The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-22

81 and So cents and if he keeps on going
over the country / don't know how low
In price it will CO.. (Laughter.) When
Uncle Sam coined this he bought the bull
lion of the owner, paid whatever It was
pay a little over 81 cents, but let US call i,
81 cents for that much silver; then the
bullion was his own and he coined this dol
lar for himself; then he laid 1t away in his
treasury until he wanted to use 1t by pay
ing it to some one he owed. When he paid
1t out, he said, there Is only 81 CENTS,
worth of silver in that dollar, but / will
pay ii out to you for 100 cents, and /
guarantee by my law to keep il at parity
with gold. so that it shall never be worth
less as money in the hands of my people.
That is the gold standard, but that is not
free coinage OF silver.
WHAT FREE COINAGE IS.
Under free coinage of silver Mr. Teller,
of Colorado would bring ffty-two cents
worth of silver to the mint, have Uncle
Sam coin it for him, and when it was
coined he would take it away and not pay
Uncle Sam for coining it-not even thank
him for it-take it away and have it for
his own and when he would pay it out
to some Of his neighbors he would not
guarantee to keep it at parity with gold.
Uncle Sam would never own it, never have
anything to do with it, except to coin it for
Mr.. Teller and get no pay for it, Instead
of calling it free coinage of silver you
should call it getting silver coined without
paying for 1t. Now we buy the silver and
own the dollars and guarantee to keep
them at a parity with gold. The silver
dollar coined under free coinage would
have the government stamp, but that
stamp will only certify that it has 412Ia
grains of standard silver or S7lA grains of
fine silver in it. The government would
not agree to redeem it or to keep it at a
parity with gold. 1t never belonged to the
government, but was simply coined by it
for the owner of the bullion free of charge
and the bullion owner then took it away
and had it for his own. The government
ing the free-coinage dollar, and could not
IL it would Am l wrong fellow citizens
that the free-coinage dollar would only be
worth what the bullion in 1t was worth :?
j will read you some free-silver authority
on this question. l always beg the pardon
of my audience when I read either from
the Cincinnati Enquirer or the Indianapolis
Sentinel Qaughter): would not for the
world have you believe that i am a reg
ular reader of either, but [ want to read
this to show you that the Enquirer adj
mits what / have said 20 be correct. A
said: Mr.. Henry, l would like to show
YOU what convinced me that / did not
want to vote the Democratic ticket this
fall; have been a Democrat. but i want
to show you what makes it clear to me
that don't want free coinage of silver
and he brought me that paper, which he
had been carrying around in his pocket,
stained with the sweat of honest toll. Now,
in order that no Democrat or Populist may
tell him right where he can find it. It is
in the supplement of the Cincinnati En-
quirer, giving questions and answers re-
garding free coinage. which the Democrats
circulate as IL campaign document; it is
in No. So and is the second inquiry under
no 38. Remember that / am reading this
simply because it shows that free coin
age dollar would be worth whatever the
bullion in 1t was worth, and that the gov
it is: Question Eff we should have the
free and unlimited coinage of silver what
would the be oa do gG9d for
worth 100 cents? Here is the answer of
the Enquirer to the question: Under the
free and unlimited coinage of silver the
government stands good for nothing. 1t
guarantees no value. 1t simply places it's
stamp upon S7lA grains of pure silver and
upon lie as many grains of pure gold and
says, this. is a dollar 1t does not buy
to the weight and fineness OF the metal
in the coins. They are then
handed back to the. persons who brought
the bullion to the mints and the coined Sill
yer dollars purchase whatever they in
the market"
Now, your street-corner fellows. take to
point any further. Gaughter) Under free
coinage the government guarantees moth
more Oaughter) 1t simply places its
stamp upon SIN grains of fine silver or
al tbs grains Of STANDARD lar silver and says
stamp upon one-sixteenth as many grains
of gold and says this is a dollar" it does
not buy either silver or gold but simply
certifies to the weight and fineness of the
metal in the coin. Then it is handed back
70 the person who brought the bullion and
II goes out to purchase whatever it can in
the markets. Poor 52-cent dollar, 1augh-
teri am glad TO read that. for whenever
ind anything true In the ENQUIRER or Sem
tinel L like to read it. Now, that is 1ree
coinage compared with what is not free
coinage.
BRYAN's INCONSISTENCY
Mr.. Bryan says that if we will grant free
coinage by law that the silver bullion will
Hot ,-;-a q 90.
would make it at parity with gold at g.
ratio of 16 to l. That is what he said in
the East, but out West he tells us that
we will have cheaper dollars. But if silver
goes up to $1.29 per ounce then we would
not have cheaper dollars. They would be
Just as dear as gold. So you see that his
statements are in conflict with each other
and a little hard to harmonize.
But MIR. Bryan is wrong. Free coinage
never did and never will bring the intrin-
sic. or market value of silver and
they are coined at a different ratio than
their market value. Suppose, however we
admit that man could bring $500 worth OF
silver bullion and have it coined into one
silver dollars, and that as soon |
as he did it it was worth 81, 600 in gold
q it is true that while it was only worth
1920 before it was coined, yet when it was
coined ard he took it away it was worth |
i 600, then he has made $3.50 off of some
..
% take this money. But let me ask you
4 question. If 1t is true that Uncle Sans |
stamp will make $500 worth of Mr.. Teller's |
silver worth $1,000, ought not Uncle Sam |
10 have the benefit of the $3.50 increased |
value? (Cries of yes! Yesr') why should |
Mr.. Teller have the profit? He simply |
brought the bullion to the mint and car |
led the dollars away. Uncle Sam coined |
t for him and gets no pay for it. Would |
t not be more honest to let Uncle Sam |
pay him $780, what his silver bullion is |
h yE iS am
would own the coined dollars, and, own |
ng them himself, he would pay them out |
md guarantee their parity with gold. If !
here was any profit in it Uncle Sam, who |
coined the money, would have that profit. |
But have already shown that Mr.. Bry- |
lnder free coinage the silver dollar would |
De worth just what the bullion would be |
worth The other day a. man said to me |
/ friend of mine--a friend every day ex- |
sept on election day, and then he is not I
even a friend to himself. He said: Nov, |
Mr.. Henry, when you make your speech do |
aot say that free coinage of silver would |
De in the interest of the Siver-nline owner |
md then follow it up by saying that the |
silver dollar under free coinage would be |
! fifty-two cent dollar" | said: Il will |
10 it, john and / will show you why. |
In the first place. free coinage of silver |
would make an unlimited outlet for people |
who had bullion. The proposition is un- |
United free coinage; coin all the silver in |
he United States, in Mexico, all the silver |
he Japs could bring, all the Chinese, all |
Johnny Bull and everybody else. So |
;ilver-mne owner would have an unlimited |
outlet for all he could mine. He could |
nave it all coined. pay 1t out wherever he |
wanted to as money. and thus dispose of it. |
making a profit on every dollar coined. |