bbpublican party.
M
■If
COUNTRY
OKPBNDINQ ITS RECORD.
•»*» i S, : ( ' ') '
b I awfli of IDitl Valid
■ WkhiH Brran Win — Wlnr
W»« _ It Rmdlai—Tha Slim 871
■■ dlnta
A
The condition of Mexico la naturally
attracting a good deal of attention,
feoifc the fact that it la on a free-silver,
■ v SO^ent dollar baala. Ita example la,
however, of very little Importance as
an Object lesson for the United 8tates,
tor.-j.4he reason that other factors of
mnch more potency enter Into the case
to determine the real condition. Still,
|t la pertinent to Inquire Into the facts,
from making an argument for or
pgafnst any particular theory of
*M*ey.
i Whether one concludes that Mexl
I'.' Jo Is prosperous or not depends alto
■ethdr from one's point of view. So
far jsa concerns business men, those,
whether foreign or native, who 1 ->ve
taterprise and capital. Mexico Is pros
. ■■ ■ ,
&*' -I . /
It 1] wholly Immaterial to those poor
people whether Mexico la on a silver or
a gold basis. They themselves • f-n
a copper basis,.and are bounv *.»y
there until their general plane o' c'
zation Is raised. To hold up Mexico
aa a model for America, or as an ex
ample in any point of'view, is simply
preposterous.
Another reason why Mexico can fur
nish no criterion by which to judge a
monetary System is that the mouey
metals are the great staples of pro
duction in that country, except as agri
cultural products are raised for do
mestic use. The gold yield is much
larger than statistics indicate, for the
reason that there Is a tax on the out
put of both gold and silver. There is
not much attempt to smuggle out the
silver—It is too bulky—but a great part
of the gold produced escapes taxation,
and, In escaping taxation, eludes the
statisticians. There is supposed to be
¥5,000,000 in gold in the country and
ten times that amount in silver money.
There Is more than that amount of
each metal produced annually. The
statistics of 1894 gave the gold output
ss (4,500,000. The actual amount must
have been at least (6,000,000. The sil
ver output was (60,817,300, about three
times as much as all Europe, Asia and
Africa produce. To go' to Mexico for
lessons in finance is much like what it
would be to study the!.- peon hovels for
models of workingmen’s homes.—Chi
cago Inter Ocean.
Silver Ware Xm«dln|. ‘
Indications are growing stronger
every day that the silver craze has
reached high water mark, and, that the
wave is receding. From all over the
country the testlmoney is the same,
and It is particularly applicable to the |
silver mines who are supporting the
free-colnage newspapers, distributing
tree-coinage literature, paying the sal
aries of free-coinage stump spestivers
and “backing” tree-coinage candidates.
Are they doing it for the good erf the
country or for the money there-Is in it
for themselves? Do men go intobpeta
latlohs that promise 100 per cent profits
out of philanthropy or out of greed for
dollars? Will the people who have al
lowed themselves to be imposed upon
by these silver kings persist in a
scheme to add millions on millions to
the enormous fortunes of a few score
men by depriving the plain people of
half the value of their savings and
their wages?
The only people in this country who
could profit by the free and unlimited
coinage of silver would be the owners
of mines, bankrupts who. wish to re
pudiate their debts and speculators in
.the returns of the men who toil for
their bread. If this nation ever should
sink to the level of a sliver basis the
workingman would not be able to lift
hie head for a generation to come, the
farmer would plunge deeply Into debt
because the working classes, who are
the greatest consumers of farm pro
mote, would have their purchasing
power cat in half, and this whole coun
try would become the victim of the
money sharks of the world. . *,
But the American people wi)l not
commit so foolish, so outrageous, so
criminal an act as to vote half of theli
own belongings into the pockets ol
rapacious and unconscionabla - stive/
kings.—New York Press. * .
' — IP. * '
«Joh«** r«t|! AilnUiloa. f
,;Mr. William PfSt. John of New York,
m able and persistent advocate of th«
‘free coinage of silver, while testifying
I HIS CURIOUS
WAY OF SHOWINO IT.
