The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-09-07
still further fall in the value after our
Nnypmhar alpcfi ion

still further fall in the value after our
November election.
But they tell us that our congress
twenty-three years ago committed
great crime. They call it the crime Of
lS1S-a so-called crime, which was not
discovered the effects Of which were
not felt or known until more than nine
teen years after its commission. What
was the crime of 1873? 1t is alleged
that silver was then demonetized l
ask every man in this audience when
he goes to his home to examine all the
silver dollars in his possession. and.
unless he explores the hiding place or
family keepsakes. unless he finds the
dollar which grandma laid away after
the first baby had used it for teeth
cutting purposes, he will not find one
single dollar which bears a date prior
to 1873. There is not today one silver
dollar in actual circulation in the Unit
ed States which bears date prior to 1873
The older men in this audience will at
test to the fact that there was not in
circulation from 1861 to 1873, or, for
that matter, until 1878, an American
silver dollar. Every one of the 39,OOO,-
600 which have been given to the peo-
pie for their use have been given them
since the so-called crime of 1873, and
under legislation which pledges the
faith of the government to maintain
their integrity. and which guarantees
that the silver dollar, or the silver GER
tificate which comes into the hand of
labor shall be as good. shall buy as
much as the gold dollar laid away in
the vault OF the capitalist. All this
talk about gold being the rich mans
.,tI, sl,.. ns,fS.
money, does not and cannot apply In
will apply in every free-coinage coun-
try In the world.
FREE SILVER" DOESN'T MEAN
FREE DOLLARS.
"What Is the free coinage Of silver?
There are many people in this country
who actually believe that under free
coinage our mint will be a sort of gov
ernment thrashing machine; that the
mine owners will feed their bullion into
the front end, while the people stand
around the other end of the machine
and the dollars run out into their pock-
cts Such is not the case. OF all the
bullion that will be brought into our
mints not one dollar will go into the
treasury Of the United States We. the
people. will pay all the expense of run
ming the machine. and the same men
who feed the bullion into one end Will
hold the bag into which the dollars fall
al the other. You may open our mints
to the free and unlimited coinage of
silver until the mine owners of the
world with the dollars we coin can build
pyramid whose apex reaches to the
eternal stars. and when it Is builded
and completed there Is not one man in
sla v,,st tn1 Ctat ,ln tply Inc
one dollar from that pile unless he has
ns SV ieos iohor WIN r,ua ~ "'' ~ oYohnnga W and
whenever n man in this free country
has an opportunity to exchange his
labor or his products for money, he
ought to insist upon receiving in pay
ment the best dollar that the civilized
world affords.
"If there is a benefit in free coinage
who will receive it? Is there a man in
the State of New York who has a piece
of silver bullion as large as my fist to
present at our mint to have coined at
twice it's real value? Not a man. Who
are the men to benefit by free coinage?
First the silver mine owners of the
United States. The silver mines of the
United States are all. or nearly all. rep
resented by mining stocks. n great pro-
portion of which have been sold abroad.
The silver mines of other countries. of
British Columbia, Mexico. Australia,
and of South America. are owned bv
foreigners, This is not n. question of
protecting our own silver product. 1t
is n question of putting the faith of this
government under the silver product of
the world. not for the benefit of our
people. hut for the benefit of the mine
owners of all countries Can we n ford
tn do IT.? Can we AFFORD to take the
chances?
.I, a.. ,o,,,,,a A. - o
Al we are ~ uouoie tne Vaiue Oh pro-
fiat of Congress can make a thing sell
for twice its present price. then let us
exercise this hitherto unknown power
in favor of those products in which more
of the people of our country are directly
Interested. If we can double the price
of things by law, then let us supply
this power to the egg crop of the United
States The value of our egg output is
greater than the American silver out
put. Why not pass law to put the
| stamp Of Government on every egg in
the country certifying this is two eggs
and thereby double the income of every
hen raiser? If we can double the value
of things by law, then let us declare by
law that a peck is busheI, and we
multiply the entire grain product of the
| country by four. But it can be stored
| in the same bins and elevators. Let us
declare by law that eight feet and a
| quarter are q rod and double the size Of
every American farm: yea in this time
of rumors of war and threatened for
| eipn complica tionc ,ybv not dacIo 20 h,,