Thank you for visiting SNEWPapers!
Sign up free
Story
July 17, 1896
Foster's Daily Democrat
Dover, Strafford County, New Hampshire
What is this article about?
Correspondent contrasts expensive goods in silver-based Panama (e.g., lemonade 20¢, cigars 35¢) with cheap US prices (5¢, 10¢), warning free silver coinage would enrich silver mine owners at 100% profit without aiding others.
Clipping
OCR Quality
98%
Excellent
Full Text
On the Silver Basis.
A correspondent of the Sun, down in Panama, where they have free coinage of silver, writes that: Exchange in New York is 125 premium; that is $2.25 Colombian silver for one gold dollar. Lemonade costs 20 cents a glass, decent cigars 35 cents each, the Century, Harper's, and similar magazines, $1.20, with other things in proportion.
Here in the United States, under our present currency standard, lemonade costs 5 cents a glass, decent cigars 10 cents a piece, the magazines anywhere from 10 to 25 cents each, and all other things in proportion. Free coinage of silver here, 16 to 1, would put us on the basis of Panama and benefit nobody in the world except the silver kings who own the silver mines. It would enable them to put 50 cents worth of silver into a coined dollar every time, thus giving them 100 per cent profit on all the raw silver they could produce, while nobody else could get a silver dollar for less than it costs at the present time.
A correspondent of the Sun, down in Panama, where they have free coinage of silver, writes that: Exchange in New York is 125 premium; that is $2.25 Colombian silver for one gold dollar. Lemonade costs 20 cents a glass, decent cigars 35 cents each, the Century, Harper's, and similar magazines, $1.20, with other things in proportion.
Here in the United States, under our present currency standard, lemonade costs 5 cents a glass, decent cigars 10 cents a piece, the magazines anywhere from 10 to 25 cents each, and all other things in proportion. Free coinage of silver here, 16 to 1, would put us on the basis of Panama and benefit nobody in the world except the silver kings who own the silver mines. It would enable them to put 50 cents worth of silver into a coined dollar every time, thus giving them 100 per cent profit on all the raw silver they could produce, while nobody else could get a silver dollar for less than it costs at the present time.
What sub-type of article is it?
Curiosity
Historical Event
What themes does it cover?
Justice
Misfortune
What keywords are associated?
Free Silver
Coinage
Panama
Currency Standard
Silver Mines
What entities or persons were involved?
Silver Kings
Where did it happen?
Panama, United States
Story Details
Key Persons
Silver Kings
Location
Panama, United States
Story Details
A correspondent in Panama describes high costs under free silver coinage compared to low US prices under gold standard, arguing that free silver at 16 to 1 would profit silver mine owners by 100% while not benefiting others.