davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-06-26
The House and Free Silver.

The present House of Representa-
tives has confronted the free silver
issue in its fairest form, stripped of
all political embarrassm snts and SO
presented that every member, Demo
crat, Republican and Populist, was
free to express his thought on silver
in his vote, without in any way COM
promising any political interest.
Voting in that way the present
House on the 14th of February last
rejected the free silver proposition by
the enormous majority of 1872. The
majority in the Fifty-second Congress
was only Is.
In view of these facts, and in view
of the necessarily representative
character of the House, what ground
is there for the fear that free silver is
to triumph next year? Even should
fanatics control both at Chicago and
at st. Louis, there is a Congress to be
elected, and it is not easily conceivable
that the sound money majority, which
has grown in four years from Is to
122, is to be wiped out.
Bear in mind that a free coinage
law can come only as the result of
concurrence between the House, the
Senate and the President in behalf of
financial chaos. There is no presently
appalling prospect of any such con-
currence.-New York World.
The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-06-26
Dried Apple Currency.

The men who want cheap silver and
fiat money so that we would have
higher prices, are about as reasonable
as fruit grower would be who should
try to make one bushel of dried apples
equal to three bushels by soaking
them in water. It is true that the
quantity of apples might be increased
in this way, just as prices might be
raised by initiating the currency with
cheap money. But the real value of
the apples would not be increased in
the slightest degree. If the apple
grower was dishonest, and could find
any one foolish enofgh to take the
soaked apples, he would, of course.
profit by bis rascality. So would the
man who produces silver, if the gov
eminent was foolish enough to pass
law compelling the people to take
fifty-one cents worth OF silver in pay
ment for debts or goods worth dol.
lar. But both cases would be on
par SO far as their honesty was con-
cerned. Something can no more be
made out of nothing through money
laws, than can dried apples be made
out of water.
The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-06-26
High Prices Check Consumption.

The promises of the silyerites that
cheap dollars will bring good times
are based on their belief that If prices
advance people will buy more goods.
That this is an error is known to every
business man, who has learned by ex-
perience that when prices are high
customers are shy of buying and that
when goods are cheap consumers rush
to buy.
A proof of the effect of increased
prices is found in q recent issue of the
Iron Age, the leading American jour
nal of the iron and steel industry. Re-
ferring to the advances in the prices
of nails by the nail trust that paper
says: "There is little doubt that the
high price of nails has larger infiu-
ence than was anticipated in diminish
ing sales, jobbers frankly expressing
their surprise at the small quantity of
goods with which their customers can
get along"
If less nails are being sold since the
trust put up prices, it follows that less
are being used. This means that less
will be made, and less labor employed
in their manufacture. What is true
of nails Is true OF all other products.
As prices advance consumption falls,
even in the case of what are called
necessities. Is currency scheme
which will make things dearer. and
thus check their sale and production,
one which the American producers
want?
The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-06-26
WE NOW HAVE 16 TO 1 BIMET-
ALLISM.

We have bimetallism now on the
only safe plan that it is possible to
have it. We have not Disseminated
against silver. We have nearly equal
amounts in value of both metals in
our circulation: 1925, 632, 06S gold,
1926, 1886, 551 silver; and every one Of
our silver dollars has been coined on
the mystic ratio, Is to l, so dear to
many of our friends, and which,
strange to say, has become the banner
of a party. Any body who wants the
dollar of our "daddies," the money of
the Constitution, can have it by.work-
ing for it; and no system of finance
will ever give him dollar in value
without work; and when he gets it
under our present system, he will find
that the 16 to motto is not al empty
boast: that the Government who mas
coined this dollar and announced to
the world that it shall be worth at the
ratio of 16 to l of gold, stands ready
to make good its assertion and redeem
it in gold. But, the silver men say,
that in doing this we insult and de-
base the silver dollar. Is it debase-
ment OF anything to hold its value up
to what we assert it to be? What do
they mean when they want us to stop
insulting the silver dollar? They want
us to stop redeeming it in gold, to
stop holding its value up to their be-
loved and mystic ratio of 16 to l. and
let it take care of itself, and sink to
its natural value, which is 80 to L.
From DR.. W. P. Hills "Argument
Against Free Silver Coinage at 16 to 1.
The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-06-26
Farmers and 5O.Cent Dollars.

