Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1897-05-06
THE HONEST DOLLAR.
AN ABLE DISCUSSION or WHAT
CONSTITUTES ONE.
The Accusation OF the silver Dollar IL
Brought By those who DlshOnes IL
Made Money by It's depreciation. The
Dollar IL Honest. B,

is the silver dollar an honest dollar?
There can be no question that the sill
yer dollars now in circulation in the
United States are honest dollars, be-
cause all the obligations Of the United
States are, by express law, payable in
silver dollars; and, besides, silver dol
lars will buy the same amount of prop
erty and pay the same amount of debts
as gold dollars.
But the goldites say that silver dol
lars would become dishonest dollars if
the minis were opened to free coinage.
The republican party in its platform
declared that it was in favor of open
ing the minis of the United States to
free coinage whenever an information
al agreement could be obtained for
that purpose. They will hardly con-
tend that the silver dollars coined
after such agreement would be dis
honest dollars. Ifdollars coined with
out the agreement would be dishonest
dollars, how would the agreement
make them honest dollars? They would
in either event be a full legal tender
and would pay debts and taxes the
same as gold dollars.
But they say that gold might go to
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her mints without the consent of other
nations. How would the vast in
crease in the use of silver, which would
be produced by free coinage in the
United States increase the premium
on gold? That premium is now about
fifty per cent. Do the goldltes think
that the demand created by the United
State for silver through free coinage
would make silver cheaper than 1t now
is? It could not increase the premium
on gold over silver unless it did.
We have always been opposed to
The premium on gold which was pro-
duced by doubling the demand for that
metal be demonetizing silver, and we
are now told that If we make any adj
ditional use of silver for coinage pur-
poses it will make silver cheaper and
increase the premium on gold. II the
goldites mean that a dollar must have
the same purchasing power of com
modities in general at the time of pay
msnt that 1t did at the time the loan
was made, they will prove that the
gold dollar is a great thief, because it
takes twice as much property to pay a
debt in gold now as it did twenty years
ago. If the goldites contend that 1t is
honest to have a dollar with con-
stantly increasing purchasing power
because such a dollar enriches the
creditor and impoverishes the debtor;
upon what do they base such a con-
tentlonP Do they teally think that no
person in the civilized world has any
rights except the bondholder and
money lender.
But they say that contracts have
been made since the gold standard was
adopted and that they ought to be
paid in gold. Why Is that? The con-
tracts were made payable in money.
Do they think that the people have no
right to any other kind of money than
gold? The established law of the
United States and Great Britain is that
the current money at the date of pay
ment is the money of the contract, for
every government has the right to reg
ulate the quantity of the eirculatio
which affects the purchasing power of
legal tender money. All men who
make contracts make them with view
of this sovereign power, and 1t is not
dishonest to pay the current money in
circulation at the date of payment.
When a government fails to preform its
duty in not keeping volume Of money
In circulation sufficient to maintain
stability of prices (Which means stabil-
ity in the purchasing power Of money!,
the people must suffer.
The reason we complain of the gold
ties is that after both metals had been
used for thousands of years and the
business OF the world adjusted to the
volume of money furnished by both
metals, they demonetized silver 1t is
true they got the governments to do it
thereby making the governments do a
great wrong BY this scheme Of legis-
lasion, which adopted the gold stand
ard. the creditor class added to the
burdens of the people more than a
hundred thousand millions, because it
Is estimated that there was at least
that amount Of indebtedness at the
time silver was demonetized. by this
unjust legislation they made the bur
dens of this hundred thousand millions
as great as two hundred thousand
millions would have been If silver
had remained a money metal equally
with gold.
It is strange that men who have ma
nipulated legislation and influenced
and therebv absorbed