Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-09-17
! MR.: HOBART ACCEPTS.

=
I that moro than so per cent. of the COM
merce of the world is settled In gold or on
| a gold basis.
Such free coinage legislation. IL ever.
consummated, would discriminate against
every producer of wheat. cotton, corn or
rye-who should In justice be equally en-
| titled, with the silver owner, to sell MS
products to the United States treasury,
at profit fixed by the Government-and
against all producers of iron, steel, zinc
| or copper. who might properly claim 10
have their metals made into current coin:
| 1t would, as WELL be q fraud upon all
persons forced to accept currency thus
stimulated aud at the same time de-
graded.
Only Helps the Mine Owner.
In every aspect the proposed policy Is
partial and one-sided, because u IL only
when profit can be made by a mine-own-
err or dealer that he takes his silver to the
mint for coinage The Government Is
always at the losing end. Stamp such
| fictitious valuc upon silver ore and DIS.
honest and unjust discrimination VIII be
made against every other form OF fn ,..,ss
more than 30 cents, Is made into legal
| tender dollar, driving out one having
purchasing and debt-paying power OF lOO
cents. it will clearly be done at the ex-
pense and injury Of every class OF the
/ community.
Those who contend for the free and I'M
limited coinage of silver may believe in
all honesty that while the present ratio
| of silver to gold Is as 80 to mot III to ~
silver will rise above the existing market
value. Ii it does so rise the effect will .Oe
| to make the loss to all the people so much
less, but such an opinion is but hazard
GUS conjecture at best and is not justified
by experience. Within the. last twenty
| years this Government has bought about
| 400. 900 900 ounces Of silver, from which
| il has coined approximately 43O,OOO.OOO
of silver dollars and 13O,OOO,0OOof dollars
| in silver certificates, and the price of the
metal has steadily declined from 10 an
ounce to GS cents an ounce. What will
be the decline when the supply Is aug
| mented by the offerings of all the worldT
! The loss upon these silver purchases to
| the people of this country has now been
nearly $150,00O,0OO.
| The dollar of our fathers, about which
so much is said. was an honest dollar, sill
yer maintaining a full parity of intrinsic
| value with bold. The fathers would have
spurned and ridiculed a proposition to
make silver dollar worth only 53 cents
stand of equal value with gold one
worth 100 cents. The experience or all
nations proves that any depreciation,
however slight, of another standard from
| the parity with gold has driven the more
! valuable one out of circulation and such
experience in a matter of this kind Is
worth much more than mere interested
speculative opinion. The fact that few
! gold coins are seen in ordinary circulation
for domestic uses is no proof at all that
the metal is not performing most inn
| DOrtant function in business affairs. The
foundation of the house is not always
in sight, but the house would not stand an
hour if there were no foundation. The
| great enginery that moves the ocean
| ot.A in Is n
passenger, but it is, all the same, the pro-
pelling force of the vessel, without which
| it would soon become worthless dere-
lict
Some People Who Would Suffer.
| IT may be instructive to consider a mo-
ment how the free and unlimited coinage
of silver would affect few great inter-
ests. and / mention only enough to DEM
onstrate what O calamity may lie before
us if the platform formulated at Chicago
is permitted TO be carried out.
There is now on deposit in the savings
banks of thirty-two States and Territories
of this Union the vast sum of $4,000, OO0,-
| GOO. These are the savings OF almost
| 5000, O6O depositors. In many cases they
represent the labor and economies of
years. Any depreciation in the value of
the dollar would defraud every man,
. woman and child to whom these savings
belong Every dollar of their earnings
when deposited was worth 100 cents in
gold of the present standard of weight
and fineness. Are they not entitled to re-
ceive in full, with interest, all they have
so deposited? Any legislation that would
reduce il by the value of a single dime
would be an intolerablc wrong to each
depositor. Every bank or banker who has
accepted the earnings of these millions Of
4 dollars to the credit of our citizens must
be required to pay them back in money
| not one whit less valuable than that
which these banks and bankers received
in trust.
| There are, in this country, nearly 5000
! building and loan associations, with
shareholders to the number Of ], 500, 900,
| and with assets amounting to more than
$500, 100000. Their average of holdings
| is nearly $500 per capita, and in many
cases they represent the savings of men
| and women who have denied themselves
the comforts of life in the hope of being
able to accumulate enough to buy or build
homes of their own. They have aided in
| the erection of over 1,000,000 of houses
which are now affording comfort and
shelter for 5000, 900 of our thrifty people.
War Upon the Homemakers.
Free coinage at the arbitrary rate of
sixteen ounces Of silver to one of gold
would be equivalent TO the confscation of
nearly half the savings that these people
have invested 1t would be tantamount
to n war upon American home-makers.
1t would be an invasion of ''the homes of
the provident." and tend directly to ..de-
stroy the stimulus to endeavor and the
compensation of honest toll" Every one
of the shareholders of these associations
is entitled to be repaid in money Of the
same value which he deposited by weekly
payments or otherwise in these compan-
ies.. No one of them should be made
homeless because n political party de-
mands change in the money standard of
our country, as an experiment. or as a
concession to selfishness or greed.
The magnitude of the disaster which
would overtake these and cognate inter-
ests becomes the more strikingIy apparent
when considered in the aggregate. Stated.
broadly, the savings banks, life insurance
and assessment companies and building
and loan associations of the country
hold in trust $1,000, III 1881. The de-
basement of the currency to a silver basis,
as proposed by the Chicago platform,
would wipe out at one blow approximate
ly S7.9j3, 504, SJ6 of this aggregate. Ac-
cording to the report OF the department
4 of agriculture. the total value of the main
4 cereal crops in this country In 1894 was
1905, ABS. 1O7. So that the total sum be-
longing to the people, and held in trust
in these institutions, which would be
Iobliterated by the triumph of free and un-
limited silver coinage, would be seven and
onc-h half times the total value of the an
nuh cereal crop of the United States. The
total value of the manufactured products
of the country for the census year Of 1890
was S9,312,037, 2S3. The establishment
of silver basis of value, as now proposed,
would entail q loss Of these three inter
ests alone equal to S5 per cent. of this
enormous output Of all the manufacturing