Fog ".e nine months ending March,
1896, erican exports of the pro-
ducts of agriculture amounted to S453,
5SS, 531.
According to the statesmen who want
the country thrown upon silver basis
the farmers would be better off if, in
stead of receiving their proportional
share of this aggregate, they should
receive only one-half that share.
The 50-cent dollar statesmen appeal
to the farmers, on the other hand,
with the dishonest suggestion that if
we should slump to silver basis they
would have to pay only so cents dol
lar on their debts.
These statesmen fail, however, to ex-
plain to the farmers how they would
be any better off paying only 80 cents
on the dollar of their debts if they,
were to have only SO cents in the dol
lar to pay their debts with.
The presumption of the 50-cent dol
lar statesmen appears to be that farm,
ers are fools.
The 50-cent dollar statesmen will
find out their mistake in November
Chicago Times-Herald.
The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-06-26
No Partially to Gold or Silver.

A correspondent, who seems to
think there may be an honest compro-
mise of the currency question, asks
why gold should be partially admitted
to free coinage while this is denied to
silver. There are several answers to
this question; but one, we think, will
suffice. The gold which is taken to
the mint to be coined into money is
not increased in value by the opera.
ton, nor does the same gold lose in
value when converted again into bull
ion. Our old California pioneers paid
out gold dust, which, though not as
convenient as the coin, was worth just
as much. Silver money. on the other
hand, will stand none of the above
tests. The silver dollars cannot be
exported to pay debts at their nominal
worth. and if melted they would lose
half their value. But an ounce of gold
bullion is worth everywhere as much
as an ounce of gold coin. Our CORE
spondent, we think, will see why there
is no partiallty in the free coinage of
gold, and why free coinage of silver
would result in iJremediable disaster.
For this reason there can be no COM
promise of the silver question. Phil
adelphia Record.
The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-06-26
FREE SILVER WOULD NOT GIVE
LARGER MARKETS.

What the American farmers, stock
raisers and cotton planters need most
of all is wider markets for the sale of
their products. In normal years far
more wheat, corn, beef, pork and cot
ton are produced than can be sold in
this country. A portion of the sur
plus finds market in Europe and
other countries, but there is usually q
considerable quantity of staple farm
products which remain unsold. This
surplus stock helps to depress prices,
and causes most of the troubles for
which the farmers have turned to free
silver for a remedy.
It ought to be evident to every
sensible farmer that raising nominal
prices in this country will do nothing
to create IN additional demand, either
here or abroad, for their products. If
by measuring wheat, cotton, etc., in
silver instead of gold, prices should be
advanced, this would not make an
opening for one bale of cotton or
barrel of pork. Home consumption
certainly would not be increased be-
cause things were dearer. On the
contrary higher prices would compel
many Americans to buy less than they
do now. People do not use more
flour, meat, etc., merely because they
have to pay more for them.
The price of that portion of our
farm products which goes abroad
would not be influenced by change
to the silver basis, for foreign buyers
would pay for their purchase in their
own money as at present. But it is
highly probable that the abandon
ment of the monetary standard Of all
the great commercial nations would
cause such confusion IN our interna.
tional trade that our exports to for
eign countries would be lessened.
Would that be a benefit to our farmers?
No free coinage agitator has ever at
tempted to show how debasing our
currency, and unsettling trade and
industry, would make larger markets
for our farm products. Until they
can do SO they must be regarded as
charlatans who are trying to fool the
people in order secure their own self
ish ends.
The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-06-26
THE DANGER LINE.

If the country escapes a severe
money panic between now and the
first fall day of 1896 it will not have
the silverites to thank. 1t may COM
mence in Wall street, but it will not
end there; it will sweep over the whole
country, and wrecks will be seen in
every State and county. The inexora-
BILE laws of finance are being set at
defiance, and the present strain can
not long be kept up without the most
serious consequences. Financial in
situations may be the first to bend or
break, but the storm, if it once sets in,
will burst the fiercest upon those con-
Germs which give employment to work.
men, for it will close factories and
workshops all over the country, and
again thousands of workingmen will
be thrown out of employment. And
yet, singularly enough, those most
likely to be the greatest sufferers
from this "silver craze" are those who
are its most ardent supporters. Con-
gress will adjourn without atfordlng
any relief. What will the two great
political conventions do? Will they
stem the tide or will they add fuel to
the neutrality-suspicious. (N.Y.) Free
mans Journal.
The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-06-26
Where Do Merchants Stand =?

1t is highly important not only from
a business point of view but even from
that of mere politics, that the mer-
chants of the entire country VINO favor
the maintenance of the go d standard
should place themselves distinctly on
record. Let the dry goods trade make
itself plainly heard on this question.
It spoke through our columns with no
uncertain voice against the continu-
ance of the purchase OF silver by the
government in 1898: let us hear from
it again at this critical period IN our
inancia! history-Dry Goods Econo-
mist
The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-06-26
The Logical Silver Candidate.