JS
*ROM CHICAGO INTER QCBAH;
' •• - * ? •>
,a v- • • ■« ;/&■■■, :■ ’■■:>. y >,:fe -
•;sv- v :i. v ;
ftl OUR Af FAIRS.
t; *
16
Pjpus, It has vast resources of gold
•w and no end, hardly, of good
land. The Industrial class are fairly
■trious and never think of strlk
They work long hours and axe
i more contented with their wages
■ onr. laborers, skilled or aOsUiUd.
% government to stabto. The peo
llar Unrest aqd chronic state of,
flutlqn.ar.hlcn prevailed prior to the
jilnlstrattoa, ,qt that truly great
nan, Juares, no longer * corses-*
Nand. The term “Mexloantaei''? m<
lerly used, ought to be blotted from
language. It 1s positively slander*
Not only 1s there pesos at home.
Mexican credit to good abroad,
{national debt is being paid, tnter
nd principal, In gold. No advun
to taken or creditors to force a
, dated silver currency upon them,
repeat that from a business man's
ft of view Mexico le prosperous,
iiy so; *■;6 -fl *
h
t when viewed from the stand
of the people their oondltlon and
'unities, It la altogether different
great mass of the people are sb
' poerand wholly Illiterate'. Their
"umntantmenl la due to their Ignorance
f to the fact that they and their
ira never knew any better con
on. The climate is mild and their
lute necessities are few. The best
„ Id labor, the labor In mines, towns
*£nd factories, does not command over
jwne-half the pay common on this aide
jbf the Une, and that, too, in d*S5-cent
^dollar. The agricultural labor la natd
pbout one-quarter the United atftee'
'gate, besides the depreciation of the
"money. A cltlten of the United States,
, Accustomed to our ways of living, mm,
hardly conceive the abjectnesa of the
poverty of the peons, the daas which
does about all the work of every tctmt
and constitutes at least 90 per cent, of
the people. They have nothing in the
way of clothes except the rags on their
hacks, live mostly on beans and a
vile native coffee, their only luxury
being a klnd of liquor worse than
barrel-house whisky, and on which one
can get beastly drunk for a few cents.
Their houses are like pig pens, no such
things as bedsteads er chairs frotqg
fiennd In them. A few descendants of
*he Spanish grandees have great
oetates and are very rich, while the
peas*; attached to them by a system of
.practical serfdom, get less actual share
lip the profits of the land they work
thaa did the plantation negroes of the
4potton belt before tke-war. ; ^
" P0r i
western states. The argentifefpus en
thusiasm that aroused Colorado, for
Instance, to a high pitch has percepti
bly declined, and there are not'a few
.republicans In that state who are
sanguine that it wilt-b» carried for
1 McKinley and Hobart.-.-;- ■€•
Kansas It is theaarae*way. There
Is no defection among tire republicans
of the Sunflower state, who are well
organised and are showing a compact
■and ngg^ksaltri front to the *nemy.
f The republican,newspapers of the state,
without exception, are supporting the
notional ticket most enthusiastically,
end this is of itself a tower of strength
to the cause. Kansas has not ftfrgotten
the glorious traditions of the past, and
| can be relied upon In the crisis now be
fore the country to cast her vote on the
side of prosperity and nattonar honor.
From Nebraska, the home of-Candi
date Bryan, Who 1« how swinging
’round the circle, the word goes forth
that the republicans of that common
wealth will not be satisfied with less
than 15,00* majority for McKinley.
They know Bryan there, and all that
he stand* tor. and age eager to register
their opinion at the poUa. Missouri,
too, Is lining up for the battle for sound
| money, and every day eeea new ac
cessions to the ranks of national
' In fact, the aim* story come*, from
all over tk« country, and the Bryan
managers are perceptibly alarmed.
