The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser., November 15, 1895, SUPPLEMENT, Image 3

About The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925

Image provided by: University of Maryland, College Park, MD

                
HOW DEPRECIATION WOULD WORK.
SMALL CHANGE.
It is a significant fact that in the
States where the largest number of
shilled workingmen are employed at
the highest wages, the agitation for
free silver met with no response. At
tempts were made by a few so-called
‘ ‘labor leaders” to create a sentiment
in favor of free coinage, but in every
case their efforts were fruitless.
That many of the farmers of the
United States are comparatively poor
is beyond question. Hundreds of
thousands of men are trying to get a
living out of inferior soil and are suf
fering from the competition of others
who are cultivating more fertile lands.
Under these circumstances the returns
for the labor of the former class are
very small, and there is naturally a dis
positon to welcome any new promise
of relief from a condition which is be
lieved to be in some way or other duo
to the action or neglect of the Govern
ment.
To these men, ignorant of the real
causes of their poverty, but dimly
feeling that the evils of which they
complained might be cured by laws of
some kind, came the demagogic agents
of the silver mine owners; the cheap
politicians seeking the spoils of office;
and the one-idead enthusiast who was
sure that the ills of poverty would
quickly disappear if only the country
was supplied with more and cheaper
money. Glowing word pictures were
painted of wealth in abundance for
all, as soon as a free coinage law
would be adopted and the mints set to
work grinding out a grist of silver
dollars. No promise was too extrava
gant for the men who talked of riches
without working for them, and in lit
erature and speeches cunningly com
posed of half-truths and whole false
hoods, a vision of unbounded prosper
ity was conjured up before each
farmer’s eyes.
But soon there came serious doubts
and questionings. The advocates of
sound money spread abroad literature
in which the free silver doctrine was
ridiculed as absurd, or denounced as
dangerous. It was pointed out that
merely cheapening the currency could
not increase the wealth of the coun
try, and that changing silver bullion
into coins would not make it easier
for farmers to get more of it. The
evil effects of tampering with the
measure of values on which the whole
business interests of the country rest
ed were clearly shown, and the results
of a policy which would cause another
financial panic given in plain language.
The men who had blindly swallowed
the free coinage mixture became
alarmed. They began to ask: “Is
it not possible that we are mistaken ?
Will free silver really do what we have
been told about it? Have we been
deluded by the cheap money advo
cates?” The answers to these ques
tions settled the free coinage agitation
in so far as it seriously threatened to
be the controlling political issue.
Once the farmers refused to accept
the silver gospel on faith, the cause of
the silverites was lost.
Farmers’ Significant Vets.
Tbe annual convention of the Amer
ican Bankers’ Association, which be
gan in Atlanta yesterday, will, of
course, have National interest, and
possibly importance. But so far as the
silver question is concerned the bank
ers can hope to say nothing more
forcible than was said by the farmers
assembled in National congress in the
same city on Monday last, when they
voted down a 16 to 1 free coinage res
olution by a majority of 147, and
clinched their action later in the day
by rejecting a resolution in opposition
to the further issue of bonds. —Phila-
delphia Record.
Little Tee Wee.
Little Tee Wee,
He went to sea
In im open boat;
And while a (lost
The boat bended.
My story's ended.
SXJt'PLEMENT TO THE IPRITsTCK GEORGES ENQUIRER, UPPER MARLBORO, MO.
COST OF BAD MONEY
Falls on Wage Earners Because
Prices Klse Faster Thau Wages.
Mr. Edward Atkinson has contribu
ted to Harper’s Weekly an article ex
hibiting the effect of %a depreciated
currency upon the working classes and
people of small means. It consists of
deductions from tbe experience of the
country during the paper money
regime. The first thing shown is the
fact well known to all who remember
that period, or have familiarized them
selves with it, that wages did not rise
so promptly as the prices of commodi
ties, The average for seven years
after the introduction of the legal
tender notes shows an increase of
wages of 35.9 per cent, and an increase
in general prices of 71 per cent. This
amounts to much the same thing as a
reduction of nearly one-third in wages.
