The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1896-10-23

Austin. Tex. Oct. s. 1896.
One of the scare-crows used by the
advocates of the single gold standard.
is the false representation that If the
policy of the free and unlimited coin
age of silver should be adopted it would
cut in two the wages of the laborers and
compel them to take 50-cent dollars
without an increase of the rate of their
wages; that those receiving salaries
would get but one-half the pay they
now receive; that those having money
on deposit in savings banks would only
receive from the bank in return for
their deposits 50-cent dollars, which
would be but one-half of what would
be due them; that the endowment
funds Of colleges and universities would
be reduced one-half in value, as would
all trust funds.
This frightful statement is repeated
day by day by the newspapers, ard
other advocates of the single gold stand
ard, as controlling argument to pre-
vent the people from voting fora.necan-
didates who represent the policy of the
free and unlimited coinage of silver.
The newspapers and men who are urg-
ing this statement know it to be q
stupendous falsehood. They make 1t
look as plausible as they can, and ring
the changes on it in every possible
form. And by this means have de-
ceived and are misleading thousands of
honest people who may not be able to
detect the fraud which Is being prac.
ticed on them.
What are the real facts as to this?
The gold standard advocates, as the
basis Of their false statements, COM
pare silver bullion divested of the quail
ity of money, uncoined and not legu!
tender, with gold, which is by law
coined into money and made legal
tender in payment of public dues and
all debts, to the amount stamped on
each coin. Is this an honest COM
parison? Does it speak the truth?
Does it not, in effect, assert thinly
disguised, but gross and monstrous,
falsehood? Let us see. If congress and
the nations should prevent the coin
age OF gold bullion, as has been done
as to silver bullion, depriving it by
the gold bullion would not be money.
no more than silver bullion is now.
And the gold bullion would become u
commodity as silver bullion is now, and
would simply bring what it would bc
worth for use in the arts. The same is
true of silver.
To make an honest comparison of
gold and silver, and to tell the honest
truth, we must compare gold coin, in
vested with the legal tender quality,
with silver coin invested with the same
quality. Doing that, we find the silver
coins IN the United States, not silver
bullion, worth as much in the purchase
of property and in the payment OF
debts as the coins of gold. And we find
that more than $1,OO0,0OO, 900 of silver
coins in circulation in Europe are at
par with gold. Why this? Simply be-
cause both are coined with the value of
| the coins fixed by law.
| Has anyone ever seen a 5O-cent dol.
lar in this country? OF course not
And why not? Because our more than
400,0O0,0OO silver dollars, or their rep.
resentatives, are the coined money o1
the United States, their value axed
by law, and they are made legal ten
der for all debts. Hence, those now
coined are as good as gold
No laborer, no person drawing sal
ary, no depositor in a bank will be
paid, nor will any offer be made to pay
them, with silver bullion. They may
be paid in coined silver, as they may
now be lawfully paid in coined silver
but the dollars in which they could b.
so paid would be 100-cent dollars, ant
equal to gold, because they would bu,
as much property and pay as much O
debt as the same number of gold dollars
II it DC said that the stamp Of Il TIL
gQYernment and the mandate Of tn!