Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1896-08-06
How Would Free Coinage Affect Me'


From the New York Herald
This is the question that millions OF
voters are asking to-day, and II Ii Is ans
wered intelligently Mr.. Bryan VIII be
swept out of sight in November.
III YOU are working for wages or salary,
or IL you are in receipt OF a hxeh sum
from investments or from pension, then
free coinage would virtually reduce your
income nearly one-half and compel you
TO live on a much poorer scale.
You would receive Just the same NUN,
Der of dollars as at present, but II WouId
take nearly two dollars to buy as much
clothing or food as you now get tor one,
your rent would be nearly doubled, and
every item in the cost OF living would be
advanced in the same proportion.
DO Won doubt this, Reflect moment
The leaders in the free silver movement
have avowed that their purpose IS to ad-
vance prices. They tell the farmer that
with free silver he will get twice as much
for his wreat and corn as he now receives.
The intrinsic value OF products would not
be changed by any trick we might play
with our coins. The prices OF products
in the great markets of the world would
not be advanced, and right here they
would not exchange for any more gold
than before, but they would exchange Tor
more OF the silver dollars which with tree
coinage, and we will presently show,
would be worth abont fifty three cents
each.
But they would by law be full legal
tender dollars. You salary or pension or
wages would be paid with these dollars:
They are the dollars in which you would
receive your income from investments
unless you have specially contracted for
gold. If any man owes you one hundred
dollars he could pay you with one hun
dred of these coins, which would buy no
more in the markets than you can get
with fifty three dollars today. II your
life is insured for ten thousand dollars,
and YOU should die, your family would
receive ten thousand of the deprecated
dollars. which would only Duy as many
of the necessaries and comforts OF lite as
five thousand three hundred OF the pre-
sent honest dollars. If you have some
thing in a savings bank or IN building
associa ion or loaned on bond and mort
gage it would come back to you IN the
same way in fifty three cent dollars.
If man has ten dollars in his pocket
and chooses to declare that fifty three
cents is dollar he may fool himself into
the belief that he has nineteen dollars In
stead of ten, but if he goes shopping and
tenders fifty three cents for dollar the
merchants will very quickly adjust their
prices to his deprecated standard. When
he selects an article marked ten dollars
they will say: "Oh, yes, that IS the prlce
in the old fashioned dollars, but we must
charge you eighteen dollars and eight
cents" Now, the government can't
create something out of nothing. 1t can
call fifty three cents worth Of silver dol
lar. and make it legal tender for a dollar,
and so compel present creditors to accept
it as payment for dolIar, but it is impo-
tent as any individual to give it the pur-
chasing power OF an honest dollar, be-
cause every merchant at once raises tne
price of his goods to offset the deprecia-
tion in the measure Of value.
The question is asked Why should
not a silver dollar under free coinage by
az much as it does now, Because there
is only limited number of the silver
dollars now in existence and the govern
nent is able to keep them equivalent to
gold dollars. But if all the world were
permitted to bring silver to the mints
and get silver dollar for every 37I4
grains of it the government could not
keep this unlimited number OF dollars at
a parity, and, like those OF Mexico, they
would have to circulate at the value OF
the bullion they contain, and this at the
present price OF silver is about So cents.