No fact is better understood by all
who have even a slight acquaintance
with financial history than that wages
advance less rapidly than prices, and
legislation which reduces the purchas
ing power of money therefore falls
heavily upon nine-tenths of the popu
lation. At a later period wages rose,
but that was when the paper dollar
was “appreciating” in value according
to the common phrase. The silver
and other cheap money men canuot be
expected to understand this, bat it is
the fact.
After allowing for the increased
taxation to which the Government was
obliged to resort, Mr. Atkinson con
cludes that about a billion dollars a
year for seven years, 1862 to 1869, was
transferred from the many who live on
wages to the few who live on profits by
this redaction in the purchasing power
of the dollar. It is this perfectly well
established eflect of a reduction in the
money unit upon wage receivers that
makes tbe clamor of portions of the
working classes in this country for the
silver instead of the gold dollar in
comprehensible. The working classes
of Europe know better than this; in
Germany they have openly opposed
any attack upon tbe gold standard;
in both England and Germany the sil
ver men, who are the only international
bimetalists, are nobles and great land
owners.
Mr. Atkinson also figures reasona
bly enough that the cost of tbe war
was increased a billion dollars by the
depreciation of tbe dollar, and the in
terest upon that increased cost has
amounted to a billion dollars. Proba
bly both of these estimates are too
low. The purchases of the Govern
ment were especially large at the time
when the dollar was most depreciated.
Mr. Atkinson gives his reasons for
believing that for a term of years the
depreciation of the greenback amount
ed to a tax of forty dollars upon every
man, woman and child, or $l2O annu
ally upon every bread winner.
He is quite justified in suggesting
that the foundations or many of the
great fortunes that now worry the
Populists and the Socialists were laid
by the depreciation of the currency
in the war period and the transfer to
profits of an immense amount of the
National production which wonld
otherwise have gone to wages. Yet
these Populists and Socialists are de
termined to bring about another and
a much more sudden depreciation of
the monqy unit,—New York Journal
of Commerce.
Poor Man Always Gets Le!t.
Q. The free coinage men say free
silver would benefit the poor man
more than it would the capitalist?
A. That isn’t so. If property goes
np in price the mau having most of it
will benefit most, the mat having lit
tle will benefit little, and the man
having nothing will not benefit at all.
The same is true of silver as of any
other property. Bat it might not
hurt them as bad as it would some
capitalists. —Merchant.
Uncle Sam’s White Elephant.
Mr. Carlisle in his Boston speech
showed that since resumption we have
paid $331,000,000 in order to keep
our $346,000,000 of greenbacks in
circulation. When they shall be re
deemed they will have cot $377,000,-
000. Are we not paying dearly for
the legal tender experiment? It
added vastly to the expense of putting
down the rebellion, aud is likely to
prove as burdensome during peace as
during war.
The Smith’s Worst Enemy.
“I know of no more effective way of
crippling the South and its industries
than for our people to clamor for the
payment of debts already contracted
and hereafter to be contracted in de
preciated silver dollars.”—lion. Hil
ary A. Herbert.
Speech is silver, and both are pretty
cheap just now.
WAMPUM CURRENCY,
Ridiculous Attempts of New Nether
lands Law Makers to Prevent
Depreciation—Lessons for Popu
lists Who Have Brought the “Be
It Enacted” Farce Up to Date;
History is replete -with lessons of
the evils of depreciated or bad money.
If they were familiar to oar voters
there wonld be no cheap money states
men in this country. The lessons to
be learned from the use of wampum
(also called wampumpeag or peag), the
earliest money used in this country,
cover practically every phase of the
16 to 1 silver question now disturbing
millions of minds of honest voters.
