Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1896-10-12
A NATIONAL POLICY.
Why We Need the Free Coinage OF
Gold and Silver

turbance between tho mint and mar
ket value OF silver until by legislation
its right to coinage and legal tender
was destroyed, and the past experience
OF our country with the free coinage
of gold and silver justifes us in the
assertion that with the restoration of
that right to silver bullion values
will return to their old place. Until
silver was demonetized in 1873 there
was never any suggestion in the
United States as ffty-cent dollar,
and that no silver coin turned out of
our mints ever failed to circulate at
par with gold, that consequently no
creditor ever lost a cent whose debt
was paid in silver. The people now
realize that gold monometallism was
suggested and afterwards established
IN the interest of lenders and investors
IN securities to the detriment of bor-
rowers and producers; and they also
recognize that the spirit of protection
played its part in the selection of gold
and the exclusion of silver as the So
called standard of value, and that
cheap silver for its silver using sub
lects could be secured from it's
commercial rivals by Great Britain
only through its demonstration. If
the figures of the Director of the Mint
be reliable, the combined annual silver
product of all the gold standard
countries IS less than half that OF the
United States, while the combined
annual gold product OF all the silver
EtonHorI NJ -, 1ooc La1
that of Great Britain and her depen'
denotes, a fact which the gold standard
members of the British Monetary Com
mission made good use in their
celebrated report
We repudiate the charge thut the
"silver barons" OF tho West lin truth
tho majority of them in the East) are
seeking by unjust legislation to de-
bauoh the National currency, or that
sordid motives ofpersonal gain prompt
all the agitation in silyers behalf.
Silver mine owners are interested in
the question, just as the gold miners
are, and have hight to be. The
charge involves an admission of the
falsity of the assertion that free coin
age can not eXalt the bullion value of
silver. An enhancement of it's value,
while personally beneficial to the
miner, is comparatively SO to every
industry in the land, if there be any
truth in the economic maxim that an
increasing and stable circulation raises
prices and stimulates business. As it
is, the profit derived from silver min
ing largely goes to others. For ex-
ample, the silver mine owners of tho
world realized less profit on the out
put of 1892 than did Great Britain
upon her purchases OF that year from
the United States and Mexico OF
ratio Of % TO l, which she either
coined or deposited in fine bars at
ratio of Is to for her India subjects;
o profit realized at our expense and by
the operation of laws evidently made
for her benefit. Did her dependencies
produce silver instead of gold, every
advocate of ''sound money" in either
hemisphere would denounce the cheap
and nasty yellow metal and all who
advocated its use in the monetary use
of tho world.
1t is true that our gold output is in-
creasing. So is the percentage of its
consumption in the arts and indus.
tries. So are the honrdings of tho
great military Powers and bankers of
Europe. So is the absorption by Great
Britain of an undue proportion of tho
worlds stock OF gold. So is the in
satiate demand of the creditor for
gold. So Is the absence of it from the
treasures of debtor Nations and tho
pockets of their people. In 1S91-92
the gold coinage of Great Britain at
her London and Australian mints vas
greater than that Of the rest of
the world. Her PER CAPITA gold coin
age was three times as great as that Of
United States. She is reaching out
and seeking by force or fraud to ac-
quire dominion over gold mining coun-
tries everywhere, and divert oil their
product into her capacious nav. We,
her only rival, her superior in all that
makes Nation great and independent,
shape our course to suit her purposes.
and accept her policy to the end that
she may utilize our powers and re-
sources to our own undoing. She has
but to suggest that our wisdom and
statesmanship are inferior to her own,
that her monetary system is tho per.
lection of human reason, that her su-
premacy is caused by the color of her
money, that philanthropy has been the
lode star of her wondrous career, and
that she can be eclipsed only by imi-
tation, and our rulers become the pas
sive creatures of her schoming ambi-
tion.
No country producing half as much
gold as the United States ever estab-
lished silver monometallism. No coun-
=, try producing half as much silver ever
established gold monometallism. Mono
but creditor country ever began the
scheme of demonetizing either. The
success of such scheme is only posi-
BILE through the cooperation of its VIC
Tins. It's overthrow is essential to the
lasting independence and prosperity
not only of the South and West, but
OF every section OF our Union.