The River Falls times. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1894-1933, 1896-10-13

the same rs a pound Of the coins.
The object of the coin was to save
weighing and assay ing-to furnish
small weights by count. Ifany charge
should be made for the coinage, then
the bar silver would be worth that
much l. IS or the CONS that much
more. The parity would be destroy
ed. The coinage was FOR the same
purpose as cou ts-to stop personal
dispute, over weight and oneness,
insuring domestic tranquility an |
promoting the general welfare. Coin
age was court in whic!, all disputes
as o he weight and tineness would
be sci tied, and it was as much the
duty of a government to provide it
free for all as to provide courts to
settle disputes rs to ownership Of
land.
The unit of value was not the coin,
but SO many grains OF the silver; and
the mint certificate OF the weight and
fineness stamped upon the coin stop
ped dispute.
There must be parity between the
unit and the coin-that a civilized
government was bound to furnish,
and all it had any right to furnish.
If a man owed another $40 and
brought a lump of silver, saying;
'"There are So" the debtor might
say: Chow do | know that there are
81 25 grains?" The debtor took
his silver to the mint, and that certi-
fed to tn" fact by converting it into
ten coins, with the mint stamp on
each OF 371 .25. These discharged the
debt.
To keep this parity between The
uncoined unit OF value consisting OF
a definite number Of grams Of metal
and the coin which contained the
exact same number of grains, the
mind OF man has never discovered
any other way than free coinage. II
it cou.d find some way, then the free
coinage of gold would not be neces-
sity.
For twenty six centuries every hon
est coin issued from any mint has
been coin, d free OF cost o the holder.
The experiel &c of mankind has proven
the nee essity Of free coinage and hon
est money for national prosperity,
and the two have gone hand in hand
down he ages. Each country has
had one attack Of iat-money fever,
financial measles, but the attack OF
"fat money" fever under which thus
country has been suffering since 1878
is the worst n record But before
considering tnat, here are seven his
torical facts which it may be we'll to
keep in mind
L. There is not an honest coin in
the world to day that was not free
coin, d. There is not even Il full legal
tender coin in the world to-day out
side of the United States that was
not coined free Find one. Name
one
2. There never has been coin is
sued under free coinage (prior to 1879
in the history OF the world that was
not honest, that would not stand the
melting-pot test, and to which the
mint stamp added any value. Find
one Name one.
8. There is not country OF the
world to-day, except the United
States, which within the past $50
years has issued a legal tender coin
"on government account" or in any
other way than by free coinage. Not
an ounce of silver has b Ell bought by
any government on earth except ours
since 1873 for coinage into legal
tender money-not even 1.-THE Bey OF
robber- peopled Tunis" would do such
a dishonest trick.
4. Never in the history of the
world has a coin been issued ION
account" that would
stand the melting pot test, that was
honest money: that did not swindle
the people.
5. Never in the history of the world
has a dishonest dollar been issued
from a mint except ION government
account" The gun money OF James
IT,, the necessity dollars of Sweden,
the debased coins of all tyrants were
issued ION government account.
They could not be issued under free
cninaue