Smyrna times., 1900-10-10
THE A 8 C OF FREE SILVER.
FAain Statement Showing What "10
to ~ Really Menna

10 l." really Means.
sixteen to one" means that BRYAN
ana the Democrats insist that congress
shall enact law which will make 16 |
ounces of silver, now worth about 60 |
cents an ounce, or $500 for 16 ounces.
worth as much as one ounce of gold. |
worth $2O.6T.
The free and unlimited coinage of |
silver at this ratio, therefore, means
that Bryan and the Democrats want
congress to enact a law so that any
body having silver, no matter who he
may be or where he or his silver comes
from, can take it or send it to any
American mint and have it coined into
standard silver dollars of 412h grains
free of all cost, the American people
paying all the expense of coinage, these
free coined dollars, in weight and in
trinsic value worth about 4S cents, to
be a compulsory legal tender for all
debts, both private and public. In
other words, the government shall pass
a law agreeing to accept 4S cents for
100 cents and compel every American,
rich and poor alike, to submit to this
preposterOus and bankruptcy breeding
scheme.
Robbery of the People.
When it is remembered that America
! owns less than One-Quarter of the
worlds silver, the astounding and ig-
nOrant atrocity of this proposed rob-
berry of the people is made more clearly
manifest. Everybody knows that near
| ly if not all of the other three-quarters
of the silver in the world would be
sold to us ut two for one, double its
value, and sent to our mints to coin, so
that in very short time after the en-
actment of such a foolish law an ava
lanche of silver would pour into this
country from all parts of the earth, so
that the government would have to
suspend and repudiate this law. In
the meantime all our gold and much of
our other property would be owned by
foreign owners of silver, paid for by us
at more than twice it's value, which
would mean overwhelming loss to this
country, hopeless national bankruptcy
and universal panic, putting the cur
rency on an absolute silver basis. Can
any sane man conceive of a more alb
J surd or bunkOlike proposition?
Why Silver Has Become So Cheap.
Up to 1871 silver was at n premium
over gold on account of it's scarcity anC
worth from $1.29 to $1.31 per ounce
but during the 20 years from 1871 t.
1891 such enormous silver deposits
were found and so much silver was
produced that the world could not util
iZe it all for coinage or i'll the arts
and its value and the price therefore
: rapidly declined, until in 1891 it fel
to 42 cents per ounce, compelling near
: ly every silver mine owner to shu
q down and quit, so that very little silve
is being or has been produced during
the last ten years, consequently tn
price has again advanced nearly 2
cents per ounce from the lowest.
why Change.
Labor has been well rewarded unde
O the present Republican administrator
= Everybody is able to earn a good liz
: ing. Why invite commercial distress
general panic and hard times by inaI
= gurating another experimental chang
n such as we had in 1881? No wOrl
y no wages or very low wages, brea
% riots, sOuphouses and great gener;
suffering will be brought on by ever
vote cast for the Bryan, Croker. n
T, braska free silver and New York il
h trust combine. If you don't believe
/: law and order and the supreme cOu
l. or what they style government by il
y junction to restrain the lawless an
q. protect life and property, but want a
archy, robbery and panic, elect Il
Democratic candidate, William Je
nings Bryan, to ruin you and yOl
10 country and make us the laughiI
stock of all the other countries of Il
earth.
Can you seriously invite such conc
10 tiOns as these wild theorists and wOu
Oh be experimenters in government pU
a. pose?
s. 1t is time to watch for strange ligh
ne in the northern sky.