Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1895-10-17
SILVER.
Another Communication from Mr..
Partridge.

I DEAR EDITOR:-l have TO tnank yO'
for your courtesy in publishing m.
!, letter some time since. Your answe
! was able and fair in its admissions
AS the campaign Of education on tn
subject is going on, | hope you vii
give silver further hearing. coult
cover a page with facts and figures II
support Of the silver side but will en-
deavor to limit space to salient fea
! lures. 1t is well to be assured in the
East that the "silver craze" is not dy'
i, ing but, on the contrary, is growing
with new and important converts
Nor is it confined to silver mine own
ers, as is alleged, but of $40 delegates
to the recent bi-metallic convention
held in this city, only five had any di-
rect interest in silver mines.
| have read the page OF gold matter
I in your last issue. Not one OF the ar
ticles goes to the root of the subject,
from the silver standpoint, while there
are many misstatements and the
whole drift is misleading.
The one ad captandum argument
ut would be grand thing for the
mine owners to sell q 50-cent dollar
to Uncle Sam for 81. 00"--is the staple
argument of the goldiies. The same
sort OF answer would belt is grand
thing to get $500 worth Of property
| for $l.00 in gold, and in scaling of
mortgages.
/ There seems to be in the East a poor
conception Of silver mining-that
mine owners only are interested in
the value of silver and alone have suf-
fcred, whereas the disaster has affect-
ed the whole world. Let me illus
trate. Take the one camp Of Lead
lville, Colorado. 1t has produced
from an otherwise barren section of
few square miles, since 1878, about
$500, 100000 in silver, gold, lead and
iron, all mined together in variable
quantities. There was paid out for
labor, in its various forms, Sl30,000,-
900. Montrose, city Of $4,000 peo-
pie, had grown up. Four lines of
railroad had been built to and beyond
the city. Nearly 5000 car loads of
freight every month, Of coal and coke,
ore and general merchandise, were
taken in monthly, and as many taken
out loaded with base bullion and ores
to be handled elsewhere. There were
employed 90 miners and 1000 men
in the smelteries. Before the advent of
the railroad itcost $40 per ton to smelt
every ton OF ore. Now it costs from
s. to $40, according to the refractory
character of the ore. | may remark
in passing that in California the aver
age cost OF milling gold ore is not
over Sl.00.
That city lived on the output OF
this mining. The railroads depended |
on its freight; the farmers for long
distances upon this market; merchants
and manufacturers in the East as
well as in that city-it ramified every
other industry.
All at once legislation steps in and
says, "You shall no longer have the
market that silver has had for centu-
RES And great industry that pre-
should be protected by all
means possible, and certainly by all
its past precedents, was, by stroke
OF the pen, bafiled Every dependent
value collapsed. And yet you in the
East say that only few rich silver
mine owners are hurt and only they
would be helped by the reinstation Of
silver! just as well say, "Stop every
mill in New England, buy everything
of England, because little cheaper;
only the rich mill owners would be
hurt!"
Here let me say, as Republican,
that the apathy and even derision with
which the Republicans Of the East ,
treat this great industry is travesty
upon their professions and consisten-
~. II this industry can be protected
BY shaping our financial system to {
that end and thus make fruitful the
otherwise worthless region, it is the
province, notably, OF the Republican !
party to do it and let exchanges follow /
With compensations. We have preach- {
d the doctrine that the prosperity Of /
me section helps every other, and have
We not bounticd one local industry II
30, O0O,0 900 annually to cave it from |
'uin by general law !? r.
So much in answer to the oft-re- g
uted charges that free coinage would i
benefit only few rich mine owners Z
NJ made poor, in fact, by an act Of &
Congress. Is it any wonder that they 6
ebel at such reversal Of the practice | b
# centuries II
The ''golden text Of the gold adj Q
'ocate is:-Gold always commands its
oinage value; silver does not" This v
las passed into apothegm. MI. r. G. i
iorr has rung changes on it thous- /,
nd times. He points to gold and B
hen to the bulletin board for his OBJ '
ect lesson. This is a deceiving and 4
owardly statement; for it conceals 3
he very point at issue with intent to d
apture the unthinking. To state the /,
not xr,n.,11 Iook..~.- =