Potosi journal. (Potosi, Mo.) 1894-1929, 1896-08-19
{, naturally followed .

emily. attribute this calanlitous re-
suit Of its election to the proposed
reform Of the tariff, so it was laid
due to our financial system. which
had. heretofore. been perfectly
satisfactory to the Democratic par
~. end never entered into the dis
c''-~ioaS between tha; parry ani
the Republican party IN tie cam
paign If 1892. In the spring Of
1899 Cleveland called the famous
extra session Of Congress and the
repeal Of the Sherman law, rcq1ir-
ing the purchase by the government
of / 500. 600 ounce. Of silver every
month. resulted.
Here Is, where the silver sentiment
had It's birth. With the repeal Of
the Sherman law the government
no longer furnished q market for
the product OF our western silver
mines. and the millionaire silver
kings had to take their silver into
the open markets Of the world. aS
the farmer does his wheat. and ac-
cept therefor the price fixed by the
laws Of trade. This. Of course,
di1 not satisfy the silver kings. Ii
did not add to their i1oai,leI mil
lions fat enough. They began
spreading the propaganda of Tree
coinage through their hired orators
and a subsidized press. The Dem
ocratic party, seeing a complete
failure Of lis old theory Of tariff
reform anI tle resultant los i
public confidence in the party, iel:
an easy victim to the ma3?lil.ationS
of the silver kings. 1t raised the
cry that the people were at the
mercy Of Wall Street and would be
ruined unless free coinage Of silver
was adopted, hoping that a wave
of popular sentiment would there
BY be created strong enough to
carry the party 10 success al the
coming election. With the money
Of the millionaire mine owncrs be
hind them and visions of further
power before them. it is not strange
that the Democrats :rc raising all
this cry about free coinage.
The silvcrs king themselves care
little about sentiment. with them it
is solely question Of profit. They
did not care Il rap about the So
called demonitization of silver as
long as the government was supply
ing market for the output OF their
mines, as We will show: In 1913,
when that great ''crimc was COM
mitted. tbs silver in Il dollar was
worth more abroad as bullion than
the 100 cents the dollar called for
on its face. Naturally our silver
went into other MAJ kcts than The
home mints, and the coinage OF Tie
silver dollar was suspended. This
suspension was entirely due to the
premium on silver. A few years
later. when silver began to decline
in Europe and eventually fell be
low par, the silver producers were
at loss how to sustain the price
of the metal. Our government WAS
appealed to. Congress was told
that if it would authorize the pnr-
t chase by the government of Il Ger
tain amount of silver each month lis
bullion value would be sustained at
par. These arguments prevailed,
and in 1878. by the Bland Allison
act, the purchase Of from 1000,
900 to 100000 OunccS OF silver
each month was authorized. For
a few years this plan worked very
well. though the decline III silver
bullion continued. Having found
a market for their silver the mine
owners began to produce more OF
it, and again appealed to Congress
to support the metal by increasing
the purchase. In 1890 the Shcr-
man act was passed, which requir-
the purchase of 4.500.o00 ounce.
each month. Still silver declined.
and Democrats as we'll as Republic
cans saw that it was a useless effort
to try and sustain the price OF sill
YER by legislation. and the purchas
inc act was repealed altogether il
1898. There was no demand fo1
free coinage previous TO this time
from the silver king; there was NJ
popular sentiment i'll favor Of it
What sentiment there is now. hae
its beginning with the men whs
had silver to sell and who want i
sustained at a fictitious value
Were the price OF silver today
what it was in 1913, we would no
hear Il word about free and indie
pendent coinage at a ratio Of Is t
| t." Ii such were the case silve
} would seek the markets Of tn
world instead of the mint, Of th
United States.
) Senator Jones is right, til
spread Of the silver sentiment he,
its beginning in 1898, in the selfish
ness and greed Of the silver kings
: Farmers and aaaiCs.