Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1896-1899, 1898-07-27
NOT GOOD AS GOLD IN SAN
TIAGO.

TIAGO.
A press dispatch says: IA telegram
has been received from Shafter, re-
questing that gold and paper be !sent
to Santiago, as the tradesmen refuse
TO accept American silver dollars at
par value, and rate them at so cents
on the dollar" Thus does the cold
light Of actual fact occasionally blast
and shrivel one OF the goldbug cam
paign lies What has become Of all
those American silver dollars that
we're at par with gold in every bust
ness center in the world-a couple OF
years ago? Why doesn't the govern
ment send some of those dollars with
which TO pay off the army in Santi>
ago?
Can It be that the altogether lovely
worldwide parity of our different
kinds of money existed only in the
vivid campaign imagination Of the
ubiquitous campaign liar ? Here
is Cuba, with the exception of Mex
leo and Canada, the nearest foreign
country-hardly foreign, in fact, for
she is at our very DOORS Yet her
tradesmen rate our great American
gold standard silver dollars "at fifty
cents on the dollar,' and no higher
than the Mexican dollar.
This is all right: 1t is not worth so
much as the Mexican dollar, rs bull
lion, and it is WORTH no
more for use. as money
outside of the United States. But
what about the campaign liar who
has been telling us for so many years
that our silver dollar passed at par
with gold all over the world =? Most
of us knew, all the time, that he was
mistaken, but some of us didn't. We
all ought to know IL now, for the
gold standard press will publish these
dispatches which prove IL.
But the dispatch continues: "The
suggestion has been made to the sec
retary of war that any tradesman
who refuses TO accept United States
money Of any kind at 100 cents on the
dollar should be removed from the
territory over which the American
flag noats." This is positively laugh
able. WHAT'S the matter with those
ineXorable laws Of trade, with which
IL will not do TO interfere 10y legisla
tion? Why don't those people con
suit Harvey Scott and learn that
legal tender laws are deluslon aud
a snare z DO they not know that you
can not oblige, a tradesman TO sell his
goods fora kind Of money that he
doesn't wish to take, and that II you
could he would get even by marking
up the price OF his goods ?
But the following is rich, too: "The
snpposItlonis that the refusal TO ac-
,cept silver dollars is the resultof the
long use of silver in Mexico and |
South American countries which has
never passed for more than half of
It's face value. "The grammatical cou.
struetion OF that sentence might be
greatly improved, but the meaning
IL seems striving to convey is that
silver basineyer passed for more than
half face value ia Mexico. aud the
South American countries. This lit
Tie piece of Information is on level,
for accuracy, with the other cam
paIgn lie, The silver coinage ola
silver standard country is alwaysNt
par Ia thai country, and II can mot
be either above or below, for II is
itself the standard from which par
Is rcckoned. our silver dollar might
drop below par here, while we have
gold standard, ar the Mexican gold
dollar, II such a coin exists, might
be above par but standard money
must be at par In its own country
Is this "a mere techniealityg" II is
NOT a technicallty; il Is the
accurate frozen truth. II is, To
a great extent, by this very method
of apparently free aud easy inaccur-
aey Ia the use Of words aud phra ses,
that the geld standard adyo-.
rates eueceed IN confusing the
minds Of the people, and