The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1896-08-21


ounce Of gold with fewer ouae % sils
yer. You cannot buy 1t In q 4iiYff coitn-
try any more than you can n q gold
country. \
coining Doss Not 1raiss u siisr. 8
Trade puts its relative estimate ON
each metal. and no act OF Cong Gan
change that estimate. congTees ctAld
as easily change the seesons or dem the
4 Atlantic from Sandy Hook to QieenhS
\ town. And this suggests the fnnda-l
mental misapprehension that any EpN-
eminent can add to value 70 metal gny
colning It The mint stamp merely
1 says that the coin IL Of a certain WeiRnf
and is SO many parts fine. It - mere
contrlvance for the couyenience Of e<-
change. Formerly the money metals
| went BY weight-so many grains, ounces
or pounds Were weighed out for 90 many
horses. cattle or sheep, for so many
/ yards, bushels or barrels, Nobody sup
poses that anything Ia added to the
value OF the gold In gold dollar by
| passing through the mint the 26.8 grains
| of standard gold that compose 1t. A
Misunderstanding has arisen about the
silver dollar because It Is known that 1t
| does not contain q dollars worth OF sil-
Yer and yet passes current In this coun-
| try--not elsewherc-for a dollar. The
silver dollar does pass current fora doll
lar because the law limits the extent Of
Its coinage: because 1t is coined on gov
eminent account and paid out on gov
eminent account as a hundred doll
lar; because the government undertakes
to keep 1t UP to the gold dollar and does
keep 1t up. although the task Is not an
easy one. "a X
What the Mine Owners Want and why.
1.-THE free silver men are not satisfied
with this way Of doing II. II there be
any profit in coining silver they want
the profit They want to send TO the
mint all the silver they can get and have
It made into dollars without any cost
TO them except for the raM material.
The silver In q silver dollar maybe
worth 60 cents or 50 cents or 10 cent {
will be all the same. The govern i9nt
must coin 1t into O dollar and hand the
dollar over to the owner without cost.
The owner Of the silver may be an
American. Chinese, an East Indian
stu 1t is all the same. The government
of the United States must give free
coinage to the silver and give the silver
dollar to the owner of the silver. b
This Is scheme devised by the own.
ers OF silver mines to get q big bounty on
their Droduct. They think that free
coinage would be equivalent to forcing
the country to pay them $1.2929 for
every ounce they can produce. The Sill
Yer mine owners have got together q
considerable following by making many
persons believe that the free coinage OF
silver would make dollars more plenti-
ful and therefore easier to get. Some-
body Is deceived. II dollaFs are to be-
easier to get 1t will be because they Will
not be worth so much as now. In that
case the silver mine owner is deceiving
himself-he will get the mere shadow
OF the bounty he seeks and miss the
substance. 1t will take two of the free
coinage dollars to buy as much as one
buys now. The government will be un-
der no obligation to keep at par with
gold the dollars coined free for the mine
owner In unlimited quantities, and could
not do 1t II 1t tried. II the silver mine
owner be right about 1t. he alone will
profit by the change. Whoever wants
to have silver coined free must first get
his silver. II he does not produce 1t he
must buy 1t, and he will have to buy 1t
at its coinage value. The producer will
for 1t by turning 1t into dollars.
| AGrcnt Driusion.
But the producer will not be put to
this test. When the government goes
into the free and unlimited coinage of
silver independent OF the action of the
great trading nations of the world. the
silver producer will find that his coin
ed silver will be worth just its market
| value as bullion, no more and no less.
Anybody who desires to buy with silver
dollars will find that 1t viii take about
two of them tolget gold dollar or to
buy a dollars Worth. He may pay an
old debt with the 50-cent dollar, but he
VIII have to make his new debts on a
gold basis. II he wishes to borrow he
Will have to promise TO pay in gold, Just
rs he must do now IL he borrows from
Senator Stewart. of Nevada, the head Of
the free silver propaganda. Most OF the
debts owed in tliis country are new
debts. Not more than per cent of the
indebtedness in this country Is over two
1 years old Tho moment free silver seems
to be coming. borrowing and lending
| will be on gold basis. do not stop to
| discuss the moral question involved IN
borrowing a hundred cents and paying
1t off with so cents. Nor shall ask any
Intelligent merchant whether he thinks
he could sell Is inches Of cloth for the
same price as IS inches; or any intclll-
/ gent Wage-earner whether he thinks he
could get the same pay for one hours
| work as for two; or any intelligent FAR
mer whether he thinks he could get the
same price for 30 pounds of wheat as for
go pounds. No more can you buy as
much with a 60-ccnt dollar as with a
100-cent dollar.
II D..
with tho present standard, which Is
the gold standard. We have practical BIZ
mctalllsm. With the free coinage OF
silver we would drop to monometallism,
and silver would be the standard. BIZ
metallism is two-metallism. Mono
metallism is one-metallism. Gold
standard countries use gold and silver.
Silver standard countries use silver only
OF the precious metals. With our pres
ent standard we had in this country al
the beginning of the present fiscal year
6S6 millions OF gold. SIS millions OF Sill
yer and 55S millions of notes, all at par
and every dollar US good as gold. This
is the condition which free coinage
would change. Gold and the notes
based on 1t would be driven out of circu-
lation-a shrinkage OF thousand mill
ions in the currency! What this would
mean is beyond the imagination to pic-
ture. Those who are to-day clamorinp
for free coinage would curse the false
prophets for leading them into the ditch
1T is often said that dollar is 3
dollar so long as the government stamr
II q n att nn ,lark H..