The San Francisco call., 1896-04-10
CALIFORNIA FOR SILVER.

The action of the Republican State Con-
vention in Utah in firmly taking an ad-
vanced stand on behalf of the silver inter
| ests of the West will no doubt awaken
responsive movement throughout the Pa
ciic Coast. Certainly California will re-
spond to it and will give all the aid Of her
| influence and her power in assisting her
sister States to defend an interest common
! to them all. Of that much there can be no
question. 1t will, In fact, be strange de-
velopment in our politics if the whole OF
the Greater West does not stand as
united force to maintain the cause OF silver
whenever and wherever it may be assailed.
1t is we'll that California should speak
out clearly and forcibly at this time, for in
some quarters an attempt has been made
to represent the people of this State as
being lukewarm in the contest. Because
this is the land of gold, because we have no
| large silver mines within our borders, it has
been supposed that seif-interest would i'm
pei US to take sides with the monometal-
lists and support the single gold standard,
careless of what might be the consequence
TO the silver-mining States. This supposi-
tion must be refuted. The people of Cali
fornia are in favor of free coinage of silver
The gold-miners themselves are in favor
of it. There is no interest in this State op-
posed to the interests of our sister States.
Every intelligent man who has had any
long experience in California knows how
closely the welfare of our people is allied
to that OF the people of all toe mining
States and Territories. When silver-min-
ing tiourished San Francisco fiourished.
California hourished. Our merchants, our
farmers, our manufacturers did business
with the silyer-mining towns and camps
that yielded a profit to ali forms of our IN
dustry. Some of the stat st buildings
in this City were erected by wealth brought
from silver mines, and from the same
source came the money that has estab-
lished many fine farm, fruitful orchard
or comfortable home in the valleys and
towns OF the interior.
There cannot be great and prosperous
city without great and prosperous coun-
try to sustain it. To make San Francisco
all that IL should be We must build up not
only California but the Greater West
new impulse will be felt reviving all the
energies of California as soon as the silver
mines are reopened in Nevada, Arizona
and New Mexico. Our gold mines will not
be injured by this competition. On the
contrary they will to some extent be bene-
fitted, for the work in the silver mines
will cause such an additional demand for
mining machinery that it will be made in
larger quantities and consequently at
cheaper proportional cost.
Our experience of What has happened in
San Francisco and in California generally
since the shutting down of the silver
| mines is all the proof that intelligent men
can require of the benefits we derived from
those mines when they were in profitable
operation. In common with the rest of
the world we have suffered from the fall
in prices. the depression in trade, the
weakening of industry and the difficulty
OF debt-paying caused by the demonetiza-
ton OF silver, but our loss has been greater
than that of olher regions for in addition
to these Indirect consequences We have
suffered direct injury in the loss OF the
output of the mines themselves. 1t is to
our interest, in short, to have all the mines
of the Great West proftably working.
This is indeed the gold-producing State,
but it is part OF great silver producing
region to whose interests it is inseparably
bound by every tie of business and in
dustry.