Bridgeton pioneer., 1900-10-11
THEA 8 c OF FREE SILVER
Plain Statement Showing what "IGi
to 4" Really Means.


to 4" Really Means.
"Eixteen to one" means that Bryan
and the Democrats insist that congress
shall enact a law which will make 1E
ounces of silver, now worth about 60
cents an ounce. or $500 for 16 ounces.
worth as much as one ounce of gold.
worth $2067.
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 nas
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 4121@ 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 As cents, to-
be compulsory legal tender for ALI
debts, both private and public. In
other words, the government shall pass,
a law agreeing to accept 4S cents f6CS
100 cents and compel every American.
rich and poor alike, to submit to this
preposterous and bankruptcy breeding
scheme.
Robbery of the People.
When 1t is remembered that America
owns less than one-quarter of thG
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
W ~ oil 81
of the silver in the world would be-
sold to US at two for one, double itsz
value, and sent to our mints to coin, sca
that in very short time after the en-
actment of such a foolish law an avas-
lanche of silver would pour into thisC
country from all parts of the earth, sos
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 ab-
surd or bunkolike proposition?
Why Silver Has Become So Cheap
Up to 1871 silver was at a premium
over gold on account of its scarcity and
worth from $1.29 to $1.31 per ounce,
but during the 20 years from 1871 to.
1891 such enormous silver deposits !.
were found and SO much silver was
produced that the world could not utff-
lie 1t all for coinage or In the arts
and its value and the price therefore
rapidly declined, until in 1884 1t fen
to AZ cents per ounce, compelling near
ly every silver mine owner to shut
down and quit, so that very little silver
Is being or has been produced during.
the last ten years, consequently the
price has again advanced nearly 20
cents per ounce from the lowest.
why Changer
Labor has been well rewarded under
the present Republican administration.
Everybody is able to earn a good lFv-
ing. Why invite commercial distress,
general panic and hard times by inau-
gurating another experimental change
such as we had in 1884? No work.
no wages or very low wages, bread
riots, souphouses and great general
suffering will be brought on by every
vote cast for the Bryan, Croker, Ne
braska free silver and New York fee
trust combine. If you don't believe i'm
law and order and the supreme court
or what they style government by In
junction" to restrain the lawless and
protect life and property, but want an
archy, robbery and panic, elect the
Democratic candidate, William Jen-
nings Bryan, to ruin you and your
country and make us the laughing
stock of all the other countries of the
earth.
Can you seriously invite such condf-
tions as these wild theorists and would
be experimenters in government pur-
pose?