The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1896-09-12

gently stated.
1T has been chiefly through their eff
forts that the question has been forced
into prominence and made the leading po-
litical issue OF the day. or all questions
that have ever been presented to any peo-
pie in the history OF the world ro- consid-
GRAFTON, the money question Is by far the
most important, because II Hes al the
threshold of civilization. II out institu-
lions are TO be preserved and the present
civilization Is 10 continue. II VIII only
be through the right solution OF the mon
ey question. No person can conceive of
a political situation, where individual
rights and privileges are protected and
made secure, where there is no money
Money, of whatever material made,
is the oil of commerce, the blood of trade
and the civilizer of man. Without money
there can be no commerce or trade, ex-
cept such as is carried on by Darbarlc
people, there can be no home except the
home of the savage; there can be no fam
ily ties except the family ties Of the bar
barians; there can be no personal liberty
except such as is secured by brute force
and there can be no civilization except
the civilization of savagery. Money can
be only used to distribute property and to
Fay debts, and without it neither can be
done without the greatest Inconvenience
to the people of civilized communities
Money is the creation of law, and
without law there can be no money ex-
cept such as Is used by common consent
The value of money as such in no sense
depends upon the material out of which 1t
is made, but entirely upon the quantity or
its circulation with respect to population
Money is purely domestic in its character
and it cannot perform the fuction of mon
ely outside Of the limits of the country
where 1t is made, except by common con-
sent regardless of the material out of
which 1t is made
when the gold and silver coin of the
United States pass beyond our borders
they not only cease to be money, but are
bought and sold by weight and in all re-
spects are treated as commodities and
not as money. John Sherman and others
of his ilk say that they want our money
to be so good that it will circulate every
where where money is used, and they de-
clare that no money can do that except
such as is made out of gold and there
fore they are in favor of the gold stand
ard. because gold is the money Of the
world. There is no money OF the world.
There never was and never will be any
money of the world until all nations of
the earth become consolidated into one
nation, a thing that is not likely to hap
pen. Each nation must have a money of
its own, and ii is a matter OF no conse-
quence to any nation what the money of
another nation Is. The money of one ma
ton will sell for just as much in any 9TH
used, as it Is worth in the country in
which it is made, less exchange.
Price of Bullion.
THE price of gold and silver bullion in
the United States under free coinage de-
ponds entirely upon the rate at which it
can be coined at the mint. Whenever
nation permits gold or silver to be coined
into money free of charge at a certain
rate the price of those metals in that
country is fixed and determined by that
rate, and by no possibility can either met
al fall in that nation below the price es-
tablished by law.
"Silver cannot be coined into units of
money at all at the present time in the
| United States, neither can it be coined
into units of money in any country of
Europe. Silver. therefore. is treated as
a commodity, and the price of 1t is fixed
and determined by the same law that
fixes and determines the price of other
commodities. If the United States should
give back to the people the right that
was taken from them to have silver coin
ed into units of money at the ratio of 16
to !, the price of silver bullion would in
stantly go to $1.29 an ounce, because that
is the rate at which silver under free coin
age could be coined into units of money,
and that rate would fix absolutely the
price of silver not only in the United
States, but in the world.
"If the volume of money in circulation
in a country be contracted by law ire
parable injury will result to the people
Of such nation. The volume of money in
] this country since 1866 has been enor-
mously contracted under the laws passed
| by congress, and as a result the people
have suffered incalculable loss. The great
mass of the people have been ruined
financially, and the misery and suffering
consequent upon such contraction is be-
yond the comprehension of man.
The debts contracted by the govern
ment have been enormously increased
| thereby, because it requires vastly more
| of the products of the country TO pay the
present debts than was required to pay
the debts when originally contracted The
| action of our government In destroying
| the paper money that was issued during
| the war, and which saved this republic
from destruction, and in taking away
from the people the right to have silver
coined into money free of charge, cannot
be too strongly condemned. Language is
| inadequate to properly characterize the
acts passed by congress under which the
| money volume has been enormously con-
| tracted in this country. The contraction
OF the money volume IN circulation during
the past 80 years has wrought more mis-
cry and suffering and financial loss to our
people than all the wars, famines and pes
tnences that have afflicted this country
from the beginning.
LincOIn's Idea of HeInous Crime.
Lincoln said that If the government
contracts a debt with a certain amount OF
money in circulation and then contracts
the money volume before the debt is
paid, it is the most heinOus crime that a
government could commit against the peo.
pie
THE very crime that he so strongly
characterized, this government has com.
mitted against our people by contracting
the money volume in circulation by legis-
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