The Dickinson press., 1896-08-29

The following letter is one. of many
that are daily received by the Times
Herald. 1t is supposed to contain the
strongest free silver argument that can
be addressed to the farmer, and it is
used by the free silver orators with im-
My land is encountered by mortgage Of
$1,000. payable In lawful money November
/ 1901 must pay this n.a debt bt,,Sa1n with IL the
cumstances will be able to raise 1000
change in our FINANCIAL system, this wheat.
debt When the value of silver dollar
bushel Of wheat, without any change In
M SaSe ee S saare be St %or syer ssa tbepe
the 1000 bushels Of wheat. The burden Of
paying a debt Of $1,000 has doubled since
laws Of my country under the gold standard
and shall obey them under silver standard.
The opponents Of free coinage Of silver are
sonai interests. II i should fail to look out
for my own interests who will do so for
vote for the free and unlimited coinage of
silver? Very respectfully, ]. w. Binger.
The answer is not far to seek.
When this farmer borrowed the money
it was the equivalent of $1,000 in gold.
1t was the same as if he had received it
, had it that way if he so desired. Per.
haps he did, for many such loans have
been made. When he expended it he got
$1,000 in gold equivalent. He probably
improved his farm to that extent or
bought stock Or machinery. In whatever
way he used it, unless he burned it up or
s1,iandercd it, he got value received.
ness transaction and the borrower used
the money to promote his business ill.,
tcrcsts.
At no time since that mortgage was
executed, for few mortgages run over
five years without renewal, would
thousand bushels of wheat have paid it,
Suppose we had borrowed the money
from ncighboring farmer more pros.
two thousand bushels of wheat to town,
sell it for thousand dollars, get the
money and hand it over to his
friend. There have been in the
mast thousands of such transac-
tons. In fact, in every farming
community there are a few farmers,
more thrifty and of better business quail
itlcatlOnS tnan inc OlHcIS, WIZ Always
have money to lend out of their savings.
They get the money from the products
of their farms, but they are not loaninS
those products. They are loaning the
money. and since 1879 it has been gold
mr. it's equivalent. Why should they
not have the same kind of money in re-
payment?
is II any wonder that the advocates of
unlimited free coinage are charged with
dishonesty and that silver is called dis
honest money, when by the passage of
n law thousand 5O-cent dollars will be
sufficient to discharge debt of thou
sand 1OO-cent dollars? Such law
amounts to the reputation of one-half
the debt obligations of all the debtors in
the United States.
When Mr.. Binger in the above letter
saws. sThe burden of paying a debt of
S1jlOO has doubled since l borrowed the
monov :" he must remember, if he is stat
ing what is true, that the burden" is not
ai6ne upon him, but upon every other
business man who has borrowed money
W"rchants and manufacturers feel the
same stress of the hard times as the
farmers do. 1t is not because they bor-
rowed gold and have to repay gold that
the burden is greater, but that their
earnings and assets have not turned out
as they hoped and expected. Gompeti;;
ton and overproduction have affected
.. the whole world. but reputation is not
| the proper cure for it. :.
Honesty is the best policy-as policy
merely, without reference to its moral
Quality-for nations as well as fe- indi-