Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1896-09-17
CANDID FREE sILvERITEs.
Coming Out Flatfooted for Deprecated
Dollar.

Dollar.
Louisville Courier-Journal: A short
time ago the Courier-J Journal published
the gist of the ablest defense of the
free silver policy which this paper has
received from any of its contributors.
1t was from Kentucky farmer, who
addressed himself to the advocacy of
free coinage earnestly. thoughtfully
and argumentatively. Asking at what
ratio should our mints be opened to the
free, unlimited and independent coin
age of silver, he wrote:
"To this question | answer unreserv
edly l6 to |. If the people want bimet-
allism at all they want the currency
deprecated and this is what would be
done if the ratio of 16 to should b
adopted. 1t is not parity which we
want: it is not concurrent circulation:
if gold does not circulate here it will
circulate elsewhere. as it is now doing;
it will still form portion Of the
worlds money supply. We will have
no need for gold: silver will be our
money, and it will be what we want, q
deprecated currency"
We publish today an authorized in
terview with Judge w. S. McClain of
Little Rock, leader of the free silver
forces in Arkansas, who boldly and
frankly takes the same ground:
81 am sometimes asked" he says, ''if
[ believe the RECOMMENDATION of silver
would increase it's value so as to make
the bullion in silver dollar equal to
to the present gold dollar. | answer
no. If thought SO / would not waste
time advocating the restoration of the
unlimited coinage of silver. The sole
object of remonetizing silver, as | un-
derstand it, is. to secure cheaper dol
lar with which to measure and regulate
prices.
"If we would only adopt the silver
dollar as the unit and measure of val
ue. he explains, "we would thereby
have money that would be little
more than half as valuable as gold and
it would be exactly what we want"
The Judge recognizes that this would
swinde creditors, and he is not sure
that private debts existing before the
passage of a free coinage act ought not
to be paid in gold, suggesting that per-
| |, to ho4 chn,l1 ha
placed in the act which Mr.. BRYAN is
to sign. The judge, however. does not
seem to remember that the platform
on which Mr.. Bryan was nominated
declares against any such honesty and
| forbids even the making Of gold con-
tract. However, the judge thinks that
'sthat there is such thing as being
a fool even about paying debts and is
not in favor Of encouraging too much
| honesty in that regard. AS to debts
| which the government owes, he would
not hesitate to partially repudiate
them, and pay them in the cheap sill
yer, even through the government re-
| CGlNeu from lbS CTGQlIOTS Iull value III
gold.
This view Of the effects OF free coin
age is undoubtedly the sincere one, and
the one which is entertained by most
of those who are clamoring for free sill
yer. They would not care for free sill
yer if it would give them dollar equal
in value to the gold dollar. Moreover,
1T is the view taken in both of Mr. Bry-
ans platforms, which forbid contracts
for gold, and which thereby confess il
is not the expectation that free coin
age would make silver money as valu.
able and as desirable as gold.
! Mr.. Bryan in his New York speech
professed to believe that free coinage
would raise silver to Sl.29 an ounce, at
which silver dollar would be of the
same value as the gold dollar. In this
Mr.. Bryan departs frorn his platforms,
and if he could prove his theory most
OF those free silverites who are now
supporting him would have no further
use for him and free silyerism. What
they want is deprecated dollar, moi
another dollar as "dear'' as the gold
dollar.