They are making herculean efforts to
bring about a display of enthusiasm, i
and the tour of the “boy orator"
through the east has been arranged
in the hope that his presence may
arouse his followers to a seiqblahce of
life. So tar the indications'are that,
the plan will not be a brilliant suc
cess. All the glittering ‘generalities
that Mr. Bryan can find among his
book of quotations, together With his
latest stock of “new and pleasing
metaphors," cannot swerve the people
from their purpose to give the advo
cates of financial heresy a Mating les
son.—Kansas City- Journal. 4 * ^ *. ♦
Tfc* Silver SjrdlMto. t '
Hie New York Press gives to-day an
other chapter of the great speculation
of the Silver Mine Owners' Syndicate.
This tree-coinage movement had its ori
gin with these silver kings, who wish
to sell their white metal for twice what
it is worth in any market in the world.
It M financed by men who, already
enormously rich, hope to double their
vast fortunes. It is the owners of
. ! v’ »'* '*■ ■ .f :f -- A. - v V& i \ 4'
in 1894 before the house committee oi
banking and currency, outlined a toll!
for free coinage which provided "tha‘
the silver dollar now existing shall b<
colnable without limit in amount on
producing the bullion for it, and on the
Bame terms now prescribed for gold."
In answer to the direct question
“Would your theory put the coiintry on
a silver basis?” he replied: “Momen
tarily it might I think it would im
mediately.” He was then asked: "How
long would that condition prevail?” He
answered: "I would not predict the
achievement of actual bimetallism in
the United States under the bill earliei
than two years) that is, two years al
the outside. I should expect it earliei
If conditions now existing abroad—ex
isting outside of* France^—prevailt
would expect it to be accomplished
within one year.” - »»
Bampla ObJ.ct Luna la Ywf Enaclopaa
Chicago Special: The “buslneat
man’eV political campaign u proving
remarkably prolific in practical device:
tor educational purposes.- The latest
comes from Easton, Pa., from which
point It was sent to this .city by th«
vice president of the National Switch
and Signal company, which corporation
has a branch office in the^Monadnoch
building. - •.( ** ■. j '; /
The educational feature,' devised b>
Charles Hansel, $he official mentioned,
is a pay envelope. The work of thi:
corporation Is entirety with railroads,
and, outside of the eastern states, in
cludes large contracts in California.
THIS CONTAINS
SOUND MON5Y„ -
It wlH buy 100 CENTSwoet h*t goads for
EACH DOLLARi°ifi
Do You Prefer 53-Cent Dollar*
FOR SAME LABOR. i
a * ! 1
Conditions Prior to 1173. j
Some of' the tree-coinage men ktiil
say that all they want ia to “restore
the conditions that existed prior to
1873.” In 1873 the total world’s produc
tion of silver was 61,100,000 ounces and
the silver in a dollar was worth fl.04
in gold. Last year the world’s prod
uct of silver yras 165,000,000 ounces end
the silver in a dollar was worth only
50 7-10 cents. Will the silver miners
restore the production of 1873 as 'he
first step toward “restoring the condi
tions?”
HISTORY OF MONEY.
•r * < ■■ _____
USED I.N DIFFERENT STAGES OF
. CIVILISATION.
• -il • * >i Ci .fr-—— ■
OiMttl Erslotlsiiifroa Bklaa, Flih
h»»W Bhalla, alb., 'la Hnllnf Mugt
td’ UlVbr and (itfltT In Freaant Com
merelal, Stag* ■
A study of the gf-owth of money may
be useful Just now In order to give a
more definite Idea of exactly what mon
ey is and to learn why certain articles
or substances have been discarded, and
others retained. The natural and gen
eral tendencies well understood, we
hare only to juage of the future by past
experience to predict what will and
what will not be the principal money
metal of the near future.
Uoullaf out Fiahlua Stage.
The kind of money in use in any
country indicates the degree of civili
zation attained. Man probably first be
came a trading animal in the hunting
and fishing stage. Weapons of war
and the chase, together with skins and
furs, were then the most Important
kinds of property. Hence we find that
the more useful, stable and portable of
these articles were first used as money
1 and are so used to-day in barbarous
- countries.
