The Louisiana populist., 1896-12-18
disinterested observer, time will en-
phasize the truth of the assertion.
w. S. MORGAN.
ITEMS OF INTEREST.
Facts Which the People Have "A Right
to Know.


treasury July l, 1896, was s1i3,O5S, ,695.
The amount of silver certificates in
circulation May 1, 1896, was $3SS, 1874, Alb.
Silver dollars are not redeemed in
gold. There is no law authorizing it,.
and there is no such practice.
Interest advanced on government
bonds between 1880 and 1882 amounted
to upward of s66,0O0,0O0.
The value of an ounce of standard
gold C916 2-3 fine) was fixed at f3 lis Cd
by the British Parliament in 1874.
There are no gold dollars coined
now. Their coinage was discontinued
by the law approved September 2e.
1890.
1t has cost the country about $685.
100000 in interest-bearing bonds in less
than three years to maintain the gold
standard
The free and unlimited coinage OF
silver and gold at the ratio of 16 to 1
would soon restore the commercial
ratio. There was but a trifling varia-
ton when both metals were coined on
equal terms
Had prices continued as they were
in 1892. the present tariff law would
afford ample revenue for all govern
ment purposes.
The amount of money in circulation
is now constantly diminishing. though
we have sold about s260,0o0,O0O In
bonds to procure gold coin.
With high level of prices. business
is brisk, work plenty. wages fair and
times good. Free coinage Of silver and
gold will turn the tide that way.
When a pensioner is told that silver
would affect the value OF his pension,
let him answer that no American silver
dollar was ever discounted in the United
States.
Free silver coinage would not in
crease the volume of money in the
country any faster than 1t has been di-
minihed since 1893 by the repeal OF
the Sherman law.
Silver dollars are legal tender for any
amount except where otherwise ex-
pressly stipulated in the contract" II
a debt is made payable in gold, silver
dollars will not pay it.
II free coinage of silver will be such
harvest for the mine owner, how does
1t happen that nobody has ever COM
planned of the effect of free coinage of
gold on the gold mine owner?
Seigniorage was once a charge Tor
minting or coming money. The word
is now used to denote the difference
between the market value and the coin
value of bullion that is purchased for
coinage.
This country was on a bimetallic
basis from 1892 to 1873. The silver
dollar was the unit of value. BY the
act of February IL, 1873, the unit was
changed from the silver dollar to the
gold dollar.
Amount OF coined silver dollars in
the treasury July 1, 1896, was $37S.e14,-
043. On these there had been issued
$340. .942, ,504 of silver certificates. OF
subsidiary silver there was at the same
time SIS. 1914
The product of gold and silver. the
output of American mines, during the
year 1895 is reported by the director OF
the mint to have been: Gold, $46,610,-
600; silver, commercial value, $36,445,-
600, coinage value, $72.051 900.
There has been four bond sales by
the present administration. Two in
1894. $4,000, 900 each at s per cent,
running ten years; two in 1895. one for
about $62 100000 and one for 100000
coo. both at 4 per cent, running thirty
years.
The reason that the silver coinage OF
the United States was not larger dur
history is that we had large circula-
tion of foreign coins, most OF which
we're a legal tender in payment Of debts
until 1857.
Our refunding bonds, authorized In
1870. were sold at 991s cents on the
dollar. and afterward they were re-
deemed before maturity at premium
many of them as high as 25 per cent.
The total premium paid on bonds from
1850 to 1892 was little over 6O.0OO.-
900.
Kansas republicans in 1878, at their
state convention at Topeka, and at
each of the three congressional district
conventions at Garnett, Manhattan and
Wichita, declared in favor Of substitute
ing greenbacks for national bank notes
as the permanent currency" Of the
Can anybody assign a reason why
we should double the weight OF dol
lar that will not apply equally well to
a bushel of wheat? If We ought not to
increase the weight of wheat in a
bushel. why should we add to the
weight of silver in dollar? The law
long ago determined the weight Of
both.
The word coin" was not used on
any of our national obligations until
after the great war had ended. Some
of the laws passed during the war re-
ouired that the interest on bonds and
notes should be paid in coin; but the