Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-09-10
FULL OF SENSE.
CONTINUED from page ~

thus stimulated and at the same time
| degraded.
| partial and one-sided. because 1t is only
when profit can be made by mine
owner or dealer that he takes mis- silver
| to the mint for coinage. The government
! Is always at the losing end Stamp such
fictitious value upon silver ore. and a dis
honest and unjust discrimination will be
I made against every other form of indus
try When silver bullion worth little
more than fifty cents is made into a le-
gal tender dollar, driving out one having
n purchasing and debt paying power of
1 one hundred cents. ii will clearly be
| done at the expense and injury of every
| class of the community.
Those who contend for the free and un-
limited coinage of silver may believe In
al honesty that while the present ratio
of silver to gold is as thirty to one tnot
sixteen to one) silver will rise above the
existing market value. If it does so rise
the effect Will be to make the loss TO all
| the people so much less, but such an
opinion Is but a hazardous conjecture at
best. and is not justified .by experience.
| Within the last twenty years this govern
ment has bought about 400 millions of
ounces of silver from which it has
ccined approximately 1870 millions of sill
yer dollars ANA issued 1870 millions OF
dollars in silver certificates. and the
price Of the metal has steadily declined
ounce. What viii be the decline when
| the supply is augmented by the offer
ings of all the world3 The loss upon
|
his country has now been nearly 10
millions OF dollars
The dollar of our fathers. about whea
SO muci' IS said, was an honest dollar
silver maintaining full parity Of intrin-
sic value with gold The fathers would
| hay sPurned and ridculed Il proposition
| to make 1t silver dollar worth only fifty
| three cents. stand of equal value with Il
gold che worth hundred cents. The
(, experience IF all nations proves that amy
depreciation, however slight of another
! = l.. Ar,~ft. ,, .r..Il
| driven the more valuable one out of cir
culaiion. and such experience in mat
Ter OF this kind is worth much more than
| mere Interested speculative opinion 7 he
| fact that few sold coins are seen In or
| binary circulation for domestic uses t.
no proof at all that the metal is not per
| forming most important function IN
business affairs. The foundation of the
| house is not always In sight. but the
! house v ould not stand an hour if there
Were no ioundation. The great cnginery
tAa1 moves the ocean steamship is nos
tiwaNs IN view of the passenger. but
II is. Ii the sama, the propellins force Q.
| thv vessel. without which it would sooA
| becOme It worthless derelict
1t may he Instructive to consider mo
r,ent how the free and unlimited coinage
| Of SiiNer would affect a few great inter
| tSt% and | mention only enough to dem
ch*lrlte what calamity may lie betol"
us if The platform formulated at Chicago
IS permitted to be carried out
| Tne"e ere now on deposit in the say
| ifts IA Ks of thirtYthree states IUd
terrll9lits of this Union, the vast sum Of
| SZo0J00t,e0o These are the savings Of
| 3-rnost 5o0o.00Q depositors In many
cases they represent the labor and econ
omies of years. Any depreciation in the
value of the dollar would dcfraud every
! man. woman and child to whom these
savings belong. Every dollar of their
| earnings when deposited was worth one
hundred cents in gold of the present
standard Of weight and tinencss. Are
they not entitled to receive in full, with
interest all they have SO deposited? Any
legislation that would reduce it by the
value of a single dime would he an intoi
erable wrong 10 each depoSitor Every
bank or banker who has accepted tho
earnings of these millions Of dollars 10
the credit of our citizens must be re
CURED TO pay them tx in money nor
one whit less valuable than that which
these banks and bankers received in
trust.
There are. in this country. nearly six
| thousand building and loan associations
with shareholders to the number of L..
more than 5000 600 Their average OF
| holdings is nearly $500 per capita and in
many cases they represent the savings
Of mon and women who have denied
| themselves the comforts Of life in the
hope of being able to accumulate enough
TO buy or build homes Of their own.
They have aided in the erection of over
4 million of houses, which are now af-
fording comfort ana shelter for five nit
lions of our thrifty people.
Free coinage at the arbitrary rate o.
would b. equivalent to the confscatiou
of nearly half the savings that these peo-
PIE have invested. 1t would be tanta-
mount to war upon American home
makers. 1t would be an invasion Of the
homes of the provdent. and tend di-
rectly to destroy the stimulus to en-
deaVor and the compensation of honest
toll Every one of the shareholders OF
these associations is entitled to be repaid
in money OF the same value which he
deposited by weekly payments or other
wise III these companies. No one of them
should he made homeless because a po-
| lltlcal party demands a change in the
money standard of our country. as an
experiment or as d concession to selfish
ness or greed.
The magnitude of the disaster which
would uVertake these and cognate inter
est becomes the more striknglY appar-
rnt when considered in the aggregate
Stated broadly. the savings banks life
Insurance and assessment companies ana
building loan associations Of the country
hold in trust Sl5309, 7l73Sl. The dehaSe-
ment of the currency ito a silver basis
as proposed by the Chicago platform
would wipe out at one blow. approx
mately 81 962.50i SIT of this aggregate. Ac-
cording to the report Of the department
| Of agriculture. the total value Of the
nam cereal crops in this country IN 1S9,
WAS $995.4 107. SO that the total sum
belonEins to the people, and held in
BE obiitcratcd by the triumph of free ana
unlimited silver coinage, would be seven
and one-half times the total value OF the
|
The total value of the manufactured pro-
ducts Of the country for the census year
! of 1890 WAS $4.312. 531. 2S3. The establish
ment of silver basis of value as nov
proposed. would entail loss to these
three interests alone equal to eiGhty-five
per cent of this enormous output of all
| the manufacturing industries of the
| Union. and would affect directly nearly
one-third of its whole population.
| one hundred and forty millions of dol
lars per annum are due to pensioners of
the late war. That sum represents blood
spilled and suf1erings endured in order to
preserve this nation from diSintegrat ion.
In many cases, the sums paid in pen
sions are exceedingly small; in few. if
any. are they excessive. The spirit that
farthing is the same that would organic
sedition destroy the peace ana security
: Of the country. punish rather than re-
ward our veteran soldiers and is un-
, worthy of the couptenanee. by thought
@ or votes of any patriotic citizen of what
| ever political faith. No party until that
- which met in convention at Chicago, has
ever ventured to insult the honored sur
. ! viNors Of our struggle fer the national
= | life by proposing to scale their pensions
= horizontally. and to pay them hereafter
. III deprecated dollars worth only fifty
three cents each.
The amounts due, in addition to the
. | interests already named. 10 depositors
n and trust companies in national. state
: and private banks, to holders of fire and
lpCttlpnt 400 ini tn bf13 .s,, OF