Willmar tribune., 1899-12-20
The Currency Question.
VERY MUCH ALIVE.
Being Used for Speculative
PURPOSES.

More than three-fOurthS OF the peO-
pie of this country use silver coin foI
their daily and weekly business trans
actions, and it is attested by those who
have made the observations that the
same is the case in England, Germany,
France and other countries. Moreover,
says c. II. Robinson, in Living Issues,
we know positively that there is not a
gold coin that is not encumbered with
a lien upon it for some public or pri-
vate debt in the shape of principal or
interest, and that all gold coin is under
The dominion or control of the credit
ors. True, we make a showing of free
gold, and we read in the newspapers of
its being here and there, sometimes
man may receive gold coin or small
quantity of gold coins, but he must
quickly change them into silver to sat
isfy the necessities, and the gold drifts
back again to the source whence it
came, to-wit, the Golfers of the banks,
to be by them distributed to certain
we'll known central locations, to be
again sent out and manipulated when
profit can be mace upon it. This is the
natural effect of the gold standard
the Capitalization and control of gold
money, to be used as an export or i'm
port and for speculative purposes. Not
so with silver, which, Being debased by
demonetization, can have no free in
gress and egress because it is base
meta! and is confined to the uses of
the people in their daily and weekly
transactions. We have in the United
States in actual circulation in silver
dollars and subsidiary silver only about
$3.50, ,OOO. 900, and with this all our COM
mercial transactions, both great and
small, must be carried on. OF course,
we have silver certificates of paper
exceeding $40O,000,000, which latter
must be retained in the treasury for
their redemption. There are no paper
certificates representing our subsidiary
silver, that is actual coin which is used
in thousands upon thousands of trans
actions, and it is the only money that
millions of people ever see or know
anything about. In spite of this great
necessity we have in circulation less
than $60,O0O,0oo of subsidiary silver, al
though the country now requires an
amount exceeding 225,000,oo0 on the
authority of the treasurer of the United
States. This IS curious reason for the
hilarity of certain statesmen who de-
light to repeat over and over aga.n that
the silver question is dead. Instead Of
being dead it is very much alive.
''But,'' says the average citizen, II
can take five silver dollars to the store
and buy just as much goods, wares
and merchandise as can for S. gold
piece" That is quite true, so far as
certain things are concerned, but when
it comes to imported or 'protected"
goods, wares and merchandise, the diff
ference between gold and debased sill
yer dollars turks in the price that must
be paid. The situation is the same as
in the republic af Mexico, whose medi-
um of exchange is entirely silver. Mex
lean money is all token money coined on
private account according to standard
fixed by the government, practically
silver standard. Yet we can buy as
much in Mexico with Mexican silver
dollar as we can buy in the United
States with United States silver dollar,
notwithstanding the actual fact that
two Mexican dollars can be had in ex-
change for one United States silver dol
lar.-Illinois State Register.