Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-09-23


CONGRESS.
Now we come TO the second question
of our Fourteenth St. pupil, whom we
do not accuse so much Of dishonesty as
OF simple ignorance:
Mr.. Chnton's second question was. why
and in whose interest was the aGt OF lo!d
| (the SO-called 'Crimeo passed! / nat act
| the alleged decentralization OF SiiNel =,
| did not strike down silver ana coulu no.
have been a crime" since II increased the
| coinage OF silver. Previous TO 100 SILVER
was little coined. and for years niue hdd
| been in circulation: since thal UNI VI
| have coined fifty times as many SLY ~
lars as had been coined in the entire ms
tory Of the country down TO 1910. lhal II
the way silver was dlscrl'lllii''e '
against .
money metal fiftv fold and brought 1t into
active circulation. and under wnlch the
silver dollars are kept a. parry WI
gold wasn't much of Il crime was II -l l4
ii seems to have been done in the interest,"
of the soundness of our currency system.
To ''demonetize" means to Wi'hdra" from
use as money and since the act OF $50 we
have greatly increased the use OF SlINSi
as money Silver was not demoneuZeu
its free coinage was stopped. The markct
value of silver then worked against coiu-
age. Under limited coinage we nave zone
more for silver than we ever 9la pvIole
and have maintained saie pohcy'
We quote our neighbor in full II pre-
sents the same old claim that silver was
not demonetized because We have coined
more silver dollars since 1873 than be-
fore. But why have we done this? Was
il not because SILVER WAS MORE
VALUABLE THAN GOLD UNDER
FREE COINAGE? Why is it not so
now? Why Is the silver dollar worth
but half the gold dollar, or rather, why
is the gold dollar worth double the sill
yer dollar? 1t was not so before silver
was demoneized. and more gold than
silver at the legal coinage ratio has been
coined since 1873. AS to the assertion
that silver has not been demonejized,
that is literally absurd, and is a claim
not advanced by intelligent goidDugs.
Silver is demonetized because it has not
since 1878 been recognized by The United
States government as money metal.
To make this plain to our Fourteenth
81. scholar, we will put it this way;
SuDpose he had some gold bullion and
some silver bullion. Before the demone-
tization law of '7S was passed he could
take both his gold bullion and his silver
bullion to the mint and get both coined
into gold and silver money al the ratio
of 16 of silver to of gold. He could
take both his gold and his silver to the
mint and have both coined into money.
Has he been able to do that since the
passage Of the act demonetzing silver
in 1873? No indeed! What is the sit
ua-ion now? He can take gold bullion
TO the mint and nave il coined without
charge, but NOT SILVER. Silver is
barred; it is no longer recognized by the
United States government as money
metal. 1t is. consequently, demone-
TIED. Hence, half our money metal is
taken from circulation and, as a result,
the other half, gold, has appreciated in
value to that extent; it has become
scarce and dear and will consequently
buy twice as much of labor and farm
products as il would when the law rec
ognized silver as it does gold, and the
laborsr and the farmer, consequently,
must give twice as much to get dollar
as they did prior to '73. The conse-
quence is that the Wall street million
aire is getting rich twice as fast as he
ough; to and tAe farmer and the work
ingman are getting poor in exactly
the same ratio. If this plain.
simple statement of a plain, simple
proposition is "arraying the masses
against the classes" we can't help il,
and the organs of the classes will have
to make the most of it. 1t is the truth
and honest men are not afraid of that
Now we come to kindergarten lesson
No 8:
Mr.. Chiltons third proposition was as
! follows:
"There is not enough gold in this country
! to transact the business of the country.
/ II this is true. there must be some other
basic money. and 1t has been silver from
! time immcmOrial. When the people had
il they were happy; and their present dis
content is due 10 demonetzatiOn.'
while the people had il they We're
/ happy That IS the veriest nonsense
| while the people had it, there were but
! 100000 silver dollars in existence and
none Of them in circulation. Now we have
more than 400000000 of them, and silver
! dollar is not a curiosity.
Mr. ChiltOn'S stock arguments are no
better than his stock propositions.
Our Fourteenth St. pupil does not I'M
derstand Mr.. Chilton's proposition,
which is that silver was the BASIC mon
ey of the country prior to 10. When
products were measured by that stand
ard the people were happy and content
| ed. They had an honest medium Of ex-
change-a dollar that was worth no
more nor less than thsir products and
labor whether that dollar was gold or
silver. They got what they earned and
were paid in full in good American
money for what they sold. But things
have changed since then, or, rather our
money system has been changed. 1t is
true that we have fifty times as much
silver money as we had prior 10 70, but
WE HAVE NOT AS MUCH AS WE
OUGHT TO HAVE, WHILE WHAT
SILVER MONEY WE HAVE Is NOT
, MONEY OF FINAL REDEMPTION, IF
. WE ARE TO MAINTAIN THE GOLD
STANDARD, AND STANDS TO-DAY