Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-09-15
RELIC OF BARBARIC AGES
What Big User Of Silver Says of the White
Metal,
Price Has Gone Down From Overpro-
to Benefit From Free Coinage.
special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.


CANTON. Ohio. September IL, 1896.
Before Canton became known throughout
the civilized world as the home of the next
President it was known to almost as wide
an extent as the city wherein was located
q great watch works, employing hundreds
OF the most skilled mechanics and sending
to all parts of the world thousands of busy
little ttmepieces every week. The head of
this concern is Mr.. Kohn c. Dueber At
times Mr.. Dueber has been no mean rival
Of the United States minis in the matter of
the consumption Of silver. There is proba-
bly, no buyer of silver bullion in the United
States who has found 1t 80 necessary dur
Ing the last thirty years to keep in such
close touch with the silver market as Mr..
Dueber. He is one of the best Informed
men on the currency issue In this region
called on him this morning and asked
him to tell me something about silver;
something ION the inside"
A Relic of Barbaric AGES.
Silver" he said. rs a relic of. the bar
bar1c ages, and the actual cause Of all this
silver agitation is to be found in the fac.
that there has been an overprod:1iion of
silver in this countrp" I asked Mr.. Due
Der to go into detail WELL" he said, "a
very tST years ago silver spoons buckles
very VI oil KINGS, ana Watcn cases were
heavily plated. and a great deal Of silver
was used; now. however, 1t Is changed. We
find nickel combination more satisfactory
for our watch cases here, and hundreds Of
jewelers. who manufacture spoon and Jewell
ry of all kinds are putting a light plate on
1t. 1t Is all lighter in weight. A great many
articles that were formerly manufactured
OF silver are now made of aluminium; alUmi-
mum has made terrible inroads into the sill
yer market The amount Of silver used for
all these purposes only a few years ago
compares very favorably with the amount
Of silver used for money, although 1t would
be impossible to give exact figures.
The Market for Silver Eliminating.
Now, this great market for silver thai
existed few years ago has been rapidly
diminishing, and the silver production has
been increasing. Take the great lead in
dustry of the country. We have to have
paint, and we have to have numberless
things for which lead is used. An immense
amount OF silver is taken from this lead.
There are the immense lead smelling works
around Pittsburg. Last year the freight
alone on all Of the lead ore refined in Pitts
burg amounted to $4,000. and out Of this
was derived 1900, 1865 ounces Of fine silver
This. what might call the silver industry
OF the lead works. is a by-product with them,
Just as the saving and placing on the mar
ket Of coke is by-product with a great
many gas companies throughout the coun-
try. These lead people can afford to sell
their silver cheaper even than the silver
miners and they, Of course, could, to a GER
tain extent, regulate the price of silver
So, you see, silver has become cheaper and
the demand for it has greatly decreased.
We don't need 1t at all. 1t takes the gov
eminent stamp to make 1t money, and we
might just as conveniently put that govern
ment stamp on copper, iron or any other
eta1; 1t would be just as good money
Silver Is relic Of the barbaric ages and
we have no more use for it in this country.
either as money or for the other thousands
of purposes to which jewelers. used to put it.
The Real Point.
Now comes the point: Who is injured by
this decrease in demand and decrease in
Price and overproduction of silver? Why,
the owners of the silver mines in the west.
These men have sprung this balloon on US:
they want tc sell what they have got, and
they want to get the best price on It.
They're the only men that lose under these
circumstances If they can't get their silver
on the market, get 1t used and increased.
Why, who blames them? These silver mine
owners are very wealthy and they have a
combine or trust; they can afford to corner
the supply Of silver and regulate the out
put and fix the price. The farmer can't do
that; the farmer has to sell his wheat at
once, and that fixes the rice on it, don't it ?
money enough to live on, and he can hold
his supply back until by skillful maneuver-
ing, such as he is back of now, he can
create demand for his product. That is
the long and short CT it. The silver miners
control the market absolutely; there are
orly three places in New York where I can
buy silver. These silver barons would be
the only people benefited by free coinage.
They are the only people hurt by the alb
sence OF free coinage; they have been pre-
raring, working and scheming for this free
coinage Of silver ever since the lead men
got to producing cheaper silver and ever
a RHv Gil
crease and 1t began to go out Of date.
There is only one thing that is going to
help the people Of this country, and that is
to get work, lots Of work, everybody 70 to
work The people don't want to learn to
steal. they want to learn to work and save
their money!"