Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1896-10-23

right and they are bound to believe it.
"About the first thing the silver man
says is that the republican party struck
down one-half of the volume of money
doubled the demand for the other half
and consequently increased its pur-
chasing power.
"The facts are that prior to 1873
from 1892, there was coined 971, 100000
gold dollars and only 100000 silver
dollars, together with e135, 100000 of
subsidiary coin-or s12O of gold to 81
in silver. There was practically no sill
YER in circulation prior to 1873 and
consequently there was no volume Of
silver to destroy.
1.-THE act of 1873 declared that gold
should be the unit of value, but it did
not stop the coinage of subsidiary coin
nor take away the legal tender quality
of any standard silver dollar. which is
as much legal tender as gold dollar
was then or is now.
"Instead of the act of 1873 contract
ing the volume of silver, there has heen
coined over 466.Ooo,OOO silver dollars,
besides nearly s9o,0oo,Ooo of subsidiary
coin, during the twenty-three years fol
lowing the passage of that act, as
against the 100000 silver dollars and
sl35, 100000 of subsidiary coin coined
during the eighty-one years preceding
1873.
"The year of 1S73wasa a year of panics;
mercantile houses went into bankrupt
cy; the furnace fires put out and labor
ing men thrown out of employment;
Yet, after the passage of the act of
1873, called the crime of the demone.
tization of silver we began to climb
Out of the valley Of gloom and up the
mountain of prosperity, reaching the
pinnacle in 1897. Those were years of
republican administrations; years of
nations greatest prosperity; years when
the network of railroads was spread
over the country; when telegraph lines
were stretched everywhere and the great
west grew up almost as a new nation
in our midst.
"The export trade of the United
States during the last year of this per-
iod reached the enormous sum of
S1,O15,O00,OOO; more than s5OO,OOO.OOO
more than in any one year under the
so-called Jetfersonian bimetallism.
Notwithstanding the fact that the
people were prosperous and had work
to do. the free trade man came along
and said we were getting too much
idle money into the treasury; and the
free silver man said we want free coin
age of silver. These men wanted a
change and they got it.
"The silver men got Mr.. Bland of
Missouri to offer IL free coinage meas
ure. This act was amended so as to
compel the government to purchase
not less than 2,OoO,OO0 ounces of silver
per month and coin it into silver dol
lars. The law was known as the Bland
Allison act and was passed in 1878.
Under it the government coined about
ss:30, 100000 per year. until the passage
of the Sherman act of 1890, which re-
pealed the purchasing clause Nearly
425.O0O,00o silver dollars we're coined
during that period, fifty times as much
as during the eighty-one years Of So
/, called Jetfersonicn bimetallism.
"But this immense coinage of silver
failed to keep up the price of the
metal on the market, resulting that the
bullion in a silver dollar had market
value for less than the stamp of the
government upon it made it call for.
and only passing in the nlarts of trade
for one dollar because the government
made it redeemable in gold.
''This disparity between the market
value of the bullion and the coinage
value the government was not responsi.
ble for and of course could not keep
up the coinage of silver without great
loss upon its own part, thus necessi-
tating the stopping of silver coinage.
''The silver man wants the govern
ment to continue the coinage of a
metal, giving SO many grains of it the
value of one dollar, when the markets
of the world have declared it to be
worth but about half that amount:
contending that the circulation is i'm
paired; that cheaper money is needed.
;; in order that prices of commodities
will advance; that the debt paying ca
pacity be doubled; and this at the ex
pense of the government.
"The republican party proposes to
come to the aid of the farmers, and
debtor classes by creating a market
for the products of the one and giving
employment to the other.
II want to say to you that it is not
more money that we want, but to keep
in circulation what we have"
The above is but brief synopsis of
Mr.. Webster's speech which was full
of striking illustrations, humorous