The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1896-06-24
GOLD and SILVER
tconcludea from Third Page.


s BILE in gold, and latterly mortgages Of
! all soKs have been made payable Tn
: gold. Does any one suppose for mo-
naenS that the railroads of this country,
1 owing thousands OF millions payable in
gold WILL be able to pay according TO the
1 terms of their contract? 1t is difficult
enough row for them TO pay their bonds
! and the interest upon them while we are
on d. gold basis What will become OF
the railroads when they are compelled
to go into the market and buy gold IN
order to pay their bonds? 1t means, or
course, Bankruptcy and the wreck OF the
railroad sNstems and untold loss upon
the innocent holders of their securities.
AGRICULTURAL. INTERESTS.
How win the agricultural interests be
prepared for Nhe change? The farmer,
unfortunately, Is always the victim OF
the den,agogue. Protectionlsts have
4 Is holding out its glittering delusion 10
his hopes The farmer who is solvent
and has any investments or debts due
MIN VIII be in THE same category with
those already named as sufferers in this
\ transaction. How about the farmer
whose holdings are Inortgaged? If his
mortgage is payable in gold, where wiz
he get the gold? III it is payable in
money. does he suppose for a moment
that IL the mortgage is due that the
creditor VIII walt for payment until sill
ssver goes down and gold goes up? The
very moment THAT a free silver President
would sign q free silver bill enacted
by Congress 6 call would b. made for
mortgage payments, Foreclosures would
DE the order of the day, because the
creditor would press for immediate pay
ment. unwilling to wa1s until his security
had fallen so low that 1t would not Ire
worth one-half of its value.
when the farmer wants to borrow
money to stock or improve his farm.
that sort OF dollars will the philanthro-
pists OF Nevada or Colorado give him
gold dollars that they do not possess or
the free and unlimited fitty-cent dollars
Z that they coin at the government mint?
= And when they get these fifty-cent dol
lars who is ito guarantee the farmer that
another Congress when 1t comes in will
not repeal the law and compel the farm
er to pay IN gold what he has gotten in
silver. The financial history OF France,
and OF the countries that came in for
time under the Latin Union, and of every
free silver county in the world demon
Strates the fact that with n change in
fiscal affairs from stable to a cheap
currency, farming bands go down in
value. because the interests that hold
them are the least able to stand the on
slaught of the creditor olamoring for i'm
mediate payment in order to rescue his
investment from the universal wreck.
ALLEGED DEMONErIZATION OF
SILVER.
Now. what Is the battle cry of the sill
yer fanatic who will not listen to the
voice of reason or experience? They say
that we demonetized silver in 1873 and
they want to restore the money OF the
fathers and of the constitution. What
silly twadde this is. In 1873 there was
no silver to demonetize. At that time
silver was ut a premium. 1t was worth
that is. the bullion in u silver dollar was
worth, 103. and no one took ii to the
nints to coin it. Then the mine owners
did NOT want free coinage. When silver
commenced to fall after the great dis
covery of silver deposits in the West
then the clamor for free coinage COM
menced. and the lower the price the
greater the clamor. This shows what Il
fraudulent suhterfuge 1t is to claim that
decentralization in 1873. when silver was
at o. Premium and out of 'cicculation,
justifies demonstration in 1896. when
silver, by reason of Its enormous pro-
duction. has declined to ore-half of its
value in 1873 j repeat the assertion
which have made in Congress before
without contradiction, that there is no
one in existence who On the year 1873 saw
a silver dollar in circulation except, per-
maps. as q memento or souvenir. The
United states COlneu more SilVSr In three
months after 1873 than 1t did in the whole
century that preceded 1t. So when they
talk about the money OF the constitu-
tton they are deceiving the people be-
cause there never would have been n
constituted If the trainers of that in
strument had ever engaged in the coun-
tsrfeitlng scheme OF putting the emblem
OF the republic upon q dollar repudiated
In all the civilized markets OF the world
3 CANNOT BE KEPT AT EQUAL.
VALUE.
The important question Is often asked
what wall cause the silver and gold dol
lar to part company, and why Will the
silver dollar decline in value? I think
this question can be answered In a few
words. 1t is the enormous production
of silver that will make the difference
Persons who have not examined this
subject hardly realize what this in.
creased production amounts ito. lust
look at 1t a moment. In 1850 we pro-
& duced in coming value fifty Thousand
dollaisdn silver in 1891 we produced over
seyenty-fye mdllion dollars That Is To
Say we produced fifteen hundred times
< as much silver In 1881 as we did in 1850
+ Can any ona expect that under such cir
cumstances silver should be worth az
much In 1881 as 1t was in 1850? Could the
price OF any article be kept up that had
increased fifteen hundred fold? And the
4 proposition now is that the government.
8 OF 1he United States shall keen I'm the
: price by taking all the silver there ts In
Ihe world at the rate of nearly two hun
dred million dollars a year, ACCORDING
{ to the latest statistics and rot, a. '