Wampum was the currency in use
among the more civilized Indians
found on the coasts of Long Island
Sound by our first settlers. It con
sisted of either white beads, made
from the ends of a periwinkle shell, or
black beads, made from clam shells,
and after being polished artistically,
arranged in strings or belts. One
black was worth two white beads.
These beads not only had real value
among the Indians, but in their sim
ple life made a perfect currency and
gave evidence of the superiority
of these particular Indians. Wam
pum was early adopted by
the colonists and soon be
came the prevailing currency. In a
few years ‘‘Smart Alecks" among the
whites began to counterfeit wampum
by leaving the beads unpolished or
unpierced or by making them of bone,
horn, glass and even of wood. Both
because of this depreciation and the
need of the colonists (who were more
civilized, had greater divison of labor
and who wished a currency that coaid
be exported) for better money, wam
pum lost its place as money m the dif
ferent colonies between the years ’650
and 1700. It continued longer iu use
in New Amsterdam (Hudson River
Valley, including New Jersey and Long
Island) than in other colonies, and it
is to the strenuous but humorous ef
forts of the lawmakers of this colony
to prevent the inevitable that we now
wisl to call especial attention.
Mr. Simon W. Rosendale, of Al
bany New York, has recently pub
lishec “The Involution of Wampum as
Cnrreicy.” It consists almost entire
ly of ‘Ordinances of the Director and
Connci.ofNew Netherlands regulat
ing the Jurrency of Wampum.” The
first (in 611) begins :
“Whetjas, Very bad wampum is at
present ci-culated here, and payment
is made n nothing but rough, un
polished stiff, which is brought hith
er from plaes where it is 50 per cent,
cheaper tha it is paid out here, and
the good, piJisbed wampum, common
ly called Manhattan Wampum, is
wholly put ot of sight or exported,
which tends t the express ruin and
destruction ofthis country; in order
to provide in rtme therefor, we do,
therefore, for he public good, inter
dict and forbid all persons of what
state, quality, >r condition soever
they may be, to eceive in payment,
or to pay out, ay unpolished wam
pum during the nst month of May,
except at five ft- one stiver (one
English penny), an that strung, and
then, alter that, ix beads for one
stiver. Whosoever hall be found to
have acted contrar hereunto shall
provisionally forfeit the wampum
which is paid out and go guilders for
the poor, and both p%ar and payee
are alike liable. Th well-polished
wampum shall its price as
before, to wit; Four it o ne stiver,
provided it tys strung.”
In 1647 a resolutioi permitting 1
loose wampum to citoahe, but de- :
daring that all impend beads !
should be accepted only a bullion, 1
was passed.
Oa May 30, 1650, owin to de- 1
predation, it was solemnly leolared ’
that “henceforward no moj loose (
wampum shall be current or god pay 1
unless it be strang on a cord.’\ ever . i
theless “to establish soma dit re nce 6
between the commercial wap am t
and strung wampum, so as iu itnre 1
to avoid all misunderstanding,” . er y t
one, under penalty of confiscate Q f (
his trade or business, was commai e d
to accept six white or three
commercial or eight white and f lr
black of “poor strung wampum” T
one stiver. ]
On September 14, 1650, it was d (
dared that their previous ordinanc c
was not being observed or obeyed. 1
They commanded every one underi
penalty of “stoppage for his trade or
business" to accept the poor strung
wampum at the rates fixed.
