The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1896-08-13

Abous 1915 they began to talk about ''DicDsSsI-
lism" and its alleged beauties. -
vi What Free Coinage Means


iism" and its alleged beauties. ta
What Free Coinage Means.
I wnas does '+free coinage" rs 1t liz called,
mean. II does not mean that the governments
would buy any OF the silver, not an ounce
The government would simply receive the sI,-
yer from IT'S owner. stamp it and hand II back
TO him. Dses that create any demand fsn the
silver?
Buckwheat -four now used to q limited ex-
tent for food. Tho demand Tor huckwheat
-four is entirely due TO this fact. Would open
ing new buckwheat flour mill create any de-
mand for buckwheat2 Certainly not, any more
than the reapiug. and thrashing did. Theso1.re
all simply steps in preparing the supply. The
market would still have to be found in eompe-
tition with other kinds of -four.
And similarly the '.open min" would create
no demand whatever for silver any more than
the smelling or the mining does. These are all
simply steps in preparing the supply. The de-
mand is in the need OF money Of various kinds
with which to make exchanges: The owner et
the coin would still have TO go forth and find ~
market for this kind of money in competition
with other forms OF money The minting
would, therefore, not create any demand tor
the silver but would simply put 1t into shapa
TO meet whatever real demand there might be-
for silver coin in the channels of trade in coIp-
petition with other forms Of money.
And sir, because Of the bullIiness OF silver In
proportion to its value. the demand for sill
yer coin in actual business is very limited.
AS matter of fact there Is more silver coinlp
this country today than can be used as conn
Experience has shown that the business of the
country needs about sl25, 90 COO in silver COIN
Of all kinds including minor coins, But we al
ready have a stock of silver coin amounting to-
over $50. 000,000. So there is absolutely no.
trade demand for more silver coinage for some
time TO come.
Wages In Mexico.
Every one will admit that. so far as legisla-
ton can affect the meter. that system is best
under which those who earn their daily bread
by their daily toll receive the best returns for
their services.
The gentleman from Texas MIR. Bailey],
who has just spoken, points to Mexico as
s'prosperous' in consequence OF having the
free coinage of silver. He quotes from AN arti-
Gle in recent number Of The North American
Review, written by the Mexican minister Mr..
Romero. This distinguished representative is'
naturally loyal to his own country and desir'
Gus OF making as strong statement us possi-
BILE as to her prosperity. He claims that manu-.
facturers are making large profits But what
does he find to say about the wages of work.
ingmen in Mexicoa Listen:
"Although our wages are low, there has
been i'll recent years marked tendency toi
their Increase
Their wagesare Glow, even in silver. What
about increase i'm wages2 The most that he can.
claim is that these has been tendency in
that direction--no real increase worth men.
tioning specifically. Workingmen will do welt
to ''ponder on these things"
The following statement appears in bulletin
! No. 9, 1891, of the bureau of the American ne
publics
lone Of the greatest evils treferrng to MDez>
J ico) at the present time is the existence of o
/ scale of wages which defes all power of reduc-
| ton. which robs the laborers Of all sense of
dignity or feeling Of association with the rest
| of their fellow citizens, and having redun9d
| them to condition Of object abasement dese-
riorates to Ia hike extent their productive pew
er and the measure Of their ability. They are
content to regard themselves as plant or
machinery which moves by extraneous' aids
only and has no power Of volition, andDo de-
sire to exercise it IL it had"
| And yet Mr.. Romero finds it impossible to
| claim more than that there has been STA ten
dency" to, Amprovement in wages
| We have before us, Mr.. Chairman, a,sPecial
message from the president asking us to make
| an appropriation to pay certain railroads for
carrying certain people from the Mexi,
can line to various parts or the United
States. What is the story behind thisa Sim
ply this, sir: Some Of our ,workiagmen,
having been told how fearfully they were
being abused under our system. and being as.
sured taat things were blooming" in Mexico.
became the victims of their misplaced conf
dence in free silver orators and wens to Mex.
ing home at public expense. How many more
of oar worlxirgmen will allow themselves *
be. made victims Of similar tales2
Now About American WorkiBgmen?
And now let us see how the situation oi
| w0rkingmen in this country compared in 1SGl
with that during the SO called s'bimetallit
| times"
prices, transportation and wages, before refer
red to- take the facts for the following table
| of wages in leading occupations every tentf
year for some time before the war, when W,
had our mint "open to the free coinage of botl
metals in comparison with wages in 1890,
present system of unlimited coinage OF golt
and limited coinage Of silver: