Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1896-1899, 1896-08-27

1880
Tie Mexican dollar is worth only il.
bullion value. He had heard Of It. OF
course, but he couldn't really "sense'
the fact until the actual, material
dollar was before him; then he col.
lapsed. For, you see, the straw man
didn'C know that, under free coinage.
the coin Is worth exactly the value of
the bullion II contains. All real
bimetallists understand this, but the
straw man didn't. His creator had
not informed him OF this fact, for fear
that even his straw brain would
reason something like this: "If the
dollar is worth precisely the bullion
value of the metal it contains, then
the bullion value OF the metal it con-
tains must be precisely one dollar"
1t seems as though even a straw man
might be capable Of using that much
logic. So Mr.. Scott sprung his cold,
hard Mexican dollar on the straw
man, and the straw man land no one
elsel was dutlfully prompt to relapse
into state Of lnnocuous desuetude.
Another fallacy which Harvey Scott
Int IA 90 l., Ao
idea that debt which is payable
specifically in gold can be paid off,
dollar for dollar, In any other kind of
money. The genuine silver man
doesn't harbor any such folly as that.
or course the straw man cannot see
any benefit to be derived from free
coinage, unless he can pay Off hls debts
ia "depreclated currency" and most
Of the goldbugs profess the same
faith, but that does not prevent true
bimetallists from seeing II. The
straw man, In his capacity Of farmer,
thinks that he could, under free coin
age sells his products for twice as
many dollars as he does now, but would
have to pay only the same number of
dollars for what he would buy, lnclud-
ing labor. He stands alone in that
belief, so far as silver men are con-
cerned. In his capacity of silver
mine owner he thinks that he could,
under free coinage, have his bullion
coined into dollars that would be
worth more than the value OF the
bullion. No live, well-informed mil
lionaire silver mine owner thinks any.
thing OF the kind, and Harvey Scott
knows 1t. But the straw mine owner
also thinks that, though he got no
more value out OF his product, he
could hire his men at half price; but,
even II that were true, he would be, in
that respect, on precisely the same
footing as every other employer OF
labor in the United States, and why
should he alone spend his millions TO
bring about such a state OF affairs q?
Because he Is straw fool. That's
why.
The straw man has some vague idea
too, that, under free coinage, the gov
eminent would still try to sustain the
silver dollar by some sort OF redemp-
tlon in gold, and this is the most in
songruous idea of all, for the main
contention OF bimetallistS is that sill
yer should be coined into actual stan
dard money on its own foundation,
and most emphaticalIy not redeemable
In gold.
Harvey Scott's straw man also, IL
seems, writes letters to the Oregon
ian, signing them David Chase Burr,
and, in the absence of any discover
able intelligent motive on the part Of
the straw man, the undersigned
doesn't know whether to consider this
a compliment or otherwise.
These are only few OF the idiosyn-
crasles Of Harvey Scott's straw man;
any one who reads the oregonian can
find evidence of plenty more. And
now why do the goldites carry on
their campaign Of education" by
mlsrepresentlng, misconstruing and
vilifying the opposition - 1t is be-
cause they dare not come out In the
open and fight the question on It's
merits. II there is one OF the great"
gold standard organs which does not
L-ki..alt,, nd nurnOaalV nisreDrpgent