On January 3, 1657, the good Coun
cil again regretted the “intolerable
dearness of all sorts of commodities
and household supplies, the prices of
which are enhanced from time to time,
principally, among other causes, in
consequence of the high price of
beaver and other peltries in this coun
try beyond the value, which, by rea
son of the great abundance of wam
pum, is advanced to ten, eleven and
twelve guilders for one beaver; and
wampum being for want of silver and
gold coin as yet the most general and
common currency between man and
man.” They said that because brewers,
bakers, grocers, etc., “make a differ
ence of 30, 40 or 50 per cent, when
they sell their wares for wampum or
for beaver,” that “the superior and
inferior magistrates of this Province
are blamed, abased and cursed by
strangers aud inhabitants, and the
country generally receives a bad name,
while some greedy people do not hesi
tate to sell the most necessary eata
bles aud drinkables, according to their
insatiable avari.ee, viz. : the can of
vinegar at 18 a 20 stivers; the can of
oil at 4 a 5 guilders; the can of
French wine at 40 a 4-5 stivers; the
gill of brandy at 15 stivers, end two
quarts of home-brewed beer, far above
its price, at 14 a 15 stivers, etc.,which
the greater number endeavor to, ex
cuse on the ground that they lose a
great deal in the counting of the wam
pum, that it is partly short aud partly
long; that they must give 11 al2 and
more guilders before they can convert
the wampum into beaver.” Prices
were again fixed firmly under heavy
penalties and the ordinance was pub
lished publicly.
In November, 1658, we find the
Council again “kicking itself” be
cause,in defiance of all its former ordi
nances, wampum had declined until
it took 16 guilders to equal 1 beaver,
and shopkeepers, brewers, bakers, etc.,
were so avaricious and harsh that they
made “a difference of 80, 90, yea 100
percent.,” between the beaver and
the wampum prices of their wares.
“To prevent the altogether too great
clamor and complaint of dearness,’’
prices of “the most necessary articles,
it such as bread, beer and wine,” were
- once more solemnly and unalterably
e fixed in silver, beaver and wampum.
The tun of small beer:
f Threa guilders in silver.
. Four and one-half guilders in
! beaver.
Six guilders in wampum.
In spite of the good intentions of
i the Director and Council and of their
a severe laws, they declared, on Deoem
. ber 28, 1662, that wampum had depre
e ciated “to the degree that 20, yea,
; even by some 24, guilders, are now
dinarily paid for one beaver.” Never
i theless they proceeded to fix ratios and
> prices in away that would do credit
I to a modern “pop” convention.
It did not dawn upon the minds of
5 our forefathers that wampum was de
■ predating in value because it was be
ing produced more and more cheaply
and because it was becoming, as com
pared with beaver and silver, a poor
standard of value, unfitted for our
s renoy in the growing and trading
colonies. They thought to stay
I natural with artificial laws.
r We have but to substitute silver for
■ wampum aud gold for beaver and we
r bring the “be-it-enaoted” farce up
■ to date.
l All of the long-haired and ahort
i witted statesmen that ever assembled
i cannot, for any great length of time,
■ force a depreciated and unpopular
currency upon a civilized country,
i
! HOLDER STAGE OF CIVILIZATION.
Since man become a trading animal
and had gumption enough to appre
ciate the advantages of money over
barter, the form of currency has
everywhere been an indication of the
degree of civilization attained. In
the hunting stage skins and fors, and
sometimes shells, beads and other
substitutes for jewelry were used ns
currency. In the pastoral stage sheep
and cattle were the usual, with tusks
and perhaps slaves the unusual,
forms of currency. In the agricul
tural stage, wheat, barley, Indian
corn, olive oil, tobacco, sugar, giuger,
eggs, dried codfish, were some of the
products used as currency at different
times and places. Cotton cloth, straw
mats, salt, beeswax, haud-mado nails
have each served as currency.
By evolution and progress the use
of each of these commodities as cur
rency has been discarded. It was
found that each lacked some essential
quality for use as money. Some ware
perishable; others too bulky and hard
to transport; others could not be
easily divided for the purpose of mak
ing “change;” others ware not uni
form in size; others were easily coun
terfeited ; and nearly all lacked stabil
ity of value.
The metals being peculiarly adapted
for use as currency most civilized or
half-civilized Nations early recognized
these advantages aud made money of
metals. Iron, lead, tin, copper,
platinum, nickel, silver and gold have
each served as money, especially
among manufactnring and commer
cial Nations. The civilized Nations
[ have practically abandoned the use of
all bat silver and 1 the most
highly civilized ctWtos have dia
carded, or are discarding, the use of
silver, except for subsidiary coinage.
