The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-08-05
Eject Which Free Coinage Would
Have ON It's Price.


To the Editor Of the Globe.
In the leading editorial of the Globe of
other passages:
The silver product of the country last
year was. in round numbers, 46, OO0 900 ounces
Ii sold in the market at an average price
OF from IS to So cents per ounce. Let us
say that 1t brought 50 cents With a free
coinage act in force the owners of that
bullion could demand it's coinage and force
IL upon the people of this country at the
rate or $l.29 per ounce. For every ounce of
bullion. therefore, the owner could levy trib-
ute, on an average, to the extent of more
tnan oV cents per ounce over and above the
price in 1896. That means that those inter-
ested in silver mines, the great bullion kings
OF the Rocky Mountain states and the stock
holders in those mines elsewhere throughout
the country. would be enabled to extort for
s s product for single year, more than
szI oOV,O0O in excess of what they received
Ior It year ago; Is not this prize
s Wor ddo wv WORKING for? Think of It'll
wine owners could spend SIS 000,0 600 In in
nIuenclng puDnc opinion corruptly. and yet
anose VINO made up such pools would get it
al BACK again, and nearly as much more in
the nrst year, If free coinage became law
ne U b e 8 editorial, in which the
roregoing appears has for its subject the de-
In the present discussion of the financial
question: The o is a staunch gold
stsndard paper. but in the clear and candid
statements quoted above it sets an example
IN fairness and truth that might well he
initiated, even by many free coinage pa
pers. -
and weli-informed man understands. that un-
DER the free coinage of silver at is to the
prosperity of slver-nine owners and of the
silver producing states generally would he
greatly even enormously Increased Az the
u be says, with a free coinage act in
force the owners of silver bullion, which is
row worth but SO cents an ounce could de-
mand Its coinage and force it upon the neo
PIE OF the country at 81. % per ounce" and
make profit of so cents an ounce as com
pared with the present price.
And, OF course, silver at 81 20 an ounce
means that silver dollar of 412b grains will
De worth 100 cents, and that the silver states
WILL M,H nave an abundance of these dollars, en-
aDing tnem to wax prosperous and even rich
ana 10 rare comfortably, If not sumptuousIy
every day. 1t must be admitted that the
Is quite right when it states that
as 1t IS pleased to term them-would make
a proht on their product in a single wear of
more more IMAM 900 in excess of what they
recelve6ha year ago" For free coinage would
enable these bullion kings" to coin their
sliver INTO iOo-cent dollars. instead of $50
t zen dollars, which our gold standard friends
OF tney could sell their bullion for 81 "a an
ounce ana the results would be the same
,o Inc 81. u states another incontrovertible
Iact when it alleges that ''mine owners could
spend $4,000, 900 in influencing public onin
ION, and then when free coinage shall come
ger II all back again and nearly as much
H
VIII give every holder of silver bullion q
tremendous profit compared with its pres
ent prices r silver dollar then-with silver
at $l29 an ounce-will be. worth 100 cents
100 cents in gold. as the Globe demon
strates-and therefore gold dollar will he
worth but 100 cents in silver, each coin hay-
power. e
No wonder the people Of the silver produc-
ing states are practically unanimous for free
coinage. To them will come the first and
largest benefits. With silver bullion at sixty-
nine cents an ounce. whole districts in those
states s. na are Frustrated; but with silver at
Sl.z9 an ounce as the G o shows 1t will
De under free coinage, they will be abund-
antly prosperous
The G IL be and both its st. Paul daily
contemporaries, and other gold Standard
papers, have from time to, time asserted that
under free coinage the silver bullion of the
silver kings would go to s1.29 an ounce,
and it has been asked why the other states
should allow this great favor to their Rocky
Mountain sisters. Those of us who believe
In free coinage say that to coin either silver
or gold bullion into money, at no ones ex-
pense, can not hurt or harm anybody. 1t
simply makes coined money out Of some
thing which was not money before. Even
the metal to pay the expense of mintage.
Then the silver people will spend their money
In various ways. and give the rest of US
In time a chance to get some of 1t.
OF course the G o e's clear definite and
obviously correct statements that under free
coinage silver will be worth s1.29 an ounce,
cry, but it Is only another way of showing
the absurdity Of that mainstay of many gold
standard men. OF all the charges made
against free coinage this "50-cent dollar
cry is the one made the loudest and most
frequent by the gold standard men. The
poor workingman," over whose welfare
their bowels of compassion are continually
moved; the widow and the orphan; the saw
ings bank depositor; the life insurance bene-
fciary, and all those other honest folk who
have modest sums, and also votes, are con-
tinually and practically warned that free
silver means 50-cent dollars to them. But,
at the same time, they say it means 100-cent
dollars and big profits to the bullion kings"
and the "siver barons."
In the G o b e's article under notice it
is stated that the capitalists who are gold
standard men, "All believe that their pos
sessions in common with those Of the poor
est laboring man, would be cut in two by
free coinage but surely the remainder of
the article ought to show and convince them
that their apprehensions like those of
the people who fear the Jabberwock dread
the Bandersnatch and tremble at the thought
of the Boyle man.
How is It possible that the Colorado silver
miners dollar shall be worth any more than
the Minnesota farmers; why will the
New York workngmans silver dollar be
worth less than the Montana silver barons?
l trust that our country shall have
plenty of these dollars. American money for
American people; and what is good enough
for Americans is good enough for anybody