The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1896-06-25

Btantly declined, and would decline u
we bought ten mllllou ounces a month.
simply because Congress cannot create
value. or, beyond reasonable amount,
invest a commodity with value when
this value Is not recognized IN the COM
mercial world. II Congress can legis-
late so that silver shall have more value
at the wish OF the silver minesowper.
why not ieglSlRte that wheat and corn
and all other products shall have more
VRlue7"
EEtCt ofFrre silver.
What would be the effect of free
sIlyerg'
'sThs free coinage OF silver at the
ratio of is to / by the United states
alone wcdld drive the six hundred mill
Ions Of gold now In use, out of clrculH-
tiOn," said the senator. because bank
eFS. and everyone else would hoaid
gold. This would lead to g tremen-
douH contraction, and 10 such q panic
a. the country has never known. OF
all the evils that have beset this CoIn-
try or any other, fiuctuating currency
Is the greatest, and OF all persons most
interested IN a sound currency Is the
lRb0rlng man. He. wants his savings
to be stable and certain. II he Is work
Ing for q dollar day he wants at the
end OF thirty days to receive money
worth so, and not worth only SO, II
would be hard on the people who, By
thrift, economy and hard work have oc-
cumulated savings and put them In the
savings hank In gold or Its equivalent.
to have these same savings paid back
to them in money worth only half as
much as the money they deposited"
What Is The cause OF the free silver
movement" /,
THE present silver movement Is sim
ply an effort to get something for
nothing, which Is reversing the laws
Of creation; TO create values where
they do not exist, This cannot be done;
It Is impossible. 1t never has been
done.
at Is estimated that the banks. trust
companies, building associations and
other similar institutions have more
than Ave thousand millions OF money
belonging to the people, money as good
as Euld. Now, " we had free silver
All this vast Rum would be paid back
10 the people In silver worth fifty cents
on the dollar. The people would suffer
a loss OF one-half their money. The
bankers and institutions would pay In
RIiyer. and make what the people lose.
You see free silver would defrHud the
peonie and help the bankers But this
would not be the only evil that would
follow; there would be many Others.
The credit OF the country would be de-
stroyed. We could not borrow money
al home or abroad 70 build railroads,
open mines, and build factOrieA we
have been suffering from business de-
precision for nearly four years. This
would 20 on. Our state as wen as 9TH
ers would suffer. The evils Of free stl-
yer would be greater than those OF Tree
trade" >
A simPls Question.
senator Elkins, you say values cans
not be created by law; then how Is IL
that hfty cents worth of silver is now
worth, when coined. a dollar, and pass
es for a dollar, equal with sold7'' .
''rha answer IS simple enough" said
the senator. "Just so long as the gov
ernment Is able 20 redeem silver and
pnner IN gold. juSt 80 long both silver
'and A pnper dollar Will be worth doll
lar in gold, although the paper dollar
Is not worth intr4nsicaliy more than n
cent, and the silver dollar lntrinsieally
more than Nifty cents. But let the govs
prnment fan 10 redeem In gold, then
silver and paper dollars fan in value
and ductuate from day TO day nccord-
ing 10 the confidence OF the people
IN the government that u Will some
day make both as good as gold.
'sTo further Illustrate. Just so dong as
n business man can pay his notes, and II
Is known ne has at nll times property
on hand worth several times the
amount OF his outstanding notes, Just
40 long will these notes be good az the
money'he promised 20 pay; but II a
man should negotiate his notes Tor a
greater amount than he Is able TO pay
or than he Is worth. then his notes
become OF little or no value,
There Is no more logic or justice IN
allowing the government TO coin or
make into leEal-tender silver dollars
ali the silver that may be brought 20
The mints from Europe and here and
cXpect these silver dollars TO be BOod
and pass as money, without proper
roId reserve, than to expect n man TO
81 able 10 negotiate and get money on
.au the notes he can sit down anu
write out without having property or
money on hand to pay his notes,
|Free and unlimited are not good
words in legislation. They are dan
"SIr. Senator, what.does free and un-
limited coinage Of silver mean: ..
at means that sixteen ounces OF sll-
yer now worth iifty-onc or htty.two
cents per ounce In the markets ot tIe
world should by law permitting tTee
coinage of NIL silver be made equal IN
value tO one ounce OF gold, worth N lhe
same markets about Sl2, For instance
ane ounce OF gold with proper alloy,
StHndnrd weight and Hnenessl will coin
IN Vnid dollars Sis 60. Sixteen ounces
Of silver viii coin SIS 60 In silver dollars.
Sow, the value or price OF siHteen
ounces Of silver to-day in tho markets
II 80 ~.
"If we had free coinage law the pro-
NJ ON colBlng this silver would be exact
ly IS CO, which man would make on
an investment OF 81 ~, or a profit OF "
per cent tn the silver mino-Owner or
the owner OF silver in Europe.
would b- Unfair.
"If VIC pass n free silver law this Is
Just what will happen. Would 1t bo just
or fairy it would be an outrageous
discrimination In favor Of miners OF
silver nnd owners Of European silver.
Why treat the silver miner or the own
or OF silver from other countries better
than the miners Of lcnd. copper. zinc'
iron, or the farmer2 When the seates
constltutlng the Latin Union discarded
siIvor, the rcVult was TINT It ceased 10
be used for purposes OF money ana IN
Europe generally is now being sold for
what II viii bring in tho markets M a
commodity.
I'll il estimated that In Europe alone
iisere is one thoupnnd millions OF silver
dollars not IN use. ir we had trec coln-
age OF silver the people owning this
silver would bring II 70 the United
SLntna nlnlA by the nhln-lnnd and nave