Qold is undoubtedly the best fitted
of all metals for monetary purposes.
It is for this reason that it has sur
vived as money and has become the
standard of value in all leading com
mercial Nations. We are now in the
golden stage of civilization and have
as surely passed the silver stage as we
have the agricultural and pastoral
stages. Those who are trying to pre
vent the completion of this process of
evolution are unnecessarily wasting
nerve tissue. They should read what
the Darwins aud Huxleys, who have
studied the history of money, have to
say and they will dream less about
“gold bugs” aud “Wall street” and
enjoy better health and make better
citizens of the modern world.
Pestiferous Intermeddling.
The advocates of free silver are
pressing for legislation to compel the
acceptance of silver, not by those who
do want it—no law is necessary for
that—but by those who do not want
it; and this at the importunity, not of
■hose who prefer silver, but of those
ho, having it, or thinking they can
rocure it cheaply, wish to be enabled
T law to force it upon others who
Sther have it nor want it. This
i s ms to me the most pestiferous in-
possible.—Hon. John
"Vitt Warner.
■
T ree Silver’s “Ideal” Dollar.
free silver men have invented
that deal” dollar, of which it will
requu only a few for what we have
to hnjbtU of which wa can get a
great f or wa }j aVd to 80 n,
If free c aa^e doesn’t redoes the pur
chasing )VVeP an( j increase the debt
paying 0 f the dollar, oue p ar t
.*“ 3 . ac *hates will be disappointed.
If it does 'that, others of its advocates
will not g. w hat they want; it cer
tainly woun Qra ont to be the worst
i “boomeraa, a sane people ever han
dled.—Merest
When the o j, s Degin to Move.
It seems the t. t ijet people act thet
trouble 3 lu e a j r
For all the big n- 3 ( a3e3 i ook jf they
had a scare!
But father says it i 0 us? fe _ j 0 gQ
, glum,
; Fjr *' a3a • ';“£ -into move
ifak <
Thin - .
' U;
' Thay talk about the sib era ,, 3n - sker3itJ
' of coin
■ And wonder if there isn\ ma .. partv .,
thay kiujoml 1 ■
But father sez it seems t._ „ , ,
going dumb, m tho P e °P lQ 3
Fer when the crons bogia L.
’Twill W
Make
Things
Hum!
1 An’ father sez the feilars thc.„, .. . .
else ta do BOthm
But set around and talk an’ ta , ...
the: don’t came true. m thm S*
Had better go: a move <>u them a. , ,
“kingdom come.’ looK fot
Fer when the crops begin to movo
Twill
i i Make
Things
Hum!
Olathe Ui.
EXPENSIVE GREENBACKS.
Secretary Carlisle Shows That They
Are Neither Cheap Nor Kfflcleat
as Honey.
An impression exists, even in the
minds of many who do not call them*
selves Populists, that United States
notes, known as “greenbacks,” form
a cheap and almost ideal currency.
They are not only very costly but
there are many evils and dangers con
nected with their use as currency. In
fact the opinion is becoming general
among our financial experts and
students that this country will have
no financial repose until the green
backs are retired. The Secretary of
the Treasury is compelled by law to
redeem these notes whenever presented
in “coin”—either gold or silver as
demanded. He can not then cancel
them but must re-issue them as often
as they are presented. They thus be
come a siphon for drawing gold out of
°ur Treasury and are undoubtedly
partly responsible for more than one
panic and financial scare. It is to re
deem them that we maintain a reserve
of $100,000,000 in gold—held idle
and useless except for this purpose.
