Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1896-07-24
ABOUT FREE COINAGE.


containing communication on the
silver question and requests its
publication. It is as follows: w.
II would like to present the
following statement Of what free
coinage means to your readers and
oblige subscribers
"By free coinage is meant that
Observation-Disclosures and corpor.
atoms, natives and foreigners
may send bullion to the United
States minis and have it coined
into dollars, free Of charge, except
the cost of the alloy employed.
The dollars thus returned to the
owners of the bullion would each
be legal tender for the payment
of one hundred cents of indebted
ness. The word "unlimited," as
used in this connection, means
that there should be no restriction
as to the amount of bullion thus
received for coinage-all the silver
in the world, if you please. elm.
dependent" coinage means that
this country alone, without the
help of any foreign nation, shall
undertake the unlimited coinage
scheme, and, of course, the coins
would circulate only in the United
States. This is the ''tree, indie.
pendent and unlimited coinage Of
silver Finally, the ratio at
which this coinage would be con.
ducted-16 to 1-means that each
sixteen pounds Of silver would be
coined into as much legal tender
money as each one pound of gold.
Our minis and those Of all the
great commercial nations of
Europe are today open to the free
coinage of gold. None of them
are open to silver. Our gold coin
is accepted in any market in the
world at the equivalent of itss face
value, not because of the mint
stamp, but the bullion in it is
worth that amount. Persons in
this city who have payments to
make in Europe send either gold
coin or gold bars. 1t goes on it's
intrinsic value. Now, in the form
of bullion. it takes about thirty
p ounds of silver to equal one
pound of gold. The Chicago prop
osition to make sixteen pounds of
silver coins equal a pound of gold
coins, could be imposed only upon
our own people. The dollar con.
tanning fifty.three cents worth Of
silver could be forced by law upon
creditors in this country as legal
tender of one hundred cents of
debt, We have in existence today
nearly six hundred millions of
silver dollars and silver bullion,
against which circulating notes
have been ISSUED, and these have
thus far been kept at an equality
with gold dollars, because the gov
eminent has ceased to create any
more of this legal tender silver,
and hat kept the amount already
III existence as good as gold by
preserving the national credit, and
redeeming its obligations in gold
when demanded.
But if the United States placed
its minis at the free service of
every foreigner who chose tie have
fifty.three cents worth of silver
stamped into a dollar, with which
he could then discharge hundred
cents of debt to our cwn citizens
with every miner in this country
and every owner of old spoons
turning his silver into dollars
without end-it stands to reason
that the government could not
keep this vast, unlimited mass of
silver dollars at a parity with gold,
and they would circulate at home
and abroad like the dollars of free
coinage Mexico, at their worth in
bullion. Persons who visit Mex
leo get valuable object lesson in
the .effect Of unlimited coinage.
A man may get a meal, and when
he puts down an American dollar
in payment, will get back as change
a Mexican dollar, which contains
six grains more silver than our
own. He gets a demonstration of
thn fact that'il 10 tho oroI;t nc or