If the Democrats are to nominate a
silverite candidate for President they
would do better to take Teller than
Boies or Bland. He lives in a silver
state, which was made by silver, and
which would be immensely enriched
by the restoration of silver. Boies
and Bland live in states which produce
exclusively products that possess a
gold value, that have been enriched
under the gold standard of money and
that would be impoverished by estab-
fishing silver standard. Teller is
honest in advocating silver and repre-
sents the true interests of the silver
section. Boies and Bland are wrong
in advocating system OF rotten
money which would produce untold
disasters for the people of the agricul-
tural and manufacturing states. If
the Democrats are to nominate a sill
verite Teller is the ''Iogical candi-
date. Chicago Chronicle.
The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-06-26
The Bane of the South.

81 have just returned from bust
ness mission in New York" said Hon.
Sol. D. Bloch, a leading citizen of
Montgomery, Ala, to reporter at
the Metropolitan. 81 had the same
experience as most men who have
been East to enlist financial support
for Southern enterprises. I found
that there were millions of dollars in
the big cities of the North hungry for
investment in my section, and that
would be pouring in there now in a
stream, were it not for the agitation
over free silver. This 16 to l cry is
the bane of Southern progress and
development, and is doing the South
ern people harm by keeping capital
away until the issue has been decided,
as it will be, in favor of sound
money. "-Washington Post.
The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-06-26
A Preventative of Prosperity.

"No sensible and well-informei
person believes that this government
will provide for the free and unlimited
coinage of silver, while all the civilized
nations of the world continue to keep
their minis closed against it, but capt.
tai is timid and easily run out of cir
culation by unwise and visionary
financial schemes, which appear to
find strong endorsement among the
people; and until the agitation in
favor of such measures so far dies out
as to restore public confidence in the
soundness and stability OF our money
system, hundreds of millions OF CAPT
tai will be kept locked up, and stagno-
ton in all lines of business will cen
tinue. "-Lawrenceyille News.
The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-06-26
Timid Capital.

It makes no difference what party
may commit itself to the free and IN
limited coinage of silver or whether
the free silver men in all the present
parties shall combine and make party
of their own, every we'll informed per-
son knows that the country is against
free coinage and that there is no pros
pect of its adoption.
Still the agitation of this question
is enough to affect the proverbial tim
idity of capital and to prevent the I'M
dertaking of many great enterprises.
We have no doubt that the result of
the Presidential election will be SO de-
cisive as to bury free silverism and re-
store confidence. Journal.
The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-06-26
WHAT GIVES GOLD ITS VALUE.

Mr.. Charles Heber Clark, once known
under the pen name s'Max Adeler, "
and now Secretary of the Manufac-
turers' Club of Philadelphia, writes to
the Press of that city, pointing out that
gold. which is produced in some mines
in South Africa at a cost of S7.72 per
ounce, is worth $40. 81 an ounce in the
markets of the world. This, he thinks,
is due to the governments stamp,
which creates the difference between
the cost and the selling value Of the
gold, and he asks why the value Of sill
yer could not be increased in the same
way.
Since Mr.. Clark ceased to be pro-
fessional humorist he has tried hard
to convince the American people that
he is a serious minded authority on
economic and financial questions. This
latest attempt to show that value is the
product of the mint stamp will not in
crease his reputation in that direction.
Some persons may even believe that
he knows less about the money ques-
ton than the average joke maker.
For the "nut for gold standard adj
vocates to crack. (which he brings out,
is but chestnut, and moldy one at
that. It is the same free coinage
theory of the power of governments
to make silver worth twice its bullion
value that has been so industriously
exploited these many years. And it
is wholly false. The value of gold,
that is. the quantity of labor products
or service for which it will exchange,
depends on the average amount of
labor (which it takes to pro-
duce the average quantity of the
metal which the world wants for use
in the arts or for money. The fact
that in some countries, at some times,
gold can be produced at low labor
cost, does not affect its general price,
any more than the growth of On I'M
usually big hog by one farmer re-
duces the price of pork. If Mr.. Clark
should pick up a diamoud now worth
$1,000, in a minute, he would figure
up the labor cost of the diamond to be
about five cents and would claim that
all the rest of the stones value was
nat. IL Is well kuOWu IdcI LudG
valuable diamonds have been found
by accident. But they were none the
less valuable on that account. And
there is no government stamp on dia-
monds either.
If the African or Australian mines
in which gold is now mined at low
cost could produce all the gold the
world needs at S7.72 per ounce, the
value of the yellow metal in relation
to other products would quickly fall,
and all the governments on earth
could not keep 1t up. But so long as
conditions of gold mining remain as
they are now the commercial value of
gold will be practically the same.
Should the supply decrease gold will
grow dearer, but this is not at all
likely, as the annual yield is steadily
growing larger. There need be no
fear that gold will ever become too
scarce or dear to serve as q money
metal.
The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-06-26
A COLLEGE PRESIDENTS MISTAKE.

