The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1896-08-15
GOLD THE POOR MANS MONEY.
History Proves the workingman
Prospers Under .Gold-He Needs
the Best.

moneY-the workingman' money!"
asked of my Democratic friend. who,
largely through mistaken party loyal
ity. was leaning to Bryan and free
silver" ''Well, | have voted the
Democratic ticket as often as you have,
but I can't agree with you. History
shows that the contrary is the truth;
gold is the wage earners' friend, his
best ally: silver his worst enemy"
That is surprising statement,
my friend exclaimed. Il never saw
any gold in the hands of the working
man-among the poor. How do you
tit that fact with your assertion"
That is a fair question--one that
has served to create this very preiu
dice against gold, but, like many
other prejudices. it does not bear the
light of reason, of full discussion. You
say. now, the poor man, the wage
Garner, never sees gold, and that
therefore it can not be of any use to
him. But have you ever considered
that every dollar that now comes into
the hands of the workingman-yes,
every CENTS practically gold dol
lar, practically a gold cent? Why?
Because the Government OF the United
States. the Treasury, stands back of
every one of those dollars, every one
of those copper cents: with gold ready
for redemption purposes.
I'm other words, my friend the sill
yer dollar you hold in your hand is
worth as melted bullion, about 53c.
where does the remaining 47c worth of
purchasing power come from? From
the gold in the Treasury vaults. How
much is the copper in IA cent worth,
how much the nickel in a &c piece. the
silver in Il dime. in q quarter. in Il
half dollar: Not one Of these coins
stands on its intrinsic value. Every
one Of them, in their power of pur-
chase. is now Il gold coin-is as good
as gold-is gold. The gold and sill
YER coin does not circulate extensively
among the people. largely because of
Inconvenience and also because of a
Government policy of substituting for
the coin the notes that stand for it.
this policy grew out of the issue of
greenbacks and the issue of silver
notes by the Treasury. If gold has
disappeared from common circulation |
it is chiefly due to the practice forced |
by political pressure upon the Gov
ernment of issuing great patches of
paper money, for the redemption of |
which the Treasury has been compell- !
ed to keep huge gold reserves and the
banks gold funds tomeet emergencies. =
But won't the free coinage of silver
at IL to l remedy this:''
Free coinage of silver will compel !
the United States Treasury to an
nounce that it is unable to keep its
silver and notes as good as gold, re-
deemable in gold. The silver dollar
will then fall to its bullion value, j3c.
the minor or subsidy coins in proper
ton. The fixed wages of the working
man will, perhaps, remain the same
in name, if the employer survives the
business shock, but in the power of
wages will be cut in hal "
But wouldn't free coinage release
the gold from the Treasury and banks
among the people!" my friend inquir
ed.
No. The gold will be released,
but it will be released for export. The
gold dollar will go where it will bring
its true bullion value: it is clearly i'm
possible to circulate dollar worth
lO0c. gold. with IL dollar worth 53c,
in unlimited quantities. They remain
side by side now in our coinage be-
cause the silver dollar, the less valu-
able one in bullion, is limited in guam
-ity. The increase of the supply.
through the silver act of 1890. drove
out millions of gold and brought on
he panic of 1893. What would an act
Of the same kind. Il free coinage act.
10: Drive all gold out of the cur
'ency."
How would that affect the poor {
NAM"
The poor mans money-his wages
md his savings-would be worth their
silver value, one-half their present {
.old value 1t is hard to see how sill
-er, under those conditions, would be
he poor mans friend
But would not the silverdollar ad-
rance to the value of the present gold
lollar:"
The Treasury has spent for silver {
n eighteen years over S400, 900. 900. n
md the price of silver has steadily
allen. The reason is. the supply in
.reased to meet the demand, and the
supply is not yet more than scratched. 5
n Mexico, where silver coinage is IN
limited. the silver dollar is worth only
IS bullion price: our silver dollar.
hough holding less silver. buys twice
Is much even in Mexico. because it is .