The Press., 1896-08-06
(Harper'S Weekly.)
THE CHEAP-MONEY MOVEMENT


 There is good deal of transformation in all parts of the country as to the pur- poses of the advocates of silver and as to the meaning of free silver at the ratio of 16 to 1, and if the present campaign for sound money and honest government is to be conducted successfully, good many voters must be enlightened on ele- mentary questions. The task is all the for it's performance all the more immedi- ate, because the silver men have been at work for several years. They have scat tered the literature of their faith broad cast through the Union, and clubs have beed formed in nearly, if not quite, all the states for the spread of their propa- ganda. Considering the energy which has been displayed by the American Bi- metallic League and it's associates, it seems strange that many of the very peO- pie who have been won over to it's side are most grossly and curiously ignorant of it's true intent and purposes. Indeed, this phenomenon can only be accounted for on the assumption that when the friends of silver find that a man has so deceived himself that he has become their ally by reason of his misconception of their cause, they willingly, perhaps glad ly, leave him in his darkness.
 The friends of silver seek to increase tho amount Of noOnou in ciro11IatiOn and they expect to be able to accomplish this object by compelling the government to coin silver again as well as gold, and to make the two differing metals standard of value Money can be earned only by giving something of products, mer chandise or labor-in return for 1t. MT. Bryan does not pretend that the laws of congress can increase the amount of pro- ducts or merchandise or labor in the coun- try He believes, 1t is true, that there is superhuman power in laws although they are made by human beings, but he prob ably does not believe that laws can add to the things of value that are to be ex- changed for money. He proposes, by making money more plentiful, to increase the price of these things-to make the wheat of the farmer, the coat of the tail or, the iron of the blacksmith, the labor that reaps and builds, cost more to those who want them. It is not explained how the farmer is to be benefited by higher price for his wheat, if, at the same time he is to be obliged to pay more for his seed, his machinery, his labor, his horse shoeing, his clothes, and for the building of his barn; nor how the blacksmith, the tailor, and the wage-earners are to be en- riched by dear food. This is part o the question which MT. Bryan and his as sociates do not discuss.
 Hard times have come to this country and the friends of silver propose to light en the burdens of the producers and toll CTS by making the currency cheaper anC unstable. There is a good deal of misap prehension as to the extent of the harC times, and much more as to their cause The silver men say that they are due tC the demonetization of silver in 1873. Il the first place silver was not demonetizeC in 1873 the government simply stopped coining silver because at that time sil yer dollar was worth from half a cent tC four cents more than gold dollar, ant therefore it was not brought to the min for coining. The owners of silver mine could make more money in those days b, selling their bullion for melting than b, having it turned into dollars. In the yea 1873, although the government coined al the silver of proper fneness that wa brought to it, only two hundred and nine ty-three thousand silver dollars wer minted. But while by this act the silve dollar was omitted from the list of coin of the United States, the coinage of mi nor silver being continued, silver remain ed, and still remains, part of the none