Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1896-07-02
NUMBER 46

lOltc tCt1illutc Vhap Oh@ OhO 0Li u GAtHdIiH0
in 10000 Is ever paid In money in England.
Gold, silver and other money perform l per
cent of the exchanges in this country, and
credits in the shape OF bills, notes, checks.
ETC., do the other 80 per cent. The business
OF the world could no more be done today with
gold and silver than its inland transportation
could be done with OK wagons.
The 10 TO l orators, IN denouncing the act OF
1873, assert that half the money Of the country
was destroyed md hold oct the idea that our
money has been contracted 20 that extent. In
1872 our population was 40, $4,000 and our per
capita Of money was $l8. 70. III 1904, after the
country had been suffering with gold standard
for 81 years, our population IA G., $500 ~ and
our per capita of money Is &5.4, and we have
much better money now than 10 had then.
The adoption Of the gold standard ~ a meas
ure Of value did not increase the demand for
gold for use 70 any great extabt, Alcohol &
the standard for measuring the strength % all
spirituous liquors, yet that fact has never been
found 60 be very s%training on alcohol
A surfeit Of silver
Fourth proposition, that tho free and rnlim.
ited coinage Of silver at l5t 4 would create
unlimited demand for silver aad restore it 70
o par. Eow Toe mere coinage q silver can in
| EAy way increase It's use among the people 4
am unable 70 understand. " there was not
enough of it for use as money and the govern.
ment was limiting tho coinage 81 IL and there.
by denying the people vi the ase of It AZ
money, then there would b. force in the prop
osition to increase the coinage " silver, But
our condition is exactly the reverse Of that.
The amount Of coined and pncatued silver in
the treasury is S5l2, 100000, while the amount
in circulation is about slW,0aOGa
To encourage the use OF silver by the people
the government exchanges coined silver at its
mists for gold or leaal tender currency and
pays the express charges on che silver to my
part Of the country. This coined silver is all
good money The dollars aro legal tel.der for
all debts il any amount, and the halves, quar-
ters and dimes are cNchangcable IL sums Of
$50 for sold or other legal tenders. Nobwith-
standing the Endorsement qAered by the gov
ernmgat 20 promote tho tGe Of silver, Il has
hitherto been unable TO force into circulation
more than about one.ffth OF its stock on hand.
Then, why on this olamor foru4ars loinagef If
o man had FIVE times as much blood IA hisbody
as his arteries md veins wou}d circulate and
four-Gfths If it was lying idle around his
heart, would amy one say thHt such 81 man
needed "a troe anG unlimited A& iuu % bloQd2
a government can no moro induce people 60
csc money shfy do aot wort ttaa r. cnn iuSgc5
them TO eat what they do not ike. The true
placo Of silFertS1 Is a cham. money IL IS indls-
pensable for that purpose and uusuitel 70 any
other, and all the silver tongucd orators IN the
land cannot change this Pact THO 81, 800 and
So goldpieces were too small and We're unpop-
uiar as change money, Nnd tho government
stopped the coinage OF them.
On the other hand, silver is not q debt pay
ing money IL any considerable amount, Dor
the money of commerce., for the reason that it
is too bulky and too heavy. When a man gets
over s. or SIC u IL, he unleads on the first
bank he comes 10, and the bank unioads on
the treasury Thus the circulation of it is linn
tied 10 Just what the people viii use. When
the people set enough of a thing, they know
it, and you cannot argue with tnem about il.
They are gullible on theories. but intensely
practical in business.
'T7ie Great Crime OF 1873"
We have heard a great deal about demonetf-
cation OF silver. Let MS see the extent OF "the
great crime of 1879" In 1853, ia ordE to pre-
vent the subsidiary coin from going abroad.
the silver half dollar Waa rcdUCud in weight
from Go51 70 i2 grains, and tho quarters, dimes
and ) cont pieces were reduced Ia the same
proportion. These coins were then made o
legal tender for only IS ia amount, and the
coinage Of them FOR private accounts was stop
ped, bat tho government purchased Che silver
bullion and coined them as they were needed.
So, no crime was committed IA 1873 against
the halves. quarters, dimes and half dimes.
ThGs crime was committed under Miliard Fill
more. Ia 1870 these coins were made legal ten
der for suIng not exceeding $40.
In 1878 tho standard silver dollar of 4i2M
grains was lcgt out 81 the coinage act and the
trade dollar Of 420 grains was substituted for
It. This was done at the request Of the Pacific
slope, to enable cur dollar 10 compete with
the Mexican dollar Of about that weight, in
China and Japan. The standard dollar was
not q legal tender from Feb. IL, 1873, to Feb.
28, 1873 Gt which time it's rocoinage was provid-
ed for, and IL was reinstated % a legal tender
for all debts, in whatever amount. But $780,
00 Of this DADDY dollar" was coined prior to
1873, out of q total coinage of 81, 0,OO0,0 600.
Jefferson stopped the coinage of it in 1905 and
for 90 years not one Of them was coined, and
the daddies never complained. They did not
have sense enough TO see that Jefferson had
sold out to Lombard street, These dollars
were not ia fact legal tenders prior to 1878,
because tho people did not tender them in pay
ment of debts nor in purchase Of goods. They
had not been in circulation since Andrew
jackson was president, and hardly any middle
aged man bad ever seen one of them. The peo-
Pile had demonetized them by melting them
down or by sending them abroad for that
purpose, and to this good day they have never
been demonetized in any other way.
The act Of 1873 simply recognized what the
people had done and for five years continued
the policy that the people had been pursuing
FOR nearly half a century. The legal tender
faculty of this dollar was restored TO It II
years ago. The government has $3.50, 900, 900
OF 1t on hand now, and has stood ready at all
times TO furnish IL to anybody who wanted IL.
This is the biography Of the demonetization
mouse that has been evolved from a mountain
Of dcnunciation. The poor little thing never
lived but five brief years and has been as dead
90 q hpoA idii vi ~ years. nHilc 10 llVcu 1t
was SO harmless the people paid no attention
TO il. Shakespeare says, "The evil that men
do lives after them" But it is even worse in
the case of this mouse. The evil that it did
not do lives after It in the shape Of g~rasping
mine owners, two ply editors and unscrupu-
lous politicians.
Thriving on Assassination.
We are told that the standard dollar il not
primary money. 1t is not a promise to pay.
1t Is u legal tender for all debts, and it does
not have to be redeemed in anything en- the
face Of the earth. If any man can give a bot
ter definition of primary money than this, /
would like TO see it.
This government is the fast friend Of silver
money and of the people who use it, rather
than OF the American and English corpora
lions who mine silver and would coin it at a
fictitious valuation. Prior to 1873 this govern
ment coined sl44, 000,000 Of silver: since then,
$685., OOo,CoO. In "a years. under u gold stand
ard. nearly fur times as much silver was
coined as In 81 years under the so called dou-
BILE standard. A certain kind lady always
chlorrtormed her child when she whipped il.
Miss Silver was assassinated In 1879 at a time
when there was almost none of her In circula-
ton. and since that fateful day she has thrived
m aGfna ito. aud 10. --z.-~ So -.