President E. B. Andrews, of Brown
University, spoke on "bimetallism" at
a recent dinner of the Independent
Club, of Buffalo, N. Y. He declared
that: ''The real trouble with the
country and the times is a general de-
crease of prices of the basic produc-
lions of the country. A decrease of
prices means poverty. We have cut
down our basic money by half and
down with it have gone prices.''
The assertion that we have cut down
our basic money by half is the kind of
talk to be expected from Populist on
fat money agitation. Coming from
college professor who is also an his
torian the blunder is inexcusab1e. In
stead of cutting down our basic money,
which in another part of his speech
President Andrews defined as metallic
money, we have since 1878 increased
it from practically nothing to at least
$1,000, 100000. Previous to the alleged
characterization of silver only eight
million silver dollars had been coined.
Now we have over $500, 000,0 900 worth
of silver, either coined or serving as
"basic money" for the treasury notes
in active circulation. Is that cutting
down the basis of our currency one
half?
Does decrease of prices mean pow
erty! Poverty is the lack of food,
clothes, furniture, houses and all other
things which satisfy human desires. If
prices of these products of labor are
low. men can get many of them. If
prices are high men can buy but little.
Is it at all likely that if, instead of the
low prices which President Andrews
thinks are responsible for poverty,
goods were high priced, the people
who are now poor could get more of
them? If not, how would making
things dearer abolish poverty? Sup
pose that owing to failure of the
wheat crop the price of bread should
be doubled. Would that help the
poor people who are now hungry?
President Andrews will have to look
for some other cause of poverty than
the low price of goods. He will find
on investigation that there are many
different reasons why men are poor,
but cheapaess is certainly not one of
them.
The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-06-26
LOOK OUT FOR NO. /!
If You Have Savings You Cannot AZ
ford to Vote for Free Coinage.

FORD to Vote for Free Coinage.
Every dollar in savings banks is
worth 100 cents in gold and represents
labo- measured in gold. Free coinage
at Is to l will shrink these dollars to
about so cents. Every depositor is
interested in maintaining laws that
will not permit him to be robbed of
half of his savings. Here is what the
Savings Banks Association of New
York said at its last annual meeting {:
'Resolved, That this association,
representing the interests of l, 10000
depositors, with deposits aggregating
over 800, 100000, solemnly protests
against any and all efforts to change
the gold standard now existing of the
currency of the country and affirms it's
conviction that any departure from
this standard will not only impair the
prosperity of the laboring classes, but
that the only classes or individuals to
be benefited would be the capitalist
and foreign investor, who would be
quick to take advantage of the rise
and ultimate fall in prices sure to fol-
low premium on gold"
Instead of getting back $7OO,OOO,-
900 these 100000 depositors would
get back, under free coinage, $780,
600. 900 in dollars of present value.
Perhaps they have worked and saved
for years to see one-half of their earn
ings wiped out by the destructive free
silver tornado-more awful than all of
the tornadoes and earthquakes that
have visited this country since Colum-
bus discovered it.
The free silver cyclone will not
strike us unless we invite it to come,
our way. In fact, the 1875, 900 de-,
positors, who have $1,000, 900, 900 in
the 1017 savings banks of this coun-'
try, have it in their power to prevent
the invitation. They have but to vote:
solidly against any party and any,
candidate that supports the free silver
robber scheme and their savings will
be spared. They can easily obtain the
assistance of the 1,75O, 900 stockhold-,
ers who have $3.50, 900, 900 invested in
the 5000 building and loan associa-
tions of this country.
Let the 5000, 1000 or 10, 900, 900 who
have savings, in one form or another,
clearly understand what 16 to l means
to them and the Jig is up with the
cheap dollar agitation. The 5000, 600
or 5000, 900 holders of life insurance
policies also have much at stake. They
have paid their premiums in gold and
are entitled to have their policies paid
in gold. All such investors should
study this silver question and learn on
which side their interests lie before it
is too late to save themselves. If they
can see no moral reason why they
should not vote for fraudulent change
of standards of value, perhaps they
can see selfish reason that will cause
them to vote for honest money.