Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1898-12-08

A Gold Story.

Mr.. James w. Dobson, gold bug
insurance man Of Mexico, Mo-, UNDER
takes to criticise one Of Champ Clarke
recent letters. Il seems that Mr.
Clark had, a. was kis wont, Illustrated
point IN his letter BY telling funny
story about negro bell ringer, and
Mr.. Dobson in answering him tells the
following story:
/ like good story, for I feel that It
10 good to laugh, but the farmer who
soii $1,000 worth Of cattle and took bis
pay Ia $1,000 hi gold, 81 900 In silver
and $1,000 10 Rreenbacke could not
laugh, because when he took his
money home be hid it In the house
and while be was IN town the next
day alone with his vito his house
burned dcwn and bis money looked .
little different. His greenbacks could
not be redeemed and his silver, which
had melted in the fire, brought him it's
bullion value, about e454, but his gold
was worth 1000.
Let Us examine this story. In the
first place there Is no gold In cireula-
tion in this part Of the country, but
for the sake Of argument we will admit
that the farmer did receive 81 900 In
gold as part payment, $1,000 in SILVER
and 81 900 In greenbacks. II we are
not mistaken the Republican npeli
binders In 1895 were shouting over the
country that the greenbacks were as
good as gold because Il was redeema-
BILE in that coin, but in this instance It
gets left However, what we want to
deal with in this story lie the gold and
silver principally. The Democratic
party maintains as q basic principle OF
legislation that the Federal govern
ment can Iegislate valus into anything
tangible and we are firmly convinced
that we can prove to the mind OF any
unpreiudiced reader the same thing.
Here we have farmer taking three
kinds OF money In exchange for bis
cattle. Why did be do THAR Simply
because the Federal government says
that they are ali three full legal tender
and receivable for all debts, public and
private. The small amount OF paper
on which the greenbacks were printed
could be OF no use In mechanics what
ever, yet the farmer accepted IT just
as readily as he did the coin because
the stamp of the government seid it
was $1,000 and IL would buy $1,000
worth OF cattle, and 1t might have been
IN one bill or cne thousand; 1t made
no matter. OF course, the fire de-
stroyed the value OF the greenbacks
completely.
Now as to silver. We see the farmer
accepting $1,000 In silver, when he
knows that under our present laws
each dollar only contains z5 eents
worth OF bullion. The farmer doesn't
stop to look at what tho money is
made out Of; he simply wants to know
that the government says 1t Is dollar
and he is satisfied. But wont some
gold bug tell rs where that 40 cents OF
bullion got the other 90 cents from, SO
as to make II pass current for 81,
unless 10 got IL from the Cat Of the
government The government coined
these silver dollars under legislation
which said q silver dollar shall con-
tain 4i2K grains OF silver and the
credit Of the government Is behind
them. But the government has
demonetized silver--taking away It's
privileges ct the mints-so It has
become commodity. Remonetise
silver, with the same privileges at the
mints that gold enjoys, and the farmer's
o., 600 in silver would be worth Just as
much after the fire as 1t was before,
because he could then take the bullion
to the mint and have 1T coined into
o., 900 Just the same as his gold.