Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-02-23
WHY THEY LOVE SILVER.
Bryanites See in Free Coinage the
Only Way to SwindIe Their
Creditors.


The democratic members of the
house committee on coinage, which has
reported, with a recommendation that
il pass, the Hill bill for the maintenance
of the gold standard and the modifica-
ton of the present system, have sub
mitted minority report, in which they
denounce that measure vehemently.
They assert that the provision in the
bill for the redemption of silver dollars
in gold when desired will 'sweep the
present silver dollars from their pres
ent position as standard money into the
category of credit money The whole
scheme of the bill, they assert, "con-
templates the destruction of silver as
money" They claim, also, that the pro-
posed repeal of the provision which
prohibits national banks from with
drawing from circulation more than
$4,000 900 in any one month will enable
the banks "to contract circulation and
coerce legislation in years of panic and
business depression"
The democratic members of the COM
mittee do more than attack the Hill
bill. They give notice that they are
going to offer a substitute. That sub
stitute will make both the gold and sill
yer dollars standards of value, and au-
thorize the free coinage of silver at the
ratio of sixteen to one. These demo
Gratis, who discover something wicked
in the proposition to redeem silver dol
lars in gold, so that there may be no
possibility of depreciation in their
value, are unable to see anything wrong
in a proposition to coin silver bullion
worth less than half dollar into dol
lar for everybody who presents himself
at the mint. and then force creditors to
accept such dollars as if they were the
equivalent of full-value dollars.
The charge is made that the sup
porters of the gold standard are "hos-
tile" to the silver dollars. That is mani
festly untrue. The half million stand
ard silver dollars which have been
coined since 1878 have had the purchas-
ing power of gold dollars all that time.
They have been 'as good as gold" That
has been the case because the gold
standard men have been able to frus-
trate the attempts of the free silverites
to degrade" the standard silver dol
lars by depriving them of half their pur-
chasing power. If the Bryanites had
been successful in 1896 they would have
opened the mints to the free coinage of
silver at the ratio of sixteen to one,
thus putting in each silver dollar less
than half the amount of metal it should
contain to be worth 100 cents. Had that
been done, the half million dollars al
ready in existence would have become
worth only As cents on the dollar.
The free silverites assert constantly
that they are the only friends of silver.
They do not explain, however, that that
alleged friendship is due exclusively to
their belief that it is only through the
medium of deprecated silver money
that creditors can be swindled and dis
honest debtors enabled to retain the
property of others without paying for
it. If the commercial ratio of silver to
gold were to-day sixteen to one the
Bryanites would cease to care for silver,
for it would not lend itself to their
linavish purposes, but as long as the
commercial ratio is thirty-four and one
hasf to one they will continue to de-
mand free coinage and dishonest dol
lars-Chicago Tribune.