The Portland daily press., 1896-08-11
A View of Free Coinage.
20 the Editor Of the Press:

Free coinage, like tariff, is party is.
sue which needs explanation before tbs
people can vote intslligently. There
are plenty Of men in the State of Maine
who think that If free coinage becomes
law they will receive, directly, GER
tain amount of silver dollars, and be so
much better off than they are today.
That is, they believe, because the amount
of coined money is largely increased that.
through some natural or unnatural law,
they will share the increase. They do
not stop to think that the Treasury and
national bank vaults might be full of
silver coin. that tine manufacturers of the
country might have their safes and
vaults full of it. and, yet unemployed
labor would be ne better of. II every
manufacturer in the country had q room
or storshouse full of silver, and here was
man would be no better off. The work
man must give consideration in the
| shape of labor for money of any sort be-
fore be gets his money; and if, under
free silver. there was no better demand
for manufactured goods than there is
| today the laboring man, or mechanic,
would stand no better chance to get pay
for work done, either in silver or paper.
than be does today, neither would mis-
| wages be any higher. 1t is supply and
demand, or, rather, demand and supply,
AS the most obtuse individual who ever
txrJor bod i7,a ahnv antor
| which governs trade (and, therefore. the
circulation of money! and which governs
his employment, whether it shall be a
full days or weeks work, or balf-time
work, and which also governs his wages,
Trade is dull when there Is small de-
| knows, or should know, that that is the
reason why he is out Of a JOB, or why he
| is employed only part of the time. OF
why his wages are cut down. When
| business is booming and ths shop is full
| Of orders the boss" wants all the men
| he can hire. Now how is free coinage
going to boom business? Every ,intelli-
gent man knows that there Is more mon
ey in the country now than when bust
ness was good, and still, business is
dull; SO the fault Is not with the amount
of money on hand. But to answer the
question: "How is free coiuage going to
boom business generality" Let US see
what free coinage means and then MAKE
the application. 1t means, first, that
there is a big syndicate. whether OF
ganized or not it makes no difference,
who are interested, directly, in the min
| ing of silver. This syndicate is composed
of mine owners. holders of silver stock
that the stuck should pay dividends
and the bonds interest on their invest
ments, where now they are pay ing moth
| ing, comparatively. In other words,
| trade is dull with them, there is no de-
mand for their goods silver-and they
want customer. They select the United
| States government, not precisely as
customer, for the government does not
buy their silver, but will only put q
Stamp on 1t to make it marketable. Gov
eminent does not even indcrse for them,
for while6it may attempt to establish
| and maintain ratio of l6 to / to give
currency to the coined article it is not
| compelled to redeem the silver dollars
coined, as it is simply servant OF agent
| of individuals as the miller is agent
OF the farmer who carries his corn to
| mill and has it retained to him in the
shape of meal after taking out the
| toll" or ''seigniorage." Ihe mlne
owner simply takes his silver bullion to
the mint and has it coined and returned
to him after 1t has gone through the
| mill. " From that point ell enforced or
enforceable responsibility on the part of
government. ceases. The governm en- t
does not issue the coin; ehe mino owner.
the bullion to the mint. must issue it
| put it in circulation, If he car. And
here comes the pinch. Of the 625, 00G, GOO
silver dollars coined By government in
the past hundred years 1t has only been
possible to keep S56 600, 600 In circula-
tion. The people do not favor silver
| 'cartwh heels, " or even large quantities of
subsidiary silver coins as convenient DIR
| oulatipg mediums. Silver is bulky
commodity to CARRY about, and it must
be an extremely good natured man who
will take dozen silver dollars in change
without kicking. We have managed,
however, to keep $56. 600, 900 in oircula-
ton. Now the mine owners propose,
after they set all the mines at work, to
add to this $3.50, 600, 600 every year: neatly
four times ms much each year, as we have
ever been able to keep in circulation.
| How can they do it? 1t is practical i'm
possibility. For il the working miners
accepted it for labor (and it is said that
at least in one case, they have refused to
do this) the retail grocer, halter and
olothier would call halt after having it
returned to them a few times by the
wholesalers when offered, or shipped by
express OF freight, in payment of goods.
There would be trouble. directly, before
free silver had fairly got into circulation
and the silver coin would begin TO be
piled up, held in reserve, left on the mine
| owners hands, and the mines would
either have to stop or a constantly sliding
| scale of depreciation in the purchasing
value of the coin would follow, or cheap
politicians bought up to force govern
mont to issue silver certificates, redeem
able in gold. to the amount, possibly, of
$500, 600, 600 year. How long, If such a
result were possible, would it take to
H.,r1 49,. -