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2 THE ADVOCATE. PBEPAELNG FOR 8UFFBAGE. Sophia Mixes Her Ilnsband Up With Coxey Ism and Whiskey. NO. V. BY CON IIEALY. 11 How does it come, Sophia, that I haven't heard you say a word about politics for a week? Have you con cluded that you don't want to vote or are you taking private lessons on finance from some member of Coxey's army?" "Well, no; I have been reading some, but have not been talking very much on the money question to any of those Coxeyites that you make so much fun of." "Who could blame me for making fun of them ? Can you imagine any thing more ludicrous than a gang of ignorant laboringmen crawling out of mines, or leaving their work in shops and factories or on farms, and starting off to Washington on foot to tell con gressmen what they ought to do?" "I'll admit that it would be laugha ble if there were but a few of them, or if there was no cause for it. It would then look as if they were cranks, or else were trying to get a livingwithout work, and at the same time gain a little notoriety. Hut when I hear that this kind of thing is going on all over the country I am inclined tothinkthat it is no laughing matter. It is a seri ous matter and it teaches me some thing." "It teaches me that rogues and fools are plenty when the weather is line enough so that they can get out and show themselves. Now, my dear, what does it teach you?" "I found out long ago that beginners learn best from object lessons. Now, I am a beginner in politics and those Coxeyites and men out of employment are an object lesson to me, and it teaches me that there is something wrong, very wrong, and common sense teaches me that it is something that can't be made right by laughing atit." "Why, you are taking things quite seriously. Don't worry now. If there is anything wrong it is wrong with the men, and not with the government or the laws." "I don't believe it." "Oh, you don't? If you understand the case so well what is your remedy?" "I'm not the doctor, and, of course, if you say there is nothing wrong you have no remedy either. But there is one remedy that all the sufferers that I talk to seem to think would help them, and that is the free coinage of silver. Now, you tell me that free coinage would be very disastrous, and you have been threatening, or promis ing, for some time to tell me why. a m ready now to listen, if you will pro ceed. And if you will take your feet down off the table, I will concentrate my whole attention in trying to under stand you." "Very well, madam, down they go. The subject is simple enough, and I have no doubt with a little effort on your part you will be able to compre hend it all right. In the first place a silver dollar is a dishonest dollar." 11 What does that meant" "It means that it don't contain a dollar's worth of silver." "Why, when was that discovery made? I thought that the law said how much silver should be put in a dollar." " So it does. But the price of silver has gone down till now the silver in a dollar isn't worth over 50 cents." "I don't see how that is. Jf the law, says bo much silver shall be called a I dollar, don't that make it worth a dollar?" "Certainly not. The law can't make 50 cents worth 100 cents. There is 371 grains of silver in a dollar and that is worth in the market only about 50 cents. "Yes, but if the law says that 371 grains of silver may be coined into $1, don't that make it worth 100 cents? And yet you say it is only worth 50 cents. What do you mean by that?" "I mean that it is only worth 50 cents in gold." "How much gold does it take to be worth $1?" "About twenty-three grains." "How does that come?" "The law says so, that's Jiow it comes. -' ' "But the law also says that 371 grains of silver is worth $1, and you say it is worth only 50 cents." "I mean that twenty-three grains of gold before it is coined is worth 100 cents in the market, and 371 grains of silver before it is coined is worth only 50 cents in the market." "Why, then, did the government decide that 371 grains of silver was worth $1 if it was worth only 50 cents?" "At the time the law was made, that much silver was worth $1." "When was that law made?" "Over 100 years ago." "Did silver keep up in price all that time?" "It did till up to a few years ago." "What made the price go down then?" "Several of the nations of Europe stopped coining the metal and demon etized it, and in 1873, our own govern ment demonetized it." "What was the object in that? Didn't the people want it for money any longer?" "0, the people were not kicking any about it. Silver had been used as money for ages, and the people didn't know that they could get along with out it. But the bankers, money-loan-ers and bond-holders, those men who make a business of handling money, and who understand what money should be, and how much there should be of it, decided that it would be best to strike out silver and use gold alone as a basis." "They decided that it was best, you say. Do you mean best for the people or best for themselves?" "Why, best for the people, of course Anybody knows that it is not good for the people to have a cheap, dishonest dollar circulating among them when they might just as well have the best dollar, which is gold." "But if the people had always been using silver as money and were not ob jecting to it at the time, how did it happen that it became cheap and dis honest so suddenly?" "Can't you see that if silver was de monetized it would become cheap, and that when it becomes cheap a dollar that don't contain a dollar's worth of silver is dishonest?" "Well, perhaps it is because I am a woman I can't reason backwards. It takes a man to do that. You take the effect and claim it is the cause. You tell me that silver is cheap because it is demonetized, and then claim that it is dishonest because it is cheap. Maybe I don't understand you. Do you mean that 50 cents' worth of silver made a dollar before it was demonetized?" "No. It took 100 cents' worth of silver then to make a dollar." "Then there is nothinsr in what you 8 ay about silver being demonetized be cause it was cheap, and, of course, that doe 8 away with the excuse about its being dishonest. Why was it demone tized then, and why not have free coin age again?" "When you set your head to any thing, there is no use trying to reason you out of it. Would you want the United States government to coin 50 cents worth of silver and call it a dol lar?" "Would twenty-three grains of silver be worth $1 now if the United States should stop coining it and using it as money," "Yes, gold is worth that to use in the arts any place in the world. Twenty-three grains of gold is worth $1 to make into watch cases or gold rings or to fill teeth;'- "How much of the gold of the world is used for such purposes?" "About one-half." "What is it that makes the price of anything?" "The supply and demand, of course." "Very well. Suppose, then, that all the nations of the world should stop using gold as money, and all the gold in the world was thrown on the market to be used in filling teeth and in mak ing jewelry and such things, where would the price of gold go, then? Would twenty-three grains of gold be worth a dollar, then? The demand remains the same, the supply is doubled, twenty-three grains of gold would be worth 50 cents." "I don't see that you make any point by supposing such an improbable thing as that all the nations of the world should stop using gold as money." "It is very plain to me that if half the gold produced in the world is used as money and if that money use was suddenly stopped and all nations said that gold was not money and need not Ioe laxen in payment or debts, tnat tne price of gold would fall one-half at once. You will admit that, won t you?" "Certainly. That is according to the law of supply and demand. Stop half the uses of a commodity and you re duce the price one-half." "Then, you will have to admit that the reason twenty-three grains of gold is worth $1 the world over for filling teeth and making engagement rings is because one-half the gold is used as money." "I'll have to admit, Sophia, that you have reached a logical conclusion, for once. But. what has that to do with your pet scheme for helping the tramps by the free coinage of silver?" "It has this to do with it: You bring two charges against silver, that it is cheap and that it is dishonest. Now, if these charges are true, it is very clear to me that it is not the fault of silver, but it is the fault of the way silver has been treated. Heap as much unfriendly legislation on gold as there is on silver and twenty-three grains of gold would be worth only 50 cents in a short time." "I see, Sophia, if you were in con gress you would be in favor of taking 50 cents worth of silver and putting 50 cents worth of legislation in it and calling it a dollar. You are as bad as the wildest Populist." "No, Cicero, my plan would be to take 50 cents worth of legislation from off of the silver dollar and also take 50 cents worth of legislation from under the gold dollar and then turn them both loose to circulate on an equality among the people and give both dollars a chance to prove their honesty. I believe that old is up be cause legislation is holding it up and silver is down because legislation is holding it down." (To be continued.) A Chat With the Sisters. Editor Advocate: Can you give space for a little chat with the sisters? Scattered sisters, let us reason toeether: let us think and talk of the duties and responsibilities that devolve upon us in this hour when the cause of reform calls aloud for strong hands to work and brave hearts to make sacrifice. that it be not covered with the dust of ignorance and error for another cen tury. I fear some of us do not fully realize what this movement means, or we would try to do more. Let us not be indifferent because we cannot vote. There is much that we can. do. -We can have a great influence by manu facturing public sentiment; let us all go to work and do all we can. Let us have system and method and see what we can do by way of becoming better informed ourselves and helping others to reform ideas. I would suggest that as soon as the real hot weather is over we have meetings at the homes of the different women, as would be most convenient, and meet monthly or semi monthly, as would suit best, and dis cuss the leading political questions of the day, read something interesting and instructive from our reform papers, ask questions, express opinions and ad vance ideas. Invite all the sisters we can of the old time politics, and well, some of you will know just what to do; I cannot write it all, of course. Yes, yes, I understand just how much home work you have to do; how very busy you must be with the chil dren, and how tired you feel. I know all that, but, sisters, we have no greater duty to perform than this, and we must make some sacrifice now if we would make secure the future welfare of our loved ones. These things we should do if we let soms other things go undone. Little Bobbie can do without cake and jelly now, better than his children can do with out bread in the future. Gold is to be the God of Earth unless the people arise in their strength and say, "No, let us awake; our enemy is not asleep," but we can work in hope for God is our strength when we labor for the right. Let us each one order one or more copies of the book "The Dead Line," just out. We can loan it to friends and neighbors, and do some good in that way, perhaps. Send some of our papers to your friends sometimes. You can send two Advocates for 1 cent. Take as many reform papers as you can; do and say all you can always to encourage our workers, God bless them. Do all you can; you cannot do more than that. Read this very appro priate Quaker poem: What can I do, what can I do To help in the world u I go journeying The great, round world with Its oceana and isnus, The world that la asking for care at our hands, The old, old world, to each comer so new, What can I do? What can I do? What can I write, what shall I say To aid the next traveler coming this way, In the old, old path so many have gone And left kindly tokens to help us along? I wish to help others in just the same way ; So what shall I write, what shall I say? Do with thy strength, do with thy might The work that lies nearest 'twixt morning and night The talents entrusted thee strive to Increase, Lest they rust in thy coffers and rob thee of peace. The pathway of duty keep ever In sight, Then work with thy strength, work with thy might. Write what thou mayest say what thou must, A song for the weary, a prayer of trust. Whatever good earnestly done in thy day Must help the next traveler coming thy way. To the thirsty a drop, to the starving a crust. Give what thou mayest, leave It in trust L. W. W., in Friends Intelligencer and Journal Nellie F. Halx. Kcssville, Kas.