Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1896-08-20
TOWNE
Says the Government
Sta mp Cannot Create
Value.

W nv OSAACN6 Jul SOfClhiADbS 1NA
coin silver bullion into dollars at
the ratio of Is to /, free and unlim-
tied as TO quantity, and contend
that these dollars will circulate
freely at their stamped or face
value without reference to the COM
mercial value of the silver therein
contained, base their belief on the
assumption that the government
stamp can create value, and when
this government places its sovereign
or stamp on q piece Of metal or
paper, it is Immediately TRANSFORMS
cd into value corresponding to its
face and viii circulate freely and
unquestioned as money without
reference to it's intrinsic worth.
This proposition is the basis on
which the average free coiner as.
sumes hat the government can,
without limit as to quantity, coin
fifty three cents worth Of silver into
a dollar of value and maintain IT
without redemption in free cir
%culatlon at its face. To such
believers, we desire to quote a
paragraph from the speech of Rep
resentative Towne, admitted to be
one Of the most able and ardent
advocates of free coinage in con-
gress today ; and we quote the
entire paragraph, which contains
all that is said on this particular
proposition, calling your especial
attention to the words in heavy
type !:
And here it occurs to me to call attention 70
the fact that minis do not, under systems of
free coinage, purchase bullion; nor do they
exchange, necessarily, coin of one metal for
bullion of the other. have seen on this floor
indications that some gentlemen appear to
think that one way we would lose our gold-if
we opened the minis to s~ilver-would be in
handing it over to designing individuals who
should bring silver bullion to the mint and de-
mand" gold. The open mint exists merely to
coin the bullion brought to it and pass il back
in coin to the owner. The government stamp
cannot create value. Whether a coin when
stamped shall be effectnsi to pass at the value
it claims to represent will depend on tie use il
can command. In this respect, / agree wholly
with the honorable gentleman from Maine Mr..
Dingley] who opened this debate and who now
does me the honor of listening to me. The
whole question of maintaining freely coined
silver at a parity with gold is one simply of
giving 1t enough to do ,-subjecting il to large
enough demand. Let US hear no more cheap
denunciation of creating value by law
Nobody claims you can do so. You can legis-
late opportunity and that is all silver asks.
How does this strike you, nv
friend, who believes the govern
ment "iat' is all powerful and
unlimited, aud that the govern
ment stamp on fifty-three cents
worth OF silver gives it a dollars
worth of value, without any re-
demption !? Mr. Towne SAYS, "the
government stamp cannot create
value" Perhaps, of course, Mr..
Towne lies, but the extended circu
lation given his speeches by the
populists in the North west would
indicate faith in him by free-coln
ers, at least.
Mr.. Towne says also that "no.
body claims the government stamp
a create value" Evidently he
has not conversed with a large num-
Der Of would he statesmen and
flaanclers who abound in Day
County, who are now busy circu-
lating his speeches. How then, we
ask, Is fifty-three cents In silver
bullion when coined into a dollar
to attain the value of a dollar in
gold, when as would be the case
under the free and unlimited coin
age OF silver at 16 to 1, the gold re-
demption should be taken away.
Mr.. Towne as already quoted saws [:
"The whole question o: maintain
ing freely coined silver at a parity
with gold is one simply of giving It
enough to do,-subjecting it to a
large enough demand" No "goy-
eminent stamp business here. The
freely coined dollar must be sub.
Jected to q "large enough demand
and it is fair to presume that Mr..
Towne means a Legitimate de-
mand such as would arise from the
desire OF any n to exchange a
dollars worth of some sort of value
for the silver dollar, and not the
demand which may arise if we were
given silver dollars for nothing.
Silver coiners of Day County should
not lose sight of the fact that, not
being u silver producing locality,
the only way we could obtain n
OF these freely coined dollars would
be to exchange a dollars worth of
some material value that we possess
for the silver dollar.
IL is well understood that the use
OF money IS to measure the product
OF one mans labor when exchanged
Tor the product Of another mans
labor. The exchange could be
made without the use of4m.ney at
all, but for the sake of convenience.