"v“ • “ca iu w afl iuo
"alt of value trhen our forefathers
traded with the
Indiana. Thus 1
bearer equals 1
brass kettle; 1
beaver equals 2
shillings; 6 bear
vers equal 1 gal
lon brandy, eta
Fishhooks form
ed the currency
on the northern
shores of the In
dian ocean from
Persia to Ceylon.
I. Beaver Skin. JL Latterly, how
Fishhook. III. ever, pieces of
, Wampum. * bent wire were
.substituted for real hooks. Wampum
,wag currency of the more civilized
■ Indian, tribes in New England and on
,Lqng Island. It consisted of white
.beads*, piade, from the ends of a peri*
winkle shell or black beads made from
a clam shell arranged In strings \>r
belts. It became the official money of
New England and NeWAmBterdam and
lost its place ®* mdriby' between 1650
'and 1700, whed the ."Sihatt Aldcktf’
•among the whites began to debaed lt by
.leaving the beadB unpblished or un
, pierced or by making them of bone, I
horn, glass and even' of wood. The
colonists legislated much trylhg: to fix
prices, and to save Wampum from de
clining In value, but It was being pro
duced too cheaply. Natural law was
against It and it had to go.
. ■ The use of shells as money Is still
common on many tropical coasts. Their
wide use Is probably due to the strong
passion, common to primitive man. for
personal adornment. This gives shells
a permanent value. Besides they are
very durable, comparatively light and
are convenient for small change.
Whales’ teeth, arrowheads, beads, tusks
of Ivory and engraved stones are some
of .the other money materials of this
andi'later stages of civilization.
c _ * Tha Pastoral Stas*.
Man eaVly tamed the domestic anl
fipalp'.'’The sheep and the cow being the
most useful, they naturally, with their
aklnd band some- :J
times with their
milk), formed the' H
currency and the
unit of'value. Our
words fee. pecun
l.ary ana capital
come from the 4 ^
use of cattle as IV. Sheep,
money. Similar words In nearly every
language testify to the once general use
of cows and sheep as money. A man’s
wealth was estimated by his herds and
flocks.
It was In this stage that conquerors
stopped eating captives because It was
discovered that they were Worth more'
as shepherds and carriers of Water,
wood, etc. Hence also slaves often fig
ured ae money.
Agricultural Stas*.
Jq the agricultural stage man owns
land, has fixed habitations and is pos
sessed of a far greater variety of prop
erty than when he was a nomad.
Though he continued to use cattle,
slaves, etc., as money, yet he some
times added staple farm products and
began to uee motels, especially copper
and gold, which at first were usually
estimated In terms of cattle and were
measured roughly instead of being
weighed.
Wheat, barley and oats are now, as
they have been for 2,000 yean, a medb
um oi exchange
in Norway and
other remote
parta of Europe.
Maize, or Indian
corn, once form
ed the currency
of Mexico, Cen
tral America and
Jj some of the early
I colonies. Tobac
/ co formed ^ the
n principal money
r of Virginia and
Maryland. It wa?
' legal tender in
'M'ai'yland in
t 1732. . The price
of wives' "varied
; 'froth TOTto1150
7 pounas or toDac
V.Indian Corn. “VI.To-eo. Dribd Codfish
baceo. VUvOOdlWh;1 was' ono curren
cy In Newfoundland. -Sugar, rum; gin<
ger, olive oil. eggs, indigo and imp*
lasses ate some of the productathnt
have bsen used In different countries.
The friends of tobacco and corn tried
hard to prevent these “erlmea against
humanity,” but the copper, gold and
silver bug conspirators crirne out on
top in spite of special legislation in the
Interests of tobacco and corn. This was
a hard blow to our country. Thera lo
plenty of tobacco, corn, eggs and mo
lasses to give us all the "per capita”
we could carry If the crime of demone
tization had not been committed
against them, thereby causing prices of
these and other articles, except the
precious metals, to fall precipitately.
Economists tell us that these articles
ceased to be used as money because
they lacked some essential quality.
They say that some were perishable;
others bulky and hard tb transport;
others could not be easily divided for
the purpose of making change; others
were not uniform in size or quality,
while nearly all lacked stability of
value. But every tobacco, corn, mo
lasses or egg producer and every lover
of the weed, of omelets or of johnny
cake and sorghum knows that they
were demonetized because they were so.
plentiful that the shylocks could not
monopolize them as easily as they
could the precious metals.
Manufacturing Stage.
The manufacturing etage is not clear
lv defined. Hoes were nitre mnnnv in
China and they
» are to-day in
▲nafii. Little
hoes,' such as the
one htre figured,
took the place of
real hoes and be
i came a true mon
' ey
Hand made
nails once circu
VIII. Chinese Hoe. some Scotch vll
IX. Handmade lages. Some ot
Nalls. the other money
articles that may perhaps belong to
this stage are cotton cloth, straw hats,
cubes of salt, tea, beeswax, knives and
silk cloth. It was probably in this stage
that the precious metals began to be
measured and weighed more accurately
and to be cast into standard forms.
Commercial Stage.
1. Internal Trade.—When men began
to live in cities, to have regular mar
12 13
X. Bronze Decussis. XI. Iron Mdnilla
From West Africa. XII. Chinese
XIII. Copperas. “Cash."
kets where products were exchanged
and to have shopkeepers or merchants
and professional traders, there was
great need of a more exact and scien
tific money such as could be supplied
only by the metals. These began to be
cast or stamped into regular forms,
sizes or weights. Bronze bars and
stamped bronze pieces were used In
Greece and Italy. The bronze piece
here represented shows the evolution
from cattle money to stamped metallic
money. Weights in the form of sheep
indicate that Bheep were In Biblical
times the unit of value In Palestine.
Iron was used as money In Sparta.
'Pieces of bent Iron ready for the black
smith pass as money in west Africa
and elsewhere.
“Cash” or “sapeks" or “le” Is the
only native coin and the only legal
tender of China as well as the principal
money of small accounts. Cash consists
of round disks of a kind of brass with a
square hole in the cente.’. The evolu
tion of cash Is interesting. About 200
B. C. the Chinese were still using a
bronze currency representing knives 5
17
XIV. Romano-Campanian Coin. XV.
Gold Solidus of Julian II. XVI. Mexi
can Silver Dollar. XVII. English
Gold Sovereign.
2-5 Inches long, with a hole In one end
of the handle. By 500 A. D. the knlveB
were 7 1-5 Inches long and the hole or
ring was larger. Later the handle dis
appeared and the ring was attached to
.the blade, which was Increased in
thickness to give the same weight as
formerly. Still later the blade was
gotten rid of .and the ring was pierced
with a square hole for the string. Thus
transformed the original and cumber
some knife money became. a compar
atively convenient currency, though
the value has depreciated greatly, part- .
ly because of reduced size and inferior '
Quality of metal used. ?
Cash Is the basis of all price £ (men
tations in China. Considerable suma
may be paid In gold or silver, but the?
are treated as merchandise and are
bought and sold by weight without a
government stamp to guarantee weight
and fineness. ....
The as was a brass coin used la Italy
until after 200 A. D.
2. International Trade,—When trade
became International there was still
greater need for the most accurate and
reliable counters of value possible. Real
coinage began when governments first
guaranteed weight and fineness with an
official stamp. A great part of this Im
mense gain to commerce and civilisa
tion was lost when, after awhile, mon
archs began to abuse this coining privi
lege and to break faith with their sub
jects by stamping light weight or oth
erwise debased coins as genuine. Such
coins would continue In.qpa, would
soon depreciate in value.
Figure 14 represents one pf the ear
liest silver coins. It was struck in
Rome about 300 B. C.
Gold was coined in Rome In 203 B. C.
Figure IS shows the gold solidus of
Julian II. The solidus weighed four
scruples from 312 A. D. to 1463 and
formed the basis of more modert) Euro
pean coins. The florin, coined In Flor
ence In the fourteenth century, was the
first regular coin of western Europe.
Ir. soon became the recognised unit of
value in commerce and was replaced
only by the English sovereign, which
has since remained the standard unit
of value for International trade.
The commercial world has chosen
gold as money because, all things con
sidered; it is better fitted for this pur
pose than any other metal or substance.
