The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-09-03

eminent can make SO cents equal
to 100 cents, why can't it make two
pecks equal to bushel and if 1G to
l why not 10 to L, or to l. If it
has the power to double the value
of the entire mass of silver in the
world, why can't it multiply that
value by 20 or so?
The copper mine owners of Mich
igan are awaiting with great anxiety
the passage of the free coinage of
silver law, as they have passed reso-
Iutions to ask Congress to enact
law for the free coinage of copper
on a basis which will yield them
large profit over its present market
price. If successful what is to pre-
vent the miners of lead, which is
always found mixed with silver,
demanding the same favor and the
silver mine owners could not refuse,
If honest, to vote for the farmers
bills which have already been intro
duced by the producers of wheat
and corn, asking the government to
erect store houses for their commo-
dities and issue legal tender paper
money on them at prices above
their market value and this system
might be continued by the produc-
ers and manufacturers of every
species of goods raised or made in
the United States. And when you
come to reflect upon 1t, it is as fair
and Just in one case as in another.
The truth is that gold and silver
under free coinage will not circulate
together and they never haYe. In
every country which has tried the
free coinage Of both metals Oh any
fixed ratio, the result has been that
if silver was over valued the gold
went out of circulation and was
boarded; if gold was over valued
silver was boarded and went out of
circulation, so that a double stand
ard in practice was only an alter
nate standard.
The man who owes debt always
pays it in the cheapest money. In
this country in the colonial period
when money was scarce cattle were
at one time a legal tender but it was
found that the man who had debt
to pay always selected the leanest
and poorest of the herd and kept
the best for his own use. In some
Of the Massachusett towns milk
pals and sawed lumber were legal
tenders, but this was when the peo-
pie had no metallic money and no
means of getting 1t, but the quality
of the milk pals degenerated, the
lumber was full of knots and rotten
streaks and recourse was had to
other things. But this country is
not so poor as to require debase-
ment of our currency, neither
should we be so ignorant as to al
low the owners of SO cents worth
Of silver to pass it on us for 100
cents.
If gold and silver would not cir
culate together under free coinage
from 1892 to 1873, during which
period there was difference Of only
two or three cents in the CONNER
cial value of the coined dollars, why
should they be expected to come
together under free coinage now
when there is a difference of ~
cents in their commercial value.
Jefferson's rule for coinage
ratio; 1.-The proportion between
the values of gold and silver is a
mercantile problem altogether.
Just principles will lead us to disre-
gard the legal proposition, to IL
quire into the market price of gold
in the several countries with which
we shall probably be connected in
commerce, and take an average from
them"
Let us illustrate the effect of free
coinage on several important classes
Of people, viz: Savings bank depos-
itors, life insurance bepeticIaries,
share holders IN building and loan
associations an ! members of mutual
benefit cooperative and fraternal
associations. Let us take them in
order and in the first place explain
a savings bank: True savings banks
are organized without capital and
are managed by trustees who receive
no salary. They do a purely be-
Leyolent work and aid those who
have no secure place for their sur
plus earnings and could not invest
their money to advantage on ac-
count of the small sums belonging
to each; but these, when aggre-
gated, form an immense sum and
the trustees are able to buy for
their benefit the best class of secur-
tiles on the most favorable terms.
The trustees themselves are not per-
mitted by law and do not sell to or
buy from the banks any of their
securities and derive no benefit
from their profit, They can have
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