In his speech at Boston, Mass., on
October 12th, Secretary Carlisle sum
marized some of the items of cost of
maintaining our greenback currency
as follows:
“The losses already sustained on this
account are almost beyond computa
tion, and there is no good reason to
believe that the country can escape
further injury in the future if the
policy of the Government is unchanged
in this respect. The fact that the
soundness of our currency depends, or
is supposed to depend, upon the
maintenance of a certain fixed reserve
in the Treasury keeps the business of
country in an almost constant state of
agitation and alarm, and is, from
every point of view, detrimental to
the interest of the people.
“I will not take the time this
evening to discuss the various plans
that have been suggested for the re
tirement and cancellation of the old
United States notes and the Treasury
notes, my only purpose now being to
assist in directing public attention to
the subject and to express the decided
opinion that this element of weakness
must be eliminated from our system
before we can have any positive assur
ance of permanent safety.
“After the experience of the last
three years it seems almost incredible
that a proposition to retire these notes
should encounter serions opposition,
though there is, of course, room for
wide difference of opinion as to the
manner in which it shall be accom
plished and as to the character of the
currency that shall be substituted for
them.
“It is sometimes said that, although
these notes constitute a part of the
public debt, they bear no interest, and
are therefore the cheapest form of
currency that can be provided for the
use of the people. A very brief state
ment of the facts will be sufficient to
show how erroneous this conclusion
is, and that the United Stai es note is
the most expensive form of currency
that the people can have.
COST OF PRODUCING SILVER.
An excellent series of articles on the
currency question have recently ap
peared in the Charlotte (N. C.) Ob
server, over the signature “Mer
chant.” We extract the following:
Q. What is the cost of mining silver
per ounce?
A. It is impossible to telL It varies j
from, say, 12} cents an ounce in the (
most product ive mines up to the mar- ,
ket value of silver. Of course, when
the price falls below the cost of prodno- ,
tion, an unprofitable mine will shut ,
down.
Q. If the whole world agreed to free
coinage of silver at 16 to 1, could the '
ratio be maintained ?
A. I don’t believe that ratio could
be long maintained, even by the com
bined Nations of the whole world. .
Q. Why not?
A. Because with tne improved
methods of mining, new inventions
for extracting the silver from much
ore that now doesn’t pay to mine, and ,
the incentive to the industry furnished ,
by the increased price, new mines \
would be opened; those that have (
been abandoned because of poor ore \
would be worked again, and it prob \
ably would be only a question of time
when the world’s pronotion at $1.29 j
an ounce (16 to 1) would be more than (
the whole world combined coaid main
tain in its currency on a par with (
gold. The more of any article pro- ,
duced, the greater supply of that j
article, and hence the lower its price. (
Now, men will continue to produce a .
thing so long as there is a profit in it.
But as their continued production
causes a fall in price, the profit grad
ually becomes less and less, so that
when the '.price reaches a point only a
little above the cost of production, it
ceases to be profitable and men turn
their productive forces into other
channels. So in our experience with
silver. The increase in production
caused a gradual fall in price, yet
production continued to increase un
till the price fell to its present mark,
showing that there is a profit in silver
mining even at its present low price;
or, in other words, that the actual
value of silver is not nearly so great as
used to be supposed.
Q. But you only speak of the supply
of silver. Would not a free coinage
law enlarge &he demand for silver so
as to equalize things?
A. I suppose if some insane million
aire advertised for an unlimited num
ber of 2-cent stamps at 3 cents apiece
it would increase the demand for 2-cent
stamps; but unless the postoffice
ceased to issue those stamps in a very
great hurry, your millionaire’s ad
vertisement would soon disappear, for
the reason that he wouldn’t have
money enough to pay for its insertion
in the papers. And so, if Congress
advertised for unlimited quantities of
50 or 60 cents’ worth of silver, to be
paid for with a dollar os good as a
gold dollar, I suppose the demand for
silver would be increased. But unless
the cost of- production at the silver
mines of the entire world gave a <
miraculous leap—and in an advanced
stage of civilization the real cost of
producing any commodity rarely in
creases—Uncle Sam would “go broke”
before the people had a chance to
oust their foolish representatives.
ha
TRYING NEW SCHEMES.
