsr's intellect:
The people Of the United States have
right to trade in silver, therefore the
government ought to coin it and put
the dollar stamp on 1t so that any one
taking a piece of silver in trade will
know its weight and quality. AS that
stanmp IS for the benefit of all who trade
in silver, all that number ought to help
pay for the coming. There is not a bit
of use of the government trying to fix
the value of silver because that is
what trade does. The value Is fixed
every time a trade is made. So is the
value of gold. A silver dollar that stands
en- a gold basis is not SO good as
greenback, because a counterfeit one
cannot be detected, and when the
United States says It is worth a certain
amount of gold, she lies, and can't prove
the value, only by paying gold for sill,
yer, which is folly. When the United
States agrees Ito pay either gold or silver
for greenback, 1t is because of hav-
ing received its face value from the one
to whom the greenback is given. So
therefore the greenback represents value
received, is just debt and IS due from
the whole people to the one holding the
note.
Some people think that II silver was
given free coinage that gold would be
driven out of the country. Gold was
bad one day, and stabbed pen into
silver and wounded him so that his life
was in danger, now If silver gets OVER
his wound and is out once more he
will get after gold and run him around
l would, too, If any one stabbed me
with a pen and / recovered. He won't
drive gold out of the country, because
he has too many friends to shelter him,
more even than the fugitive slave of
old. Why even his enemies would give
him asylum. The s stamp on a piece
of metal means just quantity and quail
tty, and can't be made to mean any more,
trade will fix the value, circumstances
influence trade. 1 think good roads
would help the circulation Of silver, and
gold, too, for that matter (you see
am getting back to the old subjecD, and
tend to make them freer, If not FREQ.
Why If we only had good roads we
could bore a hole In each of the dollars
in silver, slip 'em on to an axle and
set 'em circulating over the country in
the shape Of cart wheels.
Don't you see?
Now II it is so that the sign s means
only purity and weight, 1t follows that
the sign could be put on anything in
which people trade and It would be Off
cial testimony to its correctness; for in
stance If 1t was put on a steel rail Il
would indicate the standard rail. Then
notes could be put out promising to pay
a stated number Of rails and banks could
be required to have deposit in their
vaults of $4,000 steel rails.
Wouldn't the bank be well ballasted to
stand a financial storm, If thus fixed?
The cashiers could not skip with the
deposits so easy as they now do.
Some might object, saying that re,
quiring SO many rails to be deposited III
the banks would take them out of use
and SO deprive the people of their real
value. The same thing can be said of
gold or silver, and is said, but while a
representative of gold, silver or steel
rails can be used as trade medium,
the representative of rails can't be used
for cars to run over.
The foregoing Is about the essence of
the silver question as 1t appears to me,
both sense and nonsense OF both sides.
Ii does not seem to me so interesting
or so intricate or so important as the
road question. d. F. STAFFORD.