The advocate., 1896-10-21
THE LOGIC OF A PARTY ORGAN.


munication in the form Of series Of
questions which he was unable to an
swer, and he referred the letter to the
st. Paul Pioneer Press, which paper
undertook the work of responding.
The letter is so pertinent and so rea-
sonable in tone and temper that we re-
produce 1t entire, as follows:
1 find in Circular No. 1913, issued on July 1,
1896, by the Treasury Department of the United
States, on page %, that the entire worlds prod
uct Of silver for the year 1894 (Which Is the
greatest Of any year in said circular mem
tioned), is S2l6,S92,2OO. On page 81 Of said cir
cular the per capita circulation Of money in
the United States is between $22 and $2S; we
will call 1t 1913 for each man, woman and child
in the country. We have o population OF
100000 people, which increases each year by
100000 Now suppose the entire product for
the next year, as large as the product Of 1894,
should be sent to our mints to be coined at the
ratio Of l6 to /, let US see how much our per
capita circulation would be increased by this
silver. We would first supply our surplus
100000, who have come on the scene OF &C.
tion without money, with $23 each, and this
would take S46,OOO,OOO Deduct this from the
whole we have $17O892,2 200, which divided be-
tween the 100000 of our people would give
to each less than $2S8 Do you think that
would make food sufficient to overwhelm
u.s. or could we use it to good advantage and
be ready for more the next year? 1t is said
that last year Europe coined SSOOOO,OOO; Asia
s7OOOO,OOO and the arts took $5O,0OO,OO0. Now, II
this demand should continue, let as see how
much we would have. First, give to our 20OO,'
600 people their $46OOOOOO; then to Europe,
Asia and the arts their $1500OOO0O, or in all
Sl06OOOOOO, which, deducted from the whole
sum Of $2l6 S92 2OO would leave for our 72,OO0OOO
the sum Of 80 cents apiece. Don't you think
we could stand that without panic? Do you
think the peoples Of Europe would send their
silver coins, all as good as gold and in use in
their countries, here to be coined? II so, why?
1t has often been said that free silver coinage
would drive out the gold. If you will turn to
page 27 of the said circular you will see that
Japan, silver country, has $S4OOO,OOO in silver
and s8OOOOOOO in gold Why has not silver
driven out gold in Japan? The South Ameri-
can silver countries have stock OF $SO,OO0OOO
in silver and $4O,OOO,OOO in gold. Why has gold
continued there? Did not the enemies Of
silver make these same prophecies when the
Bland-Allison law was before Congress, and
did not their prophecies fail? Did not these
same enemies Of silver assure the people that
the repeal Of the Sherman law would restore
confidence and prosperity, and did not their
prophecies again fail? II 80, why do you ex.
psct us to pay any attention to them now?
The Pioneer Press begins It's answer
by asserting that the writer Of the let
ter ignores the inevitable result of
free coinage In putting this country at
once on the silver standard" But the
Press has no authority for its sssump.
ton that free silver coinage is equiVa
lent to silver basis. Nothing in our
past history suggests or iustifies such
an assumption. We began In 1892 with
the silver dollar as our standard unit
coin, and we had free and unlimited
coinage of silver and gold during the
following eighty years, but that did
not put US on gold basis.
This sort Of discussion shows how
difficult it is for q purely party organ
to reason on lines of actual fact when
its party gets off wrong. The CORE.
spondent is brosd-gauged man. He
reasons from admitted facts and as.
sumes nothing not proven. The Press,
at the outset, assumes to be not only
trna hnt inavitahla a DPonnaition which