Middletown transcript., 1896-10-10

HcKENDREE DOWNFALL.
EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.
Eatered at the Post Office as second-class matte,
MIDDLETOWN, DEL, OCT. 10, 1885,
FREE COINAGE SIXTEEN TO ONE,
The people of the United States
number about seventy millions. Te
transact the public business for this
vast population certain things must bt
done. AS everybody can not do these
things they must be entrusted to some
individual or to some department o!
the general government. So I'VE have
the postoflce, the navy and all the
other departments Of the general gov
ernment.
These seventy millions of people
must have money to effect their ex-
changes and to transact their business.
The coinage Of money is by the consti.
tuition reserved exclusively to the gov
ernment and. under Congress, is under
the supervision of the secretary of the
treasury.
To facilitate the coinage of gold sill
yer and metal money in all forms,
there have been established United
States mints. where gold and silver
are coined into such pieces as are from
time to time prescribed by Congress
through its coinage laws.
These mints are large and expensive
establishments, equipped with costly
machinery and operated by expert
workmen. Heretofore a revenue has
been derived from the coinage of gold
and silver, which has Injured to the
benefit Of all the people, who may be
said to be stockholders In these great
manufacturing plants. Under various
acts of Congress heretofore passed, the
secretary of the treasury has been d.
rected to buy and coin many millions
OF ounces of silver. He has been
permitted to buy silver in the markets
of the world at its lowest price on the
day Of purchase.
When the silver was bought it was
held In bars (st0red in the treasury
vaults) or coined into dollars, the sill
yer in which cost all the way from 80
cents an ounce down to as low as At
cents an ounce. This silver when
coined into dollars was issued at 100
cents in-a dollar, the government TAX
ing the difference between what the
silver bullion actually cost and the 100
cents at which the dollar coins were
put into circulation. Thus far these
dollar pieces have been maintained in
trade at par because the pledge of the
United States government to redeem
them in gold (niaintain them at q
parity with goId) has been behind them.
The silver dollar has actually had in it
80 cents or So cents or AZ cents worth
of silver according to the actual bull
lion value) and 10 cents or AZ cents or |
6S cents worth of United States gov
ernment credit: This credit has been
used sparingly and judiciously and the |
dollar has passed and now passes at its |
face value-for 100 cents, or sixteen |
ounces of silver are worth one ounce of |
gold. Up to the present limit the gov
ernment has maintained the parity be-
tween gold and silver at 16 to /, and |
the profit from our mints has Injured to |
the benefit Of the people.
Only small percentage of our sew
enty millions stockholders have been |
producers of silver. and as the produ-
cars OF silver have heretofore sold their |
silver bullion to our mints at its mar
ket value, and they, as stockholders, |
along with those who are not engaged |
In producing silver, have reaped indi- |
rectly their proportionate share of |
these profits, We who are not producers
of silver have not objected, as we are
getting through the mints q handsome |
profit which goes into the treasury and
thus saves taxation. Our managing
agent (the secretary of the treasury
has exercised his discretion in not
coming all the silver bought. A few
hundred million dollars worth of sill
yer bars have been piled up in our
vaults hncoined. It lies there now
waiting demand. It has not been
coined because there was no demand
for it, the coined silver dollars have
been showed into circulation as rapidly
as the banks and the people would take
them.
So far so good.
Now 1t is proposed to operate our
mints free, to coin all the silver offered
By the whole world and to stamp 81!
grains of silver zone dolle." and to
back 1t up by law and make these
prices legal tender for ali debts public
and private at one hundred cents on
the dollar, without regard to the mar
ket value Of the silver in them. In
other words, the few who are produ-
GERS Of silver are to be guaranteed by
law dollar, whether the stuff they
bring to the mint to make the dollar is
worth ninety or flfty-three or forty
seven cents or any other sum. The ma
chinery and labor Of our mints are to
be given to these producers without
to the other stockhold-
ers who do not produce silver. We
who do not produce silver are ssked to
agree that, in trade and exchange be-
tween ourselves. it shall be forced
upon rs by law, and that we bind our
selves to accept it lby the purposed le-
gal tender actl at its face value stamped