The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-10-20
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silver deposited

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The statistics as to unrefned silver
are presented here because they are alb
solutely accurate The statistics as to
refined silver, although they show the
same result are omitted because some
OF the figures in them are to a certain
extent cOnjectural
The above table shows that, whether
we take the total silver production since
silver became one of the products of
the United States or the production for
the latest year whose figures are avail
able, these five states are almost the
exclusive source of our supply of silver
The low and falling price Of silver and
the high cost of working those nuner-
GUS mines in which the silver has to be
extracted from quartz and milling ores
make our present production far below
what it would be We're silver higher
But in spite of these facts our annual
production IS enormous because there
are SO many mines. especially in Utah
and Colorado. that are easily worked.
Nevada has been almost ruined by
the fail in the price Of silver. Her pro-
duction has steadily decreased for ten
years She was once far in the lead of
the silver states. She is now last in
the list And her population has fallen
from 62,266 in 1880 to 1871 in 1890 This
is not because her silver mines are ex-
hausted- On the contrary. they are
practically ineXhaustible. The trouble is
mat nearly all her great mines are of
the kind that are most expensive to
work The cost of taking the silver
from them is SO nearly equal to the
pay to work them. Raise the price of
silver and the former Niagara-lfke flood
VIII flow from Nevada again
Nevada S sena tors, Zones and Stewart
We're strenuous advocates of the single
gold standard in 1873. Silver then
brought more in the open market than
IL did at the mint As the price of sill
Yer Eall nearer and nearer to the cost of
production in Nevada's great mines of
quartz and milling ore, these senators
became advocates of International BIZ
HT % nH Haaa
so that the Nevada mines were CLOSING
they became the original. the ardent
the ureless, the ubiquitous missionaries
OF free and unlimited coinage at 16 to l.
Then, and not until then, did they pro
claim themselves the friends Of the
toier the enemies of the gold tyrants
the champions of the debtor and the
oppressed, the healers of the sick and
suffering masses. They first and very
quickly organized the free silver move
ment in the silver states, where self
interest enlisted all They planned di-
rected and expanded the campaign to
convert other states
The free silver craze had its origin in
greed
The second group is the six states adj
Jacent to the original silver states
These are Kansas. Nebraska North and
south Dakota TO the east, Oregon and
w ashlngton to the west They are al
most wholly farming states. The free
silver missionaries soon had them
agloW. Their farmers were persuaded
that free silver would raise the prices
of their crops and would enable them
TO pay their debts more easily. 1T is
clear on the face of it why higher pri-
ces for crops would attract all farmers
But while farmers in other states have
shown a strong inclination towards sill
Yer. they have not gone wild over 16 to
i to the same extent or in the same
numbers as in these six states. 1t was
the prospect of easy payment of debt
that fired such a multitude of the farm
ers Of Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas
oregon and Washington. The follow
ing table proves it: