Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1896-10-22
Comments on Psffer's Speech for
the Silver Miners.

the Silver Miners.
Senator PETER, Of Kansas, address
ed a large audience at the opera house
on Monday evening The advertised
torch light procession before the
speaking did. not materialize.
In the course Of his remarks the
speaker made statements and insinu
ations that are not warranted by the
facts Of history. Really the whole
theory Of money Of the free coinage
advocates is based upon error. Thei,
whole course of reasoning is from a
false premise and they do naturally
reach false conclusion. While such
procedure will have no effect on
thinking people, yet its great danger
lies in confusing and misleading by
word juggling less penetrating minds,
who have not given the question serii-
GUS thought, and who can not see
through the sham and falsity Of the
argument. The fundamental error
in their reasoning is that the govern
ment stamp creates value. Let us
look at some Of his arguments.
He said that the value Of gold and
silver is fixed by law and in support
of that he quotsd the article Of the
constitution which gives congress the
power to coin. money, regulate the
value thereof, and of foreign coin, and
fix the standard Of weights and meas
ures. In fixing a unit Of value, the
dollar, he said that Congress proceed
ed in the same manner as it did when
it fixed standard of measure like the
bushel. It examined into the kinds
and sizes of measures that were being
used by the people and then deter
mined that 60 pounds should be a
bushel. Soin fixing the value of the
dollar, Congress fixed isst same as
the people had fixed he value Of q
dollar themselves, and the Spanish
milled dollar was most extensively
used and became the model. Con.
gress in fixing the law fixes the value
of coin, he said. Law fixes the value
Of gold. If gold would find it's value
in an open market the same as othe,
commodities, gold standard would
not be so bad, but it does not. The
value Of your (the farmers') wheat is
not determined by Congress. He said
the above in substance. Let us see il
we can find the meat in the cocoa nut
The fallacy lies in the contention that
the value of coins is: fixed by law
Congress regulates the value of coins
by fixing their weight and ineness,
but the VALUE is determined by the
AMOUNT OF. BULLION in the coin. A
coin containing twice as much meta
as another will be twice as valuable
three times as much metal, three times
as valuable, etc. All4the law does is
to adopt some convenient amount
The statute itself adds no value to the
coin. Values are not made by law
If they could be, then the value of the
farmers wheat and alfother products
could be fixed and the great4losses oc
casioned by fuctuating prices woulc
be avoided. Silver and gold are com
modities and their value is regulated
in the same way and by the same rule
that regulates the value Of other com
modities by letting them find in al
open market what that value is. II
adopting the dollar as the unit of val
ue, the word ''dollar'' signifed moth
ing until Congress determined ofwha
it should consist. When it was enact
ed that the dollar should contain gil
grains Of pure silver q 24a grains pure
gold, then the dollar became reality
a thing Of value, that can be graspec
by the senses. The word ''dollar'
therefore is simply the sign Of a def
mite quantity of gold Or silver, and thu
value Of the dollar IS simply the value
| of the metal of which it is composed
The senator's reference to how thu
bushel unit was determined by Con
gress is simply ludicrous and show.
great Ignorance in as much as Con