The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-12-22

tl1e htpuilItdh b'i - LII 'iiS ie'''I 49,
years From the Mckinley admins
tration | had handsome house ana
lot The Roosevelt administration pre-
scented me with mortgage upon it
Free Silver Again.
Curiously enough, there is certain
muttelirg from the west of the OLD
free silver idea. This, time it does not
come from the Democratic party. which
in 1896 was SO widely described as the
party of "repudiation and dishoncr.'
There are Republicans both i'll senate
and house who are talking the coin
ace of silver as possible remedy for
the present financial stringency. Colo
RADIO has Il new senator of the name Of
Gurmenhcim He is one of seven
brothers Who practically control the
smelling industry in the United States
To that extent his advocacy of silver
coinage may be regarded as not with
out some selfish purpose. His brother
Solomon is travelling through the west
aching a new form of silver coin
age This is his proposition: "A bill
giving the secretary of the treasury
discretionary power to purchase silver
bullion up to 50,OO0,000 ounces and all
silver so purchased to be Immediately
coined into silver dollars" He does
not specify the price to be paid for the
bullion, although he says that when
the silver question was agitated before
| throughout this country the ratio OF
| production Of the precious metals was
| tWenty-three of silver to one of gold
| Now it is ei-tht Of silver to one Of gold.
| Today the price of silver IS higher than
| it was in 1896 If the government
| should so into the market as the puI-
| chaser of $4,000. 600 ounces. that de
mand would necessarily send it higher.
| The Guggenheims. smelters and sen
ator. are all Republicans. Wouldn /
it be curious il; Mr.. Roosevelt and his
party, having adopted practically al!
the other principles for which Mr..
Bryan stood in 1896. should wind mp
! by taking over to themselves the coin
age of silver rs a relief for Il financial
stringency for which they themselves
are responsible?
re NEW SCifSSs.
| All Washington is laughing at the
new gold coins. theoretically designed
| by the late Augustus Saint Gauden.s,
but practically dictated by the very
present Theodore Roosevelt. The twenty
dollar pieces have just appeared. Bare
ly 100000 of them have been coined,
and the presses have now been stop
| ped The design involves so deep a
| sinking of the die that the rim of the
coin forms wire edge, which makes
| it impossible to be stacked and which
will wear Off rapidly, destroying part
| of the intrinsic value of the coin
| New dies will have to be made, new
machinery devised. They are likely
to be the most expensive experiment
| in coinage the United States ever I'M
dertook. Gold coinage. after all, is a
| loss to the government. In twenty
dollar gold piece there is exactly S2l
worth of gold at current rates. But
value in copper to harden it, and there
is also the cost of minting. counting
and distribution. Every gold coin
struck by the government means a
less. On the other hand, the humble
penny means a tremendous profit.
The ten dollar gold piece has recent
IL been submitted to the ignominy OF
what the newspapers call the deadly
| parallel. When President Roosevelt
was inauguratcd 100 medals were
struck OF to commemorate the event
One of gold was given to the presi
dent one eff silver TO the vice president
and the other ninety-eight to members
of the local committee having the in
auguration in charge. The diverse OF
that medal IS Absolutely and literally
the obve~rc. o. tail" Of the ten dol
lar gold piece. T.a-e is the same
eagle IN t-ousors, with Ill his fcl1lr
nrs identical. Tho one difference is
Lac ,he medal bp,e il i circle above
e eagle tie RAJ = '--.sa3 90 Isq2r
81, a. II - i. Tics. t@f q.
a2a e. ii. On
a 49,, - - 80 =.