Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1896-10-01
FREE COINAGE EXPLAINED

X tltUD tUibnVu bAi D0lltIDs
New York Nation.
The precise way in which the new silver
dollars were to reach the people when
the silver regime was established. has en-
gagged the best thought of the silver party,
but NIL have felt that II was subject of
great difficulty. The first aud cruder view I
was that IN office Of Silver Distributor
would be created in each State, on the
model of our liquor law, with Assistant
Distributors under him in each county,
whose duty il would be TO pass the silver
out to the people as fast as ii was coined.
But what was to he the rule of distribu-
ton? How much silver was each person
to get? Well, the earlier thought on this
point was that each person was to get six
teen dollars, and TINT this was the true
and honest Interpretation of the maxim [
ZIG to L." But necessarily an error Of /
this sort could not lust long, and could !
find currency only among our more sims =
ple-minded citizens. The correct expla-
nation Of the phrase 16 to speedily made
Its way to the front. II was soon undery
stood that 18 10, meant that the nations
were to agree that every one who had an
once of gold was TO be able to procure
for II sixteen ounces of silver. But no
sooner was this explanation diffused than
new difficulty arose. Even the most
ignorant could not understand why, IL
they could get thirty-two ounces of silver
for one ounce of gold in the market nowy
the natiOns were to agree that they should
hereafter get only sixteen. They UNDER
stood the market practice of taking all
you could get but they could not UNDER
hninu haupI tn 20 In onIts uInnh
half what you could get. This point has
not yet been cleared up, and this province
of the subject remains to this moment ~
good deal of a muddle.
The clearest and most convincing ex-
cursus on the subject we have seen is a
paper issued by Mr. Henkle of Rochester.
N. Y, under the heading of this article
He shows what free coinage really meanss
in terms and with an authority SO clear
that nobody can hereafter honOrably pro-
fess ignorance on the subject. The gov-
eminent is to buy silver at the market
price, 53 cents to the dollar, and coin it
into dollars ut 100 ccnts-profit to the
government, Al cents. Some donkeys
may suppose that it is the value of the
silver that makes the dollar, whereas tit,
| is the government stamp of authority"
isn't this plain and trueT asks Mrs,
Henkle We should think so. To us it
seems plain us pikestaff. Well, nOwx
| how are these dollars to reach the peoa
| pie, and how is the government to get its
profits? Nothing easier. The governs
| ment is to buy material for 5000, O00
silver dollars from the Western mine
owners at the market price. For this it
can pay with 31s,oOO 600 legal-tcnder
| dollars. and thus have n Lrofit of $685.
OOO. 900. 1t is then to esta blisIr State
bank in ench State and county. and in Ii
deposit this money, and these banks ara
| to lend the money to the people, on the
| usual security. at 3 per cent. In this
| way the government is to have control of
| MI the money in the community, and to-
4 relieve n suffering people from the pay-
4 ment of all taxes. and 1t appears that this
j,control of all the money in the community
/ by the government is provided for by the
4 Constitution of the United States-a
| noint which we confess. we had not
noticod ourselves. Nothing more atlmi-
rable for the relief of the tnxpayer than
4 this MAN of buying silver and paying for
4 ii with legul-tender dollars coined out of
4 ii has MS vet been produced, and its best
feature Is its simplicity.
But we cannot say we are altogether
satisfied with Mr.. Henkle's way of dis
l4ributino the silver among tine peoples
4 md we fear it will excite much discons
tent 1t will he observed that it is to be
entirely by way of loan, '.on the secure
| ties now furnished to banks.r Now, we
must remind him that one of the most
deyilish of the devices resorted to by those
.thieving institutions" the banks, for
the oppression of the poor is the exacton
Iof security for loans. and. above all, what
these monsters call s'good" or '.gfltedged
securities" meaning stocks or bonds capa.
Bile of being sold on the exchange at a
] certain price. How many honest citizens
allow their homes to be defiled by such
A securities? Why. not even 10 per cent.
The great mass are far too proud, and
too American, let us say, to allow such
Z things to enter their houses. Now, how
are these to get their share of the governs
ment silver loans? We fear Mr.. Henkle
has not given this branch of the subject
the attention it merits. We say let the
banks loan to every citizen ut 3 per cent
on his honor as man. We say that Civ
ing security for loans is a degradation to
which no American should submit and is
practice of English ariatocratic origin.
But the government is not to coniine'
itself TO coming silver. 1t is also ''to,
a prjnt and put in circulation in the same
way ms many millions of full lega-tender
money as the necessities of our industry
| IL. Ill. ,,+..