Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-10-21
NO 50-CENT DOLLARS.
This Il Not q Question Of Bullion, but
Of Remonetized, Debt.Paying
Coined Money.
4 Reply to . False Charge Against the
silver Dollar by Ex-senator John II.
Reagan Of Texas-A Rank Dscep-
ton Of the Goldbugs Aads
Perfectly Plain.
Austin, Tex, Oct. 5, 1Ss

One Of the scare crows used by the
advocates of the single gold standard
is the false representation that IL the
policy of the free and unlimited COIN
age Of silver should be adopted it would
cut in two the wages of laborers and
compel them to take 50-cent dollars with.
out an increase of the rate of their
wages; that those receiving salaries
would get but one-half the pay they
now receive: that those having money
on deposit in savings banks would only
receive from the banks in return for
their deposits, 50-cent dollars, which
would be but the one-half Of what
would be due them; that the endow-
ment funds of colleges and universities
would be reduced one-half in value;
as would all trust funds.
This frightful statement is repeated
day by day by the newspapers and
other advocates Of the single gold
standard, as q controlling argument, to
prevent the people from voting for the
candidates who represent the policy Of
the free and unlimited coinage of silver.
The newspapers and men who are urg-
ing this statement know it to be a
stupendous falsehOod. They make it
look as plausible as they can, and ring
the changes on it in every possible
form. And by this means have de-
ceived and are deceiving and mislead-
ing thousands of honest people, who
may not be able to detect the fraud
which Is being practiced on them.
What are the real facts as to this ?
The gold standard advocates, as the
basis of their false statements, COM
pare silver bullion Invested of the quail
ty of money, uncoined and not a legal
tender, with gold, which is by law
coined into money and made a legal
tender in payment of public dues and
all debts, to the amount stamped on
each coin. Is this an honest COM
parison? Does it speak the truth?
Does it not, in effect, assert a thinly
disguised, but gross and monStrous,
falsehood? Let us see. If congress and
the nations should prevent the COIN
age of gold bullion, as has been done
as to silver bullion, depriving it by
law of the qualities of money. taking
from it it's debt-paying quality, then
the gold bullion would not be money,
no more than silver bullion is now
And the gold bullion would become a
commodity as silver bullion is now, and
would simply bring what it would be
worth for use in the arts. The same
is true as to silver.
To make an honest comparison of
gold and silver, and to tell the honest
truth, we must compare gold coin, in
vested with the legal tender quality.
with silver coin invested with the same
quality. Doing that, we find the silver
coins in the United States, not silver
bullion, worth as much in the purchase
or property and in the payment of
debts as the coins of gold And we find
that more than one billion of dollars of
silver coins in circulation in Europe are
at par with gold. Why is this? Sim
ply because both are coined with the
value of the coins fixed by law.
Has any one ever seen a 5O-cent dol
lar in this country? OF course not And
why not? Because our more than $780,
100000 silver dollars. or their represent
tatives, are the coined money of the
United States, their valued fixed by
law and they are made a legal tender
for all debts. Hence, those now coined
are as good as gold.
No laborer, no person drawing a SAL
airy, no depositor in a bank will be
paid. nor will any offer be made to nav
them. with silver bullion. They may be
paid in coined silver. as they may now be
lawfully paid in coined silver: but the
dollars in which they could be SO paid
would be 1O0-cent dollars, and equal to
gold, because they would buy as much
property and pay as much Of debt as
the same number of gold dollars.
II 1t be said that the stamp Of the
government and the mandate of the
law make the coin of greater value than
the bullion, the answer may be made
that the present value of gold is fixed
by law.
An act of the British parliament
passed in the year 1874, fifty-two years
ago, requires the Bank of England to
purchase all the gold presented to ii
at pounds, II shillings and pence per
ounce. That fixes the price all over the
world, less the cost of transportation
to London. So that its price is not
an act of parliament; and this makes
1t in that sense fiat money.
Money is the creature Of law. The
material of which it is made is not
money until made so by law, whether
it be gold or silver or paper. The gov
eminent or the banks issue their notes
to circulate as money. These notes
have no intrinsic value. Their being
money arises from the fact that their
issue Is authorized by law. the promise
TO redeem them in coin, and, in some
cases, the making of them a legal ten
der. So that Il is the operation of the
law which makes money. and not the
material of which it is composed
though gold and silver are recognized
as more suitable material out of which
to make money than any thing else.
II gold and silver bullion We're money
why the laws of this and other coun-
tries defining the degree of fineness OF
the metal. the amount Of alloy in the
coins, their weight. and the value OF
each coin. and making them a legal
tender?
The falsehood resorted to by the xold
standard advocates has for its obiecf
to deceive the American people into
voting for . policy by which one-hal,
Of the standard money Of this country