The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-10-14


World recently alleging the existence
of a huge silver trust, with headquar-
tiers in Salt Lake, the members of
which were alleged to be contributing
enormous sums to aid in the election
of Mr.. Bryan TO the presidency, with
the expectation that with the remone-
tization of silver the alleged trust
would reap an annual income of $780,
00o%00 consequent on the enhanced
price which silver bullion would COM
mand as q result of free coinage of
that metal.
The address, which has been sent to
the World for publication, is as fol-
lows:
Salt Lake City, Utah, Oct 70, 1896.
To the Editor of the World:
It IS the impression among some of
the friends OF Mr.. Bryan and silver
that a full and candid reply ought to
be made to your various publications
touching the alleged existence Of a
silver trust with headquarters in Salt
Lake. Personally / have had some
doubt about the wisdom of this, as
it has seemed to me that your own ar
gunerts in support Of this suppositi0n
| effectively answered themselves not
only among the people of the west, who
have made the silver question a study
OF years, but also among your readers
| of the east, WHO, though they have
studied the question for a shorter
length of time, have made even greater
progress with it.
| 4 VERY CONTRADICTORY POSI-
TON.
In the first place, your argument of
the "barons" of the silver trust, "
| (who purpose to make fifty million dol
lars a year by the appreciation of sill
| yer bullion under unrestricted free
coinage) entirely demolishes your ar
| gument n support Of the now famous
! 50-cent dollar which the government
would coin; and hence you also demol-
ish your sole reason why the working
man, for whom you profess such tear
full solicitude, ought to oppose free sill
yer; for surely your S50,090,000 of an
nual profit to the silver nine-owner
and your 50-cent dollar cannot both be
| possible. And similarity you admit
| that the parity of silver money with
gold money would be maintained; and
that admission answers favorably to
| independent free coinage the only
| question that has made Independent
| free coinage seem unsafe. Again, unre-
stricted free coinage by this country
alone proposes nothing that interna-
| tional free coinage has not proposed,
and that policy the students and
statesmen Of all nations as we'll as you
yourself, have always advocated; for
! International bimetallismI according
| to all these prophets would surely
maintain silver money at a parity with
| gold money. Moreover, neither unre-
stricted free coinage by this country
alone nor international begnetallism
proposes to enhance the property of the
! silver mine owner or the bullion owner
any more than their property has been
deprecated, dishonesty and immorally,
by gold monometallism. There have
been those also, and our Re
publican friends have been numerous
among them, who maintain that since
| the various moneyed interests of the
east have repeatedly, to your virtuous
! horror, secured for valuable considera-
tons schedules in tariff bills which have
! enhanced the value of their products
| by millions Of dollars every year, and
especially since many metals have been
protected in this way silver, too, might
come in for fair share Of these IA
vors. And do you realize that silver
mining, like any other kind of mining,
is liable not to pay even under the
most favorable circumstances? Do you
realize that hundreds if not thousands
of mines and mills in all this western
| country have been closed down never tC
be operated again, whatever the price
of silver bullion may be, and that thou
sands of prospects, even under free
| silver coinage with silver at a parity
with gold, might or might not turn GU;
to be worth the working? And do you,
who love the workingmen of the east
so much, thoroughly understand that
free coinage would put to work
among the mines and prospects
all through the west perhaps
100000 men who would be paid
good wages by your silver barons'
whether they themselves made a dol
lar or not, and that this would relieve
the idle laborers in the east, as they
have prayed for three or four years tC
be relieved, not alone by it's direct re-
suits but by means of quadruple orders
on all jobbers and manufacturers il
all parts of the country who happen tC
deal with the western wholesaler anC
! retailer?
A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE.
And after all the question whether
the price of silver bullion would be en-
HANGED by unrestricted free coinage ha:
nothing to do with the case. If tht
principle of bimetanism is right, if i
best conduces to the happiness and in
dependence of our wage-earners and t.
the solvency and independence of on,
American capitalists; if, in short, i
conduces to the lasting prosperity O.
our country, it ought to come, and
will come, no matter what the benefit o.
detriment to individuals may be; 70
certainly, if you were attacked by ;
dangerous illness, you would not hest
tate to send to the nearest drug stor'
for relief simply because the druggis
would later present his BILL which
compared with the advantage derived
from your recovery, would be in1initesi
mally small.
Now, to write you fully and candid.
about your accounts of the great sill
yer trust You have printed an ap
peal of Mr.. Thomas G. Merrill, whicl
was sent out by him individually be
fore our committee was organized. TIL
appeal for which the members. of on
committee are responsible collectivel
and severally, is as follows. and I hop
you will have the franhness to prin
it ell. This appeal is signed by tn
: following gentlemen, whose occupation
, are given opposite their names:
APPEAL FOR AID
BY the concurrent request of the chair
cratic ana National Silver committees. g
+ q meeting held in this city on the even
ing of the 21st inst, the undersigned wer
appointed a general finance committee
which was organized with r c. Cham
: bers as chairman, Walter Alny as secre
5 tary and J. R. Walker as treasurer
i This general committee also appointe
. an executive committee consisting of r. {
Chambers, J. J. Daily. Thomas G. Merrill
, D. c. Dunbar, Simon Bamberger and {
S ]. Salisbury, to take active charge of tn
S collection of funds, with authority TO az
point subcommittee or agents through
s out the state, to aid in and facilitate I'll
;, work.
. we cannot but feel that crisis exist
7 in the affairs of this nation. Bryan mu:
i and humanity, for which he stands, mu,
S triumph now or all that is dear to Ii
American heart and essential 10 the Deac