The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-09-17


eaiAfea Again. Ara ,nSre tAAn that 80 -,
sessct "tAe crime ~ ISIS rv~oandsd IN con.
SrcSs and In The coNntry. Then ~ last the ~
ccnt sud aailsr had is opgortnnity. frices
ca01 No longer plead Ignorance What hap
fsencif In lSsS wheat rose soovc the price 81
Ism hsewiss cora. cettOn and oats In lSsl
wheat rNse again slso corn, osts and cotton
IN lSSs wheat and ccttOn declined. while corn
and cats rosc The reports here given are
tAOSe ~ the New Work market They may
vary scrnewhst fram report ~ farm prices.
Nut they Present the rise and ieclins II prices
with substantial eorrectness.
~. however, there he somebody believing
hat IN spite ~ these facts the decentralization
81 silver oy the act 81 1873 must in some rnys'
ferrous way hsvo done something - depress
prices ] meet him with the affirmation that
the silver dollar Was practically denone,ised
long eefore ISIS To judge nom the speeches
81 cur free coinsee orators. the American peo'
PIE must eefore ISIS have fairly wallowed In
silver dollars What Is the facti President
jefferson stopped the coinage ~ silver dollars
IN l>e. from ll>S 90 ISIS. aside from fraction
n cDrrency-wAich since lSS was only limited
legal iender-only about S0oON Of silver dol
lars were coined. They were - scarce that
YOU would hardly ever see one except In q
curiosity shop as rare coin.
There was constant trouble with the legal
ratio between sold and silver. which could
not he % nxcd IS % keep the two metals to-
eether In circulation. once one of them would
he driven out ~ the country and then the
other. Meanwhile over S,0o.oo,tG OF gold
coin WAS coincd. and since lSS gold was sub
stAntially the only fun legal tender money IN
actual circulation. And those were excep.
tonally prosperous times Then the civil war
came and swept all our metallic money out Of
sight Paper money took its place, and in that
condition we were in lSsS when the famous
act Of ISIS WAS passed. What. then, was in
rtaalfrV that law that has hs,tsn - Naa..r
IL denounced as "the crime II 1887 Why, II
was simply an act revising our coinage laws
and providing among other things that certain
silver coins should b. struck 90 he legal tender
IN the payment Of debts only 90 a small amount.
The standard silver dollar that had practical.
ly been out Of use since President Jeffer-
son In lSO6 had stopped its coinage, was simply
not mentioned in the enumeration. That is
all The act Of 1873 therefore did not create
new state OF things, but simply recognized "A
and many years. IL did thereby not only not
destroy half the money Of the country, but
got single dollar of it,
why Prices Have Declined.
But what is IL. then. that has caused the de.
cline Of pricesG l appeal TO your common
sense Do you think that when one man. aid.
ed by machinery, does much productive
work As formerly ten or more did, and when
our modern means Of transportation carry the
product from the producer 10 the consumer
with i've times the speed at one fifth the cost.
and when in the transmission Of intelligence
time Is quite and cost almost annihilated do
you think that then the product of human
labor should not in due proportion become
cheaperf II IL did not. then modern civiliza.
ton would in one Of its most important and
benehcent functions he fiat failure. For
what is the inventive genius of the age that
devotes itself 20 practical objects engaged in
what else than in devisng and developing
means and methods nv which tina things "a.
quired by mankind for the sustenance and
comfort Of life be made better and more easily
attsinsble-thst is, chesperi
The farmer in the United States welcomed
the agricultural machinery which helps him
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