It owes its position entirely to Its in
trinsic worth. It has needed no special
legislation to sustain it, nos .-has , the
almost unlimited special legislation in
the Interest of silver and bther metals
and substances been able to make them
‘‘as good as gold” in any modern civil
ized country. It has come by evolu
tion and will not go even by revolution.
We have passed the fishhook, wampum,,
tobacco, iron and silver stages of civili
zation and have entered the golden
stage. Each year sees some progressive
country stop experimenting with the
fickle and fluctuating silver standard
and declare for the stable and world
recognized gold standard of value. Pos
sibly we may, by foolish legislation,
make silver legal tender for awhile and
drive gold out of circulation, but our
commercial interests will continue to
uee gold, and soon all Interests will be
glad to drop Mexico and China and to
return to the society of civilized na
tions. .Byron W. Holt.
1
V
MappolM Yon Shonltl. Be MU taken. .
Farmers who think that free .silver
will help them to get rid of their; mort
gages should consider carefully what
effect a 16 to 1 law will .have-on'the
lenders of capital. The silverites are
telling you beautiful stories a boat the
great volume of money which will be
ready for loaning at low rates of in
terest as soon as we adopt the silver \
standard. But suppose the scheme
should not work in the way they <;x- f
ject? Suppose that as soon as It be- '*
comes likely that a free ..coinage law
will be enacted there is a general de
mand that all mortgages should at
once be paid in full? The promise of
cheap money when free silver cornea
won’t help you now. Where are you
going to get the money to pay off
your mortgage? Do you suppose any
man is going to make loars while there
is a possibility of his being repaid in
50-cent dollars? And if you can’t raise
the money when it is called for, and if
your farm Is sold at a sacrifice, where
will you be then?
Think these things over. Don’t be
fooled ljy the free silver idea that
cheap money means low rates of inter
est. The facts are Just the other way.
Interest is far higher in all silver-us
ing countries than in gold countries.
If we go on the silver standard the men
who have capital to lend will charge
more interest. than they do now in
order to cover the risk ^f being,, repaid
in depreciated silver dollars. So if
you succeed in borrowing under free
coinage you will pay higher interest
on the loan. Ask anybody Wbokhowfi
the facts whether interest is not much
higher in Mexico, India or the silver ^
South American countries than in the
United States, England or Germany,
with their currency based on gold.
Then make up you mind that you will
vote for the financial system which
if left undisturbed will benefit you far
more than free silver trill. . i
Big Prices for Furman* Product*
The Chautauqua News of Sherman,
N. Y., contains in its latest number an
advertisement which we copy free of
charge:
WAR PRICES, i ; ■ y
In order to assist those who believe
in. the “white metal” I will pay the fol
lowing prices in Mexican silver dollars
(no change given) for llvell8tpck‘a,nd
produce delivered at Shertnah:
Steers weighing 1,000 pounds or '
over. line snd fst.. .:‘.8 e psrpcond
Heifers weighing 900 pound* or, n * v..
over, fine and fat....8 c per potyvl
Sheep, fat and heavy.. V; e per pound
lot mbs, fat and heavy...........7*V4c per pound
Veals, tine and fat.........8 c per ponnd
Pigs weighing 100 to 150 pounds. :5V4c per pound
Best Holstein milk cows....850 per head
No. 1 creamery butter.28 c per pound
e'ine factory cheese......10 c per pound
These dollars contain more pure su
rer than tt« United States dollar.
Those who deliver stock In droves
rhould bring an extra horse to
iraw borne their money.
Dated August 1.
A. B. SHELDON.
Mr. Sheldon is able to do what he
promises to do. He Is giving the farm
;rs of Chautauqua the benefit of the
nfiated prices, which the advocates
3f a 50-cent dollar desire and la doing
it without asking thkl United States
government to become a rppudiator and
V swindler. 1' 1
Th? first false te-eth! were'made cn
lead plates. ' ■'■rv.'Au
• • -jIK) -0..7.
** 'l- ’<■** tt* •»*»♦«• ..
