Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 November 1893 — TOPICS OF THESE TIMES. [ARTICLE]

TOPICS OF THESE TIMES.

THE RUSSIAN-FRENCH ALLI- . . ANCE. The most notable event in Europe ’or many months has been the recent sojourn of the officers pf the Russian fleet, which par-1 ticipated in the great naval review at Toulon, at Paris. Festivities of the most extravagant and enthusiastic character continued for many days, and the gay eapital was given over to unrestrained expression of hostility to Germany and effusive friendship for the Czar and his lieutenants of every rank.- The force of public opinion seems to have united France and Russia in indissoluble bonds and the mighty power thus created bodes ill for the Empire welded from non-cohesive fragments by the Iron Prince. With intrusive emphasis the declaration was repeated again and again that the newborn alliance was a guarantee , of European peace, but the rooted determination of the French people to regain the lost provinces of Alsace and Lorraine give the lie to such protestations and the best authorities agree that the ostentatious friendship of these two powers can mean nothing less than war. In the present temper of France a trifling incident may precipitate hostilities and it is believed they would be hailed with delight by the volatile French as affording an opportunity to wipe out the disgrace of 1871, and also by Russia as affording an opportunity long sought for to extend her borders to the gates of Constantinople. The situation is believed to be critical and a general European war is not by any means an improbable outcome of the joyous fetes and brilliant ceremonies that have prevailed in “labelle Paree.” THE OSCEOLA LADY WHITECAPS. The Indiana White Caps have been outdone by the “shining lights” of the W. C. T. U. of Osceola, Neb., and the good ladies appear to have attained a national, if not a worldwide, reputation for valorous deeds performed “in behalf of moralityJL The story, in brief, is that the leaders in the crusade against the rum power in that locality became impressed with the idea thac they"had a mission from on high or elsewhere to regulate the actions of certain young ladies whom they believed “were no better than they should be.” Accordingly the gentle dames sent loving missives to the unsuspecting maids signed by the names of their own true loves for to meet them in the park in the evenin’. The evenin’ came, no fellows did, but in the shades the dames were hid, and as each maid came to the tryst they bound ’em all fast by the wrist, till all were caught and bid prepