St. Paul daily globe., 1895-06-01


the option of the government, in
gold or silver bullion, at the market
price. Let the coinage of gold and
Silver be Indefinitely suspended.
Second-There never has been one
single argument to advance in favor
of the free coinage of silver which
did not apply with equal force to the
free coinage of nickel, copper, brass
and iron.
Doane is nothing if not radical.
Under these paragraphs he prints an
editorial this week entitled 'The Free
Coinage of Copper" There is a gen
eral vein of sarcasm running through
it, which would make 1T interesting
and enjoyable by even the most radical
advocate of the free coinage of silver,
especially if he knew Doane Robinson
and appreciated his humor.
Copper is and for many centuries has
been the distinctive money of the COM
mon people. In the remote-prehis-
toric-period, the age of bronze, when
gold and silver were unknown, cop
per was coined and used as the money
of the realm" The bronze money of
Rome was SO per cent pure copper and
could be found in the possession of
every dago in the empire, although
the majority of them did not even
know the color of gold Today in
these United States, copper may be
found in the pocket of the most hum
BILE citizen, though you should search
there in vain for precious metals Talk
of silver as the money of the fathers!
Copper is the money of the grand
fathers, and is today, as it always
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 rapacity of the
rich, the greed of the gold and silver
bugs, who arrogate to themselves the
right to do all the thinking on fnan-
cial questions, and to control the
money of the land for their own bene-
fit, has led to the debasement of
copper as a money metal and the
limitation of it's coinage until business
stagnation has come upon the peo-
pie, the wheels of industry refuse to
revolve, and hunger-even starvation
is abroad in this great land, teeming
as it does with every necessity for
the comfort and the happiness of
men. Who shall say these unnatural
been brought about by the crime
against copper, by which it has been
deprived of it's full money functions,
gross discrimination against it in favor
of silver and gold? How can this
country hope to prosper when the real
money of the people is limited to the
coinage of few paltry pennies? How
can we hope to become a great COM
mercial nation and capture the trade
of China-a country that is copper
bottomed, so to speak, with brass coins
until we do justice to copper? How
adroitly have the gold bugs and the
silver kings led the minds of the peo-
pie away from the true issue, and
befuddled them with abstruse argu-
ments about the relations Of gold and
silver-metals the people rarely see
while they are restricting and debasing
the historical and hereditary coinage
of the masseS-copper. oh, ye blind!
How long, oh, how long will you be
so deceived? The one great issue be-
fore the American people today-the
one question of economy worthy the
serious attention of thoughtful men,
who are fast falling into the slavery
devised by the cunning of the gold
bugs and the silver kings-is the ques-
ton of the free, unlimited and indeG
pendent coinage of copper. A quest
ton before which all other political
issues pale into insignificance. Of
course, it will be urged by the gold
bugs and the silver kings that copper
is a cheap metal, not worth nearly its
coinage value, and we retort: 'Is not
that true of silver?" Is silver worth
nearly its coin value, although all OF
the production of silver which can
be spared from the arts is absorbed
for money by the worlds mints?
Would gold be worth it's coin value
if there was no demand for it for
money purposes? Treat copper fairly,
open the mints to it, and, if there are
not mints enough, build more mints!
Let the historic money of the grand
fathers flow out into the channels of
trade, and again will prosperity smile
upon US and copper will double in
market value.
"But we must first have an interna-
tional 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 free coinage of cop
per?
Thirty years ago copper was worth
$3.50 per pound and wheat was 50 per
bushel. Today, owing to the great
crime against copper money, copper is
not worth so cents per pound, and
wheat is down to four shillings per
bushel. Is it not, therefore manifest
wheat? Will the wheat raisers of
America longer tolerate these condi-
tions, or will they shake off the
shackles of debt and slavery which
bind them and rise up in their majesty
and demand the free, unlimited and
Independent coinage of copper?
Until the unholy alliance between
John Sherman and Grover Cleveland is
broken down, we are slaves, and cop
per-the money of the grandfathers
and of the constitution-wil be tramp
among mints, seeking for the free coin
age of life, an outcast and hungry in
the house of it's 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 comfort
and happiness, the children of pros
perity, come to this distressed and
debt-enslaved people, with copper re-
stored to its own and re-enthroned the
monarch Of moneys.