The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1896-09-17

by change the more car etul the
people should be. The change from
our present system of coinage, a
chang ge that will effect for veal or
woe more than seventy millions OF
people should not be taken without
the best of reasons. A change is
fraught with danger. know that four
years ago there was call for change,
but they have made discovery and
they would give a good deal to have
thin ngs as they were four years ago.
Some said change wont hurt us, but
I do not banker after continuation Of
it, for bad as it is, it might be worse.
Present Situation.
Let us see what the present situa-
ton is? The owner of gold may take
his gold to the mint of the United
States and have it converted into the
form Of coin without expense to him
for the coming, at the rate of %. p
grains of pure gold or 25.8 grains of
standard gold to the dollar, and
handed back to him with the full au-
thority to use the coins thus made in
any quantity in the transaction of
business or payment of debts. That
is, the owner Of gold has the pivilege
which the owner of silver seeks to
have, but which, under our present
laws, is denied to him. At the very
first thought it would appear that the
owner of gold is treated better than
the owner of silver, and it is always
we'll to pause to see whether all the
truth has been stated. It has not.
The owner of gold, when he goes to
the mint, says: "Uncle Sam, here
are 1922 grains'of pure gold, worth
$50. here or anywhere, coined or un-
coined. Will you be kind enough to
certify that fact for me by putting
your stamp upon it by converting
this gold into the form OF coin?'
Uncle Sam answers: ''Why, certain
", my son; am always glad to serve
my children when I can do SO proper:
i ly.." On the other hand the owner of
silver wants the privilege of going to
the mints and saying something like
this: "Uncle Sam, here are 37la
grains of pure silver or 4lzaa grains Of
Standard silver worth So cents here Or
anywhere. Will you be kind enough
to certify that it is worth 100 cents?'
And Uncle Sam makes answer: mot
if the court knows itself. (App]ause.) }
Uncle Sam is not in the habit Of stat
,, ing that which is not true and he can
not begin now, even to accommodate
SO excellent a gentleman as you are,
to depart from his ancient practices. -
But some one may say, "If the 37l4
grains Of silver are worth only 53
cents, why not put into the silver dol
lar enough silver to make it worth 100
nts,and then say to the man who has
silver, bring on your silver and we will
coin it for you just as we do for the
man who has gold?" That would
seem TO be reasonable proposition
but Uncle Sam, after the experience
he has had, would still answer, mo. "
Terms Defined.
Before proceeding to give the exact
reason why Uncle Sam would not, let
me stop and define few Of the tech
nical terms used in this discussion
and I desire every one within the
sound of my voice to give the closest
attention.
Our friends on the other side main
tain six propositions in relation to sill.
yer coinage. They insist that it shall
be O free, (2) unlimited, (3) on pri'
vate account, (4) at the ratio of 16 to 1
(5) by the United States alone, without
the aid or consent of any other nation
on earth, 6) that the silver coins thus
made shall be full legal tander. -.
Coinage may be on "private account.
or it may be on government account
To use a familiar illustration, we know
that there are two classes OF grls1
mills: The custom mill grinds on pri'
vate account, that is, for individuals
while the merchant mill grinds only or
the mills account. Similarly, if the
government will receive from any in
dividual metals which belong to them
and will convert the metal into the
form of coin and hand the coins back
to the owner Of the metal, either those
coins made out of the metal which ne
has brought or coins equivalent tc
such metal Gust as the owner OF the
CUSTOM mill deals with his customers
then we say coinage is on "private ac-
count" But if the government III
stead Of receiving the metal to be
coined on private accOunI' puyS 'ne
metal from the owners and COINS II
and owns the coin (as the merchan'
mill does in the case OF t1our) then We
say coinage is on government ac-
count"
IF the coinage is on private account
and the government makes no charges
for its services, we say the coinage il
"free."
If the owners of the money meta
may bring it to the mint for coinage IL
any quantity whatsoever, no matte
how large, we say that coinage is "un
limited"
The ratio of 16 to 1, simply mean
are aat to % be eut put into in coin as there ar
grains of gold in a gold coin.
"By the United States alone" /