The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1896-09-12
1NFoRMArIoN aRANrEp.
Mr.. Gourley Tries to Harmonize two Cam
paign Theories.

, MIR. Gourley Tries to Harmonize two Cam
paign Theories.
e The DALLES. Or, Sept. IL, 1896
Editor TINES -MoUNrAINEER:
Pascal" in yesterdays TINES
MoUNTAINEER, faceSiously ask:
''some good gold man" to reconcile the
two statements frequently made by
, sound money campaigners, that free
: coinage of silver at Is to | means 53
cent dollars for the wage-earner and d
, profit to the mine owner of II cents on
every dollar coined. If "Pascal" will
admit an answer from gold man who
modestly disclaims the qualifying ad-
; jective ''good" 1 should say that the
two statements, contradictory as they
seem, can be reconciled at least in
part. There is not gold standard
man on this broad earth, there is
hardly an Intelligent free silver man
either, who does not know from ex-
perieuce-the only lamp we have to
guide us-and universal experience at
that-that the free coinage of any
metal at any ratio means the current
use of that metal at its bullion value
and no more. This rule is now and
always ha' been as invariable as the
law of graYitation, as constant in its
operation as the ebb and flow of the
tides.
So fully has this principle been rec
ognized by the founders of this repub-
lie and all our subsequent lawmakers,
that no law has ever been placed on
the statute books of the nation making
any coin that enjoyed the privilege of
free mintage legal tender for any
amount above it's bullion value. The
trade dollar is no exception. 1t
was never intended for home use and
when its bullion value fell below 100
cents its limited legal tender power
was taken away. The statement.
therefore, that the triumph of free
silver means % cent dollars, or dollars
like those of Mexico, Japan and China,
passing current at their bullion value,
which today is 53-cents and tomorrow
may be 40 or so cents, and is true
to all human experience. But the
second statement, namely: that under
free coinage the silver miner would
enjoy profit of II cents on every dol
lar coined, while only true within cir
cumscribed limits, is very proper re-
tort on those who insist that q simple
act of congress, opening the United
States mints to silver, would double the
price of every ounce of silver on the
globe.
Now the limitations to which 1 refer
are these: Under the proposed free
coinage Uncle Sam is asked to stamp
his dollar mark, Including our national
emblems, the American eagle and
goddess of Liberty and the legend SIN
God we trust''-for the balance pre-
sume,) on lump of silver worth today
in the markets of the world less than |
50 cents. But this is not all nor by
any means the worst. Uncle Sam is
asked to make this so odd cent dollar |
legal tender for all debts public and |
private. A resolution to provide for |
maintaining its parity with gold was
scornfully and overwhelmingly re-
jected by the convention that nomi-
mated Mr.. Bryan. Thus the silver
miner, after Uncle Sam had put his
lying, sacreligious stamp on so odd |
cents worth, of silver and handed it
back to him, might and (who doubts?)
would pass the dollar so coined over to
his employees in payment ola hundred
cents worth of labor. Would, that is,
till the employees would block the game
by demanding Specific contract"
or in case that right is denied them
by the decision of packed supreme
court, (which the demo-populist plat
form threatens, as a derI,ier resort,
with p. d. q. velocity, refuse to work.
Within such Limitation only, manifest
ly circumscribed by time and opportu-
nifty, would the silver miner reap o
profit of II cents on any like sum on
the dollars so coined.
Haying thus answered pascal" in
all candor let me, in turn, ask him to
reconcile two statements constantly
made by free silver orators and espe-
cially, with like constancy, by the
"boy orator of the Platte" Mr.. Bryan
hardly ever opens his mouth, and it
has been wide open for 10 these many
days, that he does not commend free
coinage to the debtors of the nation
on the ground that it will give them
cheap money wherewith to pay their
debts, while in oneo and the same
breath he maintains that it will raise
the price of silver to S1.29 an ounce,
that to, to an equality with gold.
Now no one would be better pleased to
see silver on an equality with gold at
the present legal ratio than the very
men whom "Pascal's" congeners ap-
probriously dubb gold bugs, bnt in
that case where would the poor debtor
get his cheap dollars But pshaw!
there is not man with tbimbleful of
brains on the American continent
capable of believing such stuff. But,
if otherwise, the sooner Willie Bryan
is entered az pupil in ''Pascal's" kin
dergarden the better for himstlf and
the country. HUGH GoURLAY.
Rather Premature.
The state board of portage commits