Disappointed Silverltes Want A Gfcn
| oral Commodity Standard.
The best proof that the sizteen-to
one shoaters realize that they are
5 beaten, is found in their recent advo
• cacy of new plans of finance, which
i they offer as a substitute for their or
-1 iffinal free coinage scheme. Thus the
Philadelphia Manufacturer, a strong
t free-silver paper, devotes considerable
of its space to an exposition of what
> it calls “a multiple standard of value. ”
1 This is a proposition that a commis
-1 sion appointsd by Oongress should
1 select a large number, say, one hun
dred, of commodities to be used as the
standard by which all wealth should
be measured. On this basis the Gov
ernment should, then issue a large
volume of legal tender notes, redeem
able in any commodity at its current
market price. This money would be
loaned out by the Government on
State, county and city bonds, ware
house receipts, first class commercial
paper, etc.
That such absurd paternalistic cur
rency schemes should be put forward
in good faith, is another evidence that
the silverites are logically the party of
fiat money, greenbackism, and all
other financial heresies. Except in
regard to the commodity standard the
plan quoted by the Manufacturer does
not differ much from the aub-Treasnry
project of the Populists. It is not as
sensible as Ooxey’s proposal to issue
$500,000,000 to be expended in build
ing good roads, since the country
would at least have the benefit of the
improved roads.
It is hardly worth while to point out
the defects of an “everything” stand
ard. The advantages of a single
standard by which to measure wealth
are as self-evident as those of a single
unit of length, weight, etc. The ex
perience of many countries for hun
dreds of years has shown that for the
needs of the world’s business the use
of but one standard is practicable. As
nearly all the commercial Nations use
the gold standard, and as the people
of the United States show no desire to
adopt the cheaper silver standard, it
is not at all likely that there will in
the future be auy departure from the
basis of our present system. There
will always be faddistswith patch-work
schemes for tinkering with the cur
rency by the Government, but the
sound common sense of the people
may be relied on to reject all such
forms of paternalistic meddling with
business interests.
WHY PROSPERITY RETURNED.
“Fortunately for this country the
effects of the panic of 1893 are rapidly
passing away. Money has begun to
flow again in its accustomed channels.
Wheat has risen in price, cotton has
risen in price, iron has risen in price,
industries are reopening everywhere,
wages are increasing, and all this
comes from the fact that the capital
ists of this country who are shrewd,
far-seeing and who watch with keen
eye the doings of every political con
vention have come to the conclusion
that the free silver sentiment in the
United States is not strong enough
and not powerful enough to force this
country to a silver basis.
“They understand that there is no
free silver sentiment in the East, none
in New England, none in New York,
none in' Maryland, New Jersey, Dela
ware or Pennsylvania.
“They see that Republicans and
Democrats in the State of Ohio hare 11
pronounced against free silver; that 1
Republicans and Democrats in the 1
State of Kentucky have pronounced I
against free silver;. that only part of t
the Democrats in the other States of *
the West and South are for free silver, t
and they are confident, as I am, that t
the people of the United States, what
ever else may happen, will in 1896
prononnce for the continuance of
sound money, for the parity with gold a
of every dollar of silver and of paper i
now afloat or to be floated in the i
United States.”—Hon. Hilary Her- r
bert, at Montgomery, Ala. t
The Giant Masculine Intellect.
Mr. Wickwire— “Explain the silver c
question? Certainly, my dear. It \
really resolves itself into two proposi- j,
tions. One crowd wants the man who D
owes a dollar to pay two dollars, and
the other thinks he ought to only pay
fifty cents. ” 0
Mrs.Wickwire—“But whysbouldn’t £
they make it so that be who owes a a
dollar pays a dollar?” a
Mr. Wickwire—“Because in that
case no one would make any extra
money. Ana still the women think tl
they know something of the science fi
of Government. You make me tired.” g
—lndianapolis Journal. t<
USCLE SAM’S HOODOO.
