The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-08-18

necessities of life, while it will take quite
long time before his wages will be in
creased in proportion to the increased cost
of merchandise.
''If the rich owners of silver mines, in
whose sole interest this fight is made,
would have used their influence to have
all the fractional currency under $40 or
$40 withdrawn and replaced by silver coin
they could have conferred great benefit
upon our silver industry. But the trouble
is simply this, that all the advocates OF
unlimited silver coinage at the rate OF 10
to 1, not only in the Eastern, but also in
silver, but prefer the small greenbacks on
account of silver being too bulky.
THE proposition to borrow 100 cents
and TO pay back in coin whose intrinsic
value is only So cents is simply an act of
rascality and unworthy of a great nation,
and we might just as well put our dollar
stamp on a piece of copper or old iron,
VIII ich would leave us still larger profit.
"In case free coinage of silver should be
adopted and the price of IS in gold and S.
IN silver kept at par (Which l, of course,
believe impossible) but suppose this
should be the case, we should soon have
all the silver in Mexico in this country, as
it would certainly be profitable business
to buy Mexican dollars at So cents, melt
them into bullion and get from the United
States mint 100 cents in return.
1.-THE people who would be largely in
jured in case the policy of free silver COIN
ing should be adopted would be the con-
sumner, and principally the laboring class
and such of my old comrades of the Grand
Army of the Republic who draw pensions
from the United States Government. The
purchasing power could only be one-half
of the pension they receive now. The
widows and orphans who are holders of
life insurance policies would also be af-
fected, as in case of death they would re-
ceive only one-half OF what they are en-
titled to now. The great gamers would be
all lie insurance, ire insurance and ma
rine insurance companies and others.
while at present our income from the
revenue department does not come near
defraying the expenses of the Federal Gov
ernmenl, and if we were to receive our
duties in silver instead of gold the revenue
of course would be still further decreased
to great extent. This would also seri-
ously affect the fruit producers of this
State. At present the duty on raisins,
prrnes and other foreign products is not
more than the freight from here to our
Eastern markets, and in case Eastern i'm
porterS would have the privilege of paying
the duty of foreign products in silver it
would be impossible for the producers on
this coast, such as fruit, ralsin and wine
growers, to compete with foreign products
produced in Europe by cheap labor.
THE reason why the owners of some of
the largest and richest gold mines are in
favor of unlimited coinage of silver is be-
cause as soon as this would go into effect
they would be able to sell their gold prod
uct at an enormous premium, while they
would save perhaps $1,000 per day by pay
ing miners in silver.
6 \
that during the Civil War paper money
did not go below 80 cents on the value of
gold, and therefore silver dollar would
never reach that point. This is mistake
"a gold dollar at one time during the year
1864 was sold at So IS legal tender, and in
1860 at 81 34ss legal tender. The reason
why paper money advanced again to the
value OF gold was simply because the people
had perfect confidence in our Government
that legal tender dollar before long would
be redeemed at par in gold, and in this
supposltion they were not deceived. The
Confederacy also issued paper money,
which at one time commanded a certain
value, but when it became evident later on
that the paper money of the Confederacy
could never be redeemed in gold it sank to
the value OF the raw material of which it
was made. And the same Is true of silver
so long as silver dollar or paper dol
lar can at any time be exchanged for the
same amount of gold it of course rep
resents the same value as gold precisely,
the same as check given by responsible
hrm or bank; but as soon as the United
States Government is not in position or is
not willing to make this exchange the
silver dollar will gradually sink to the
value OF the material of which il is made
silver bullion-which means 81 cents as
compared with 81 in gold.
In silver States wages run as follows:
In Mexico the wages run from so cents
to 81 70 silver per day-the average being
about 60 cents per day, which, at the pres
emit rate OF Exchange (188 per cent) amounts
to about 34H cents gold per day. The
highest wages are paid to miners and
peones working in districts remote from
civilization, but the employer being like
wise the purveyor, the men merely get
their board, lodging and necessaries of life
for their work.
The average wages in Guatemala are
% cents silver or paper per day, which at
the present rate of exchange OF 40 per
cent premium amounts to 222a Genus gold
per day.
I'm conclusion, should like to state
that there is no reason for the present I'M
satisfactory financial condition here as
well as in the East, even though the sill
verltes should be successful; the change
which they contemplate cannot be effected
before two years from now, and l hope
that our banks and the people generally
VIII take conservative view OF the situa-
ton and not get panic stricken over some
thing that cannot happen for nearly two
years to come
Only per cent of the soldiers actually