The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-07-23
A SEEKER AFTER rRurH.

The following questions have been
sent to the State Journal and reply
is asked. The writer is probably a
gold bug and feels the need of infor-
nation:
L Who will be benefited by free and
unlimited coinage of silver?
2. How will poor men be benefited by
free and unlimited coinage OF silver?
g. Who owns the silver that may be
coined?
4. How will free coinage benefit men
who have no silver to be coined?
5. If each and every man in America
becomes the owner of one thousand sill
yer dollars, how many dollars in gold
would it be worth?
Answer No. J. Free and unlimited
coinage of silver would benefit almost
every inhabitant of the United
States. 1t would benefit the wage
Garner by giving such an impetus to
production as would insure him employ
ment and employment at living wages.
It would benefit the producer and the
manufacturer by increasing consump-
ton and thereby giving them better
prices for their products. 1t would
benefit the capitalist by enabling those
from whom he derives his income to
pay their obligations and he would no
longer be forced to realize on his in
vestments by foreclosing on property
greatly deprecated in value.
q This question is answered in num-
Der one. The first effect of free coin
age would be the resumption of silver
mining. This would give employment
to a large number of men who would
become consumers of agricultural prod
ucts and manufactured goods, thus
crea ting a demand for an increased pro-
duction all along the line and a con-
sequent employment of additional Ia
Dor to supply their wants. The trans
portation of the increased production
would make additional business for the
railroads, thereby giving employment
to more labor and a profitable return to
the stockholders. And so the benefits
would continue to spread from one in
dustry to another.
8. AS to who owns the silver, that is
not so easily answered and it doesn't
matter. Much is owned by the govern
ment, some, perhaps by spectators,
and possibly some by those who have
produced it.
4 This question has been answered
under 1 and 2.
5. Under free coinage 1000 dollars in
silver would be worth 1000 dollars in
any other kind of money, just as it is
now. A dollar is a dollar. 1t cannot
be worth more or less than 100 cents.
The material of which it is made may
vary in price but the coin remains I'M
changed. How much gold bullion 1000
silver dollars might buy cannot be told
with absolute certainty. We have only
past experience to guide us. But gold
bullion is not a measure of value; gold
coin is Neither is silver bullion a
measure of value, but silver coin is.
Returning to question A; the immed-
late benefits of free coinage would be
small in comparison with the ultimate
results. Owners and producers of sill
yer bullion after converting it into coin
would of course seek investments for
the money so obtained and it would go
into manufacturing enterprises, new
railroads, irrigation systems, etc,
with the result of furnishing additional
demand Tor LABOR ana an ADVANCE IN
prices. The assertion which is often
made that an advance in wages if ac-
companied by a corresponding advance
in the cost of living is of no benefit to
the 1aborer looks plausible as a theory
but it is belied by experience. Every
body who has lived long enough to have
past through varying periods of high
and low prices, knows that when prices
are advancing the people prosper and
when they are declining, times are
hard. We are now passing through an
era of falling prices consequent upon
the esta blishment Of the gold standard,
which makes the few millions of gold
in the country the only real money we
have, all the other currency being cred
it money.
There is probably little silver bullion
in the country aside from that in the
treasury vaults; most Of it having
found a market in England, where it
is used in buying the products of silver
using countries and thus curtailing our
market and causing a still further de-
cline in prices.