The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1896-08-29

III 4OllOW lug 1CIIcI 10 Ouc VI Aduy
that are daily received by the Times
Herald. It is supposed to contain the
strongest free silver argument that can
be addressed to the farmer, and it is
used by the free silver orators with inn
mense assurance of its success:
Lincoln, Neb.. Aug: $40 the Editor:
$1,000. payable in lawful money November
l. l,.o 1927; J. m must t,I pay t hhae debt btd, with the the
Suahsis es wheat / Tll ne1 sf y es1e # f t 5s!ss Is 1o nc
change in our financial system, this wheat,
at 80 cents per bushel, will pay half the
Is: 4edu @aeP to t g e Sa19s S 81 Z Free silver soins seal' q
bushel. Of wheat, without any change in
Its value, will be worth a 50-cent dollar.
With free coinage Of silver / shall. there.
the 1000 bushels Of wheat. The burden Of
paying a debt Of $1,000 has doubled since
borrowed the money. have obeyed the
and shall obey them under a silver standard.
The opponents of free coinage Of silver are
appealing to the laborers, the creditors and
policy policy n holders L to protect steGEa their fni1 e oT Yon. per- oat
for my " interests who will do SO for
me? Is there any reason why ] should not
vote for the free and unlimited coinage Of
The answer is not far to seek.
When this farmer borrowed the money
it was the equivalent of $1,000 in gold.
1t was the same as if he had received it
all in gold 500 pieces. He could have
had it that way if he SO desired. Per.
haps he did, for many such loans have
$1,000 in gold equivalent. He probably
improved his farm to that extent or
bought stock or machinery. In whatever
way he used it, unless he burned it up or
s%quandered it, he got value received.
The borrowing and lending was a bust
ness transaction and the borrower used
the money to promote his business in
terests.
|. At no time since that mortgage was
for few mortgages Fun over
five years without renewal, would q
thousand bushels of wheat have paid it..
Suppose we had borrowed. the money
from a n%eighboring farmer more pros
nervous than he. That neighbor would
probably have to carry something like
two thousand bushels of wheat to town,
sell it for a thousand dollars, get the
money and hand it over to his
friend. There have been in the
tons. In fact, in every farming
community there are a few farmers,
more thrifty and of better business quail
iications than the others, who always
have money to lend out of their savings.
They get the money from the products
of their farms, but they are not loaning
those products. They are loaning the
money, and since 1879 it has been gold
or its equivalent. Why should they
not have the same kind of money in re-
payment?
Ia It any wonder that the advocates of
unlimited free coinage are charged with
dishonesty and that silver is called dis
honest money, when by the passage Of
a law a thousand 5O-cent dollars will be
sufficient to discharge a debt of a thou
sand 1OO-cent dollars? Such a law
amounts to the Reputation Of one-half
the debt obligations Of all the debtors in
the United States.
When Mr.. Binger In the above letter
say sThe burden Of paying q debt Of
$1,000. has doubled since ! borrowed the
money" he must remember, It he is stat
ING what is true, that the Burden" is not
alone upon him, but upon every other
business man who has borrowed money.
Merchants and manufacturers feel the
same stress of the hard times as the
farmers do. It is not because they bor-
roWed gold and have to repay gold that
the burden is greater, but that their
earninRs and assets have not turned out
IA they hoped and. expected. COMPETE
tion and overproduction have affected
the whole world, but reputation is not
the proper cure for it.
Honesty 10 the best policy-as a policy
: merely, without reference to its moral
maIifv-fnr nations m well al fOe tndi.