The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1900-09-21
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people generally are willing to take
/ the Government stamp as proof that
fifty-two cents worth ofsilver is worth
one hundred cents In money.
or course. you don't suppose that
the expression Stree silver" means
that silver is to be given away to all
corners, so that 1t may be had for the
asking.
OF course, it means nothing of the
kind.
Free silver at the rate of Is tol
means that every man who has silver
is to be free to take it to the Govern.
ment and get it coined into dollars, so
that he will get silver dollar for
every ffty-two cents worth of silver
that he hands in to be coined. This
means making the Government take
all the silver that is offered to 1t at n
price nearly twice as large as it can
be bought for in any city in the Unit.
ed States or in Europe.
Now, you are farmer or pro-
Queer OF anything, do you know OF any
way to compel the Government to
take fifty-two cents worth OF your
wheat or corn or hogs or potatoes of
your hands and give you a dollar in
exchange ; And If you could find any
way OF doing this, don't you think you
would have pretty soft thing of it,
and wouldn't you get rich pretty fast?
This is what the rich men who own
silver mines, and who have silver to
sell TO the Government, are trying to
do; you, as an honest man, would not
dream Of asking for such thing. How
long could the Government stand It,,
and why should the owners OF silver
mines be given any such privilege ?
Suppose you knew that you were go.
ing to be paid for your goods in dol.
lars that we're worth only hllf as much
as those you had been in the habit Of
getting, and you knew that this was
the law and that there was no escape
from 1t, what would you do ?
Why, you would double your prices,
of course, ut once; that is the only
thing you could do to save yourself
from loss.
Now, can Congress pass a law to
make fifty cents into dollar ? Yes,
Congress can pass a law saying that
fifty cents shall be dollar. or saying
that black Is white, or saying that
every pint shall be a quart; but il Con-
gress did this, that kind OF a quart
would only be worth half as much as a
real quart, he would only pay half as
much for it as he would pay for real
quart, and SO if you gave man So
called dollar worth only fifty cents he
would only give you half as much of
any kind Of goods in exchange for it as
he would give you for a dollar that
was worth hundred cents.
Now, what makes the value of gold
and silver ?
They are not worth anything Of
themselves. Put a man on top OF a
mountain of pure gold and leave him
there alone with nothing but gold all
around him, and he will starve to
death. Neither gold nor silver alone
will give man food or drink or
clothes.
Gold and silver only have value
through common consent of man
kind. II gen give up using them
as money will have very little
value left, Tor either gold or silver are
very much less useful in other ways
than iron or copper or other metals.
Free Silver" means that the
United States Government shall take
every iifty-two cents worth of silver in
the world that may be offered to it,,
and give back TO the man who brings
it silver dollar.
Mind you this is Just exactly what
free silve means. The friends OF it de-
mand 1.-THE free and unlimited coinage
OF silver at the rate of lGtol.
That is, that the Government shall
receive all the silver that is brought
to it, and coin it into dollars at rate
that shall make one ounce OF silver
equal to the one-Sixteenth of that
amount of gold.
Well, naturally, all the silver in the
world will leone right here to be coin
ed, because every man wants TO double
the value of whatever he has got.
Do you believe for moment that
the United States Government can
stand this sort Of thing Taking all
the silver that is offered to it, and
stamping it as being worth double
what it really is worth
Up to a certain point no doubt the
Government can stand it, because to-
day our Government is strong and has
high credit.
Even pieces of paper, stamped by the
Government as being worth a dollar,
pass as dollars. but this can only be
done TO certain extent.
DO you believe that the Government
could take every bit Of paper that was
offered toitpnd turn it into dollars ,