Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1896-09-04

tificates outstanding against it) and
the difference, he said, represented the
total gold circulation in the country.
He also gave what purported to be the
total amount of silver coin in the
United States, the amount in the treas
ury without saying anything about
the outstanding silver certificates) and
the difference, he said represented the
total amount of silver in circulation
This statement of the case is obviously
unfair as the gold and silver certificates
outstanding against the coin "tied up
in the treasury amount to s373, ,5SO, ,26S
and these circulate in lieu of the gold
and silver deposited in the treasury for
their redemption. This attempt on the
part of Judge Plowman to pervert the
facts was noticed and commentedu upon
by many who do not pretend to be we'll
up on all the points in the controversy.
Judge Plowman then gave the total
public and private debt in this country
which OF course is almost beyond COM
prehension, and went to the ridiculous
extreme of comparing the amount of
our circulating medium with the total
debt of the United States national,
state. county, municipal, corporate and
individual. The inference to be drawn
from the speakers remarks is that we
need dollar of circulating medium
for every dollar of business transacted
and for every dollar of indebtedness,
public ana private. He evidently be-
lieves that if u farmer raises 5OObushels
of potatoes he will need 800 bushel
baskets to handle the crop. The debt
paying capacity of the ''nimble'' dollar
is we'll illustrated by the ''object lesson"
of the five colwns in one of the great
circuses now touring the country, and
the ''lesson" is respectfully commended
to Judge Plowman and his followers.
Clown No. owes clown No. ., No. 9
owes No. 3, No. 3 owes No. 4, No. 4 owes
No. and No. . owes No. l, each $40.
Clown No. l gets a silver dollar and
pays it to his creditor, No. .; No. . in
turn pays it to No. 3 and so it is circu-
lated from debtor to creditor, the con-
fidence of each creditor in the honesty
and integrety of his debtor increasing
with the payment of each dollar. In
this way the indebtedness of $40 each
was paid in Il few minutes, the whole
amount of 5000 being paid with Il single
dollar actively circulated. Not Only
that, but each former creditor has the
| utmost confidence in his formerdebtor
and each will grant the eotheradditional
credit when desired.
| The speaker gave an exhaustive ac-
count of the probable effect on this
country of free coinage and in sub.
stantiation of his statements read an
article purporting to be an editorial
from the London Financial News of
March 10. This article appeared in
the Omaha World Herald last Febru-
ary under the caption paste This in
Your Hat and has appeared from time
to time since then i'll Il conspicuous
place at the head of the editorial col
umns. 1t has also been published by
other free silver organs with a great
flourish of trumpets, including our
esteemed contemporary. 1t now turns
out to be campaign fabrication and
Judge Plowman must have known it
when be palmed the article off as gen
uine on Thursday night. The editor
of the Financial News, in letter ad-
dressed to a Lincoln gentleman, fac
simile of which appeared in the Omaha
Bee of the 29th ult., stated that the
article never appeared in the Financial
News. The issue of that paper of Aug.
l3, says: "No such article was ever
printed by us and its whole tenor is
directly opposed to the view we have
taken of the effect of free silver in the
United States" Judge Plowman con-
tended that the free and unlimited coin.
age of the worlds product of silver
would bring the market value up to its
coinage value-s1.29 per ounce-and
that, while the government would not
be under obligations to keep the two
metals at parity, they would circulate
side by side and would be interchang-
able in commercial transactions. In
the course of his laudation of the free
coinage system he stated that the same
ships that bring in silver bullion for
coinage at our mints would sail away
with our produce, thus creating a de-
mand for everything we have to sell;
that the silver dollars being legal
tender in this country only, would
necessarily have to be exchanged for
goods here, thus compelling the i'm
porters of silver bullion to buy here.
If the statement of Judge Plowman
that under free coinage the two metals
would circulate together and would be
interchangeable, one for the other. is