Uncle Sam— “Whenever I carry that silver dollar as a luckv piece I doa’t
ave no luck at all.” ' *
AN UNSOUND EGG ARGUMENT*
The 16 to 1 people tell us that tbs*
coinage of silver will create unlimited
demand for it. They decline to give
us the howness or the whereforness of
. this new-born demand, but with child*
like faith, they expect it to rise in all
its beauty, as the fabled Venus rose
from the froth of the sea. They say
the demand will come, so the Seventh
Day Adventists tell us the end will
come, and if their picnic comes off,
first, they will not need silver; the de
mand will bo for free and unlimited
water. They contend, if this Govern*
meat takes all the silver that comev.
at 16 to 1, silver will be worth par all
over the world, and they use an egg
argument to prove it. They say, if a
merchant advertises that he will pay
swenty-five cents per dozen for eggs;
to long as he has the ability to taka
all that come, eggs will be worth,
twenty-five cents in all that country.
But suppose the merchant did not taka
them! Suppose when a farmer drove
up to his store the merchant said on
to him: “My friend, you have mis
understood me. lam not baying eggs,
I am simply counting them, certifying
that they are good and handing them
back to you.” What would aggs then
be worth ? The same old ten or fifteen
cents per dozen. Under unlimited
coinage the Government would not
buy silver, nor guarantee the value of
the coins. It would stamp it “with
out recourse.” Silver would coma
from every country in the world, and
the Government would be a fool to
undertake to guarantee the value of
the coins by trying to preserve tha
parity between the metals. If a herder
drove a lot of cow ponies through tha
mint and they were branded “SIOO
horse” and delivered to the owner afe
.the other end of the building, it would
not improve the breed of the ponies
nor create a wild demand for them mt
the brand price. Our Government has
lost $200,000,000 trying to create de
mand for silver, for the sole and sep
arate use, behoof, and benefit of tha
silver mine owner, by buying it when
it did not want it and had no need of
it; and the silver-mining “villain still
pursues” it I Uncle Sam has this sil- *
ver on hand now. It would load s ,
two-horse wagon train 173 miles long,
patting 1000 pounds on each wagon
and letting them occupy 30 feet each
in line; and I am mean enough to
want to see him get even with the
game before we start a new deal for
anybody’s benefit.—Hon. Geo. N. Al
dridge before American Banker’s As
sociation, October 16, 1893.
Called Down.
Dlckery, dlotery, dare,
The pig flew up In the alt-
The man In brown
Soon brought him down,
Dlokery, dlekery, dare.
One Thousand Dollars Reward.
If 'the National Democratic party*
were to offer a reward of SIOOO for a
free silver Democrat who ever got up •
before an audience and asserted that
prices would never be higher ntil
the free coinage of silver was re-en
acted he could hardly be found. Now
they all deny it, from the least of them,
to the greatest.—Rockdale Banner.
Opinion of a Philosopher.
Uncle Ned—“l don’t adzactly know
all de vantages of free silver, bat if
it’s free, what more does I wan ter
know? An’ dat word ‘onlimited’—hit
mean plenty for ever’body, an’ plenty
to spare!"—The Geld Bug.
Only a Free Sliver Soliloquy.
An exchange publishes a long arti
cle entitled “How It Feels to Die. 1 *
We have not read it, bat presume it
is a soliloquy of the free silver move
ment.—Atlanta Journal.
Senator Mills is the last prominent
man to leave the sinking silver ship.
But Peffer and Blackburn are still left*
ind mean to stay on the horning dank*
after all bat them have fled.
The Savannah News states the eass
;hns clearly and tersely; “The dead
ree silver movement will be buried is
frava clothes made of eight-cent cot
on. ”