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VOL. II. NEBRASKA CITY , NEB. , THURSDAY , AUGUST 24 , 1899. NO. 7.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY.
OFFICES : OVERLAND THEATRE BLOCK.
J. STERLING MORTON , EuiTon.
A JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE DISCUSSION
OF POLITICAL , ECONOMIC AND SOCIOLOGICAL
QUESTIONS.
CIRCULATION THIS WEEK 6,100 COPIES.
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION.
One dollar and a half per year , in advance ,
postpaid , to any part of the United States or
Canada. Remittances made payable to The
Morton Printing Company.
Address , THE CONSERVATIVE , Nebraska
City , Neb.
Advertising Bates mode known upon appli
cation.
Entered at the postofflce at Nebraska City ,
Neb. , as Second Class matter , July 20th , 1898.
Among leaders
HKmtT . . , .
CEKNUSCHI.of bimetallism
Henri Cernuschi ,
who died within the last three years ,
was easily the foremost in Europe. He
said :
"The melting pot is the test of coined
money. That which loses value in
melting is bad money. And that which
does not lose is good money. "
The amiable editor of The Papillion
Times , Edgar Howard , will upon per
using his copy of the work of Cernuschi ,
find that the quotation is correctly re
produced. He will also find that Cer
nuschi was the bimetallist who first
promulgated and inculcated the doc
trines of that sect in the United States.
The volume in possession of THE CON
SERVATIVE was originally the property
of the late Senator Thurman of Ohio
and came into present ownership from
the shelves of a second-hand bookstore.
This vouches for its teachings for when
Senator Thurman , in a manner , re
nounced greenbackism or full-credit ir
redeemable paper money , he became the
advocate of half-credit irredeemable
silver money.
The amiable and erudite editor of The
Papillion Times certainly knows that
, , silver , prior to the
Knowledge. _ . - , . , , . ,
Bland-Allison act ,
was a subsidiary currency. It was not
a legal-tender for all debts public and
private. Therefore , a hundred silver
dollars , even before melting , lost , as
compared with dollars of gold , in debt-
paying power for the law ( see Revised
Statutes United States , act of June 22 ,
1874 , relating to coinage , Section 8586) )
reads :
"The silver coins of the United States
shall be a legal tender at their nominal
value for any amount not exceeding five
dollars in any one payment. "
Then Mr. Howard may peruse subse
quent silver legislation by opening up
act of April 17 ,
, _ , . , . ,
1875f winch pro
vides for the redemption of fractional
paper currency , with silver. "Why did
congress in 1875 provide that only frac
tional paper currency could be redeemed
in silver if coin was then understood to
mean either silver or gold ?
Mr. Ho ward ought , if he really wishes
truth as to monetary legislation , to then
examine the act of July 22 , 1876 , which
provides for the issuance of silver coins
in exchange for legal-tender notes ; re
peals the legal-tender quality of the
trade dollar ; restricts its coinage and
limits subsidiary coinage to $50,000,000.
Following came the Bland-AlliRon
abomination of February 28 , 1878 , over
the veto of Presi-
Thon. , ,
dent Hayes , by
the aid of the vote of McKinley and
other original free-coinage republican
zealots.
Then came the sequence to that folly ,
to stop the coinage of the standard sil
ver dollar ; and to provide for the pur
chase of silver junk ; and for the issu
ance of certificates thereupon as a legal-
tender July 14 , 1890.
There was a time when free coinage
at sixteen to one prevailed that the sil
ver dollar would not sell for as much
when melted down as would the melted-
down gold dollar. The bullion of a sil
ver dollar was not in 1861 the equiva
lent of the bullion of a gold dollar , by
one-tenth of a cent.
After the year 1884 , for ten years ,
that is up to 1844 , the production of sil
ver in the United
Iliitto. _ ,
States was only
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
( $250,000) ) . And for the next thirteen
years , that is , from 1845 to 1858 , the
annual production of silver in the
United States averaged only fifty thous
and dollars.
During the decade from 1884 to 1844
the gold product of the United States
was seven million , five hundred thous
and dollars ( $7,500,000) ) , or about
twenty-eight times as much as that of
silver.
From 1845 to 1858 the gold output of
the United States was five hundred and
eight millions of dollars ( $508,000,000) )
or more than seven hundred times the
amount of silver. But in 1858 the sil
ver mines of the United States yielded
nearly as much as they had in the prev
ious thirteen years that is , five hun
dred thousand dollars.
In the year 1876 the state of Nevada
alone produced more silver than had all
the mines of the world during the pre
ceding twenty years. Now if the ratio
was rightly instituted when silver was
produced sparingly as compared to gold ,
how cnn it be rightfully continued and
maintained when it is produced lavishly
as compared to gold ?
All good money is made out of some-
tiling which had value as a commodity
before it became money. But using it
for money adds no value to the amount
of bullion in a coin. Demand is the sole
regulator of value. The supply of silver
increased and increases , more swiftly
than the demand for silver. Hence the
value of silver declined and declines.
Edgar Howard cannot suspend the oper
ation of this inexorable law , nor can
Bryan or even Holcomb. Demand de
clining , value declines. Demand ceas
ing , value is dead.
The Holcomb
application
KENT--1G TO 1.
plication of the fi
nancial theories of Bryanarchy to the
collection of house-rent from the treas
ury of the state of Nebraska for the
liquidation of leases for a gubernatorial
mansion in Lincoln is patriotic from a
populist standpoint , ingenious from that
of a swindler and a superb success from
the standpoint of a professional pick
pocket. Never in any other state dis
bursement has sixteen to one been bet
ter illustrated. Out of every hundred
dollars drawn by Governor Holcomb ,
for rent of executive residence , about
sixteen dollars were silently and sweetly
lowered into his own pocket while only
one went to pay rent as by law intended
to go. This misappropriation of public
funds is , however , in fusion politics as
at present dominated and managed , ac
cepted as the best evidence of vigorous
ability and statesmanship. To get
something , anything , out of the com
monwealth is wisdom and to retain or
put anything into the commonwealth is
folly and disloyalty.
