The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1895-08-31
who Is Doing the Bribinsq

No thinking man can pay any at
tention to the assertion that the
newspapers Of the country that OPP
pose the free coinage of silver have
been bought up by "Wall Street"
and the "Goldbugs" But the alb
surd charge is so widely and conf
IDENTIFY repeated. that thoughtless
people may be misled by it; just as
some were by the old canard that the
"Cobden Club" was flooding the
country with British gold" to help
the cause of tariff reform. 1t is there
fore worth while to examine it a mo-
ment.
Since no one has yet produced any
direct evidence of the giving of such
brides, we must regard the differences
from known circumstances to prove
or disprove the charge If there is
some one whose interest it is to cor
rupt the press, and who has the
means to do it, aud if the press itself
is VIGOROUSLY corruptible, we may
be justified in suspecting the charge
is true.
The silver men assert that the pur-
chasing power of gold is continually
increasing, and they imply that the
advocates of the gold standard reap
the benefit of this increase If there
were a clique who owned or CONTROL
ed all the gold in the country, this
might seem plausible. But there can
be no such clique. All our gold is,
at this moment at the command of
every man who has anything to give
for it, either in work or goods. The
day laborer has the same right to
demand gold and the same assurance
of getting it that the millionaire cap
italist has. There is more gold coin
slowed away in stockings and chin
ney corners" to-day than is held by
all the banks in the United States.
The banks hold it for the sole pur-
pose of meeting the demands of their
depositors, and are liable to be call
ed on to pay it out at any moment;
but the small savings belong abso-
lltely to their owners. Have these
millions secretly and noiselessly com
bined to bride the newspapers? For
they are the only persons who have
either the interest or the means to
do it,
The case is very different with sill
yer. The owners of silver mines are
comparatively few; they are astute
and well organized; they can see
their own interests plainly and act |
as unit to subserve it. The cost of
producing an ounce of silver is GER |
tainly less than fifty cents on the
average, and it has been produced as
low as twelve and half cents. Now |
they are advocating a policy that
will compel the Government to pay
them $l.29 cents for every ounce of
silver they bring to the mints. Here
is business proposition that is as
plain as day. The profit can be fig
ured out to cent and does not rest
on any hypothetical appreciation
which no one can compute even if it
takes place If you had money to
invest would you not much rather
buy share of the mine owners prof
its from free coinage, than To make
deal with the goldbug tor part of
his "appreciation2"
If there is any money to be spent
In this currency question, one does
not have to think long to find out
whose interest it is to spend it. A
little consideration will lead fair
minded man to suspect that this cor
ruption cry has been started by the
silver miners to cover up their own
tracks.
There is one other matter worth
considering in this connection. This
is an age of newspa pers. People read
newspapers who never read the Bible.
The daily and weekly press WELD an
influence the like of which has never
been known before. If the American
people have allowed this great power
to be assumed by men who are so
mercenary and degraded that they
can be bought at wholesale, as the
silver men imply, it can only be be-
cause they are lost to all sense of
honesty themselves Not even Messrs
Stewart and Jones would dare to hint
at such thing, though they have
done, and are still doing, with GER
tain of their satellites, all they can
to corrupt our people and destroy
their integrity and honor.-Shep-
herGSt07pn ReUisfey