Griggs courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., Dak. [N.D.]) 1885-1902, 1896-08-14

Zone way to increase circulation. J
Mr.. Hiram Schoonmaker, before leav-
ing New York, had conversation
with a German who had returned from
visit to the old country. While
there he called upon capitalist who
asked: "Have the American people
gone crazy. meddling with silver as
they are? had $3.50, 600 in American
securities, interest was good and came
promptly: was we'll satisfied, but
now l have wired to have them sold.
l would not risk one dollar under the
present circumstances" It means
that the banks will call in all their
papers, that every farmer who has a
mortgage on his farm, due this fall,
will have to pay it, whether or no. 1t
means that a panic such as we have
not seen, and we do not remember of
any panic that was not followed by q
fall in prices of farm products. AL
ready we have seen a private letter
from Chambers & Sons saying that it
looked as if elevator co.'s. would not
be able to borrow money to buy wheat
with except on a shipping basis. It
does not mean, as was asserted by an
intelligent farmer in the north part of
the county, that we can take one gold
dollar to the treasury and get sixteen
silver dollars. He asserted in all
earnestnes that he could sell enough
property to get 200 gold dollars, no
matter what the premium was and by
turning them into silver dollars could
pay off all his indebtedness. With
the prevalence of this and similar
ideas no wonder the silver craze has
taken such q hold. And if anyone
thinks it q gag or drive or any way
exaggerated, they can interview N. G..
Ruklke who is our authority. Again,
free coinage means, if history can be
relied on, that our $500, 600, 900 of gold
will 60 out of circulation. Will this,
added to the amount represented by
American securities and the loans
called in by the banks, be more to us
by the increased circulation of a SO
cent dollar?
We are told that inasmuch as we
can neither eat, wear or burn gold
that it has no intrinsic value, that
were it not for law, gold would be
where silver is. So? Does T. G.
know that the balances of trade be.
tween nations are settled by gold as
it's bullion, not it's coin value? How
would the SIC dollar fare in transac.
tion of this kind? The sailor who
finds few wpounds of ambergris knows
that he can neither eat, wear or burn
it. He neither asks or cares what the
law says about it, he knows that he
has not to sail the seas for a living
any more. He don't know that the
law gives any status to diamonds, but
we do know that if we should find a
second Kohinoor, though we could not
eat, wear or burn it, yet such are the
queer ideas of our commercial world,
that we would no longer need to both
er about the price of wheat or pork.
We always supposed there was a ccr-
tain intrinsic value in men, from the
laborer who commands 81 per day, to
the expert or specialist who is valued
at $25, 600 per year, but as we can
neither eat, wear or burn them we
must be mistaken. 7. G.. is formed in
the image of his creator, for ought we
know, he is natures noblest produc-
tion. an honest man. Yet, as we can't
eat him. or wear him and would freeze
a thousand times between now and
spring for all the warmth he can gen.
crate, must we conclude that he lacks
the government stamp ''this is man, y
to be of intrinsic value?
i We have had it fired at us time and
again that bushel of wheat was
worth as much as it ever was; that il
took just as much sweat to raise it, ETC.
What dreary drivel. In early days
Ul1C lCtl vi JICCll lAhhC, w Is.
raised their 200 to 300 bushels of wheat.
drew it 100 miles and sold it for SOC
per bushel. In 1880 we helped harvest
a piece that farmer and his two BOYS
had put in. 1t took 8 men at So per
day to harvest it, and he had l.OOG
bushels of wheat at 81 a bushel. Last
year we know of two boys who, with
the help Of two men in harvest, raised
10000 bushels of wheat at 45c per
bushel. Who made the most and who
sweat the most? When machinery en-
ables mankind to quadruple his pro-
duction. can he in reason expect the
price to remain the same? Can rea-
sonable men expect a yearly produc-
ton of l2O, 100000 ounces of silver will
be worth as much as 30, 600, 900 ounces?
We hear good deal about Blaine
having been q silver man. A certain
DemO-Pop-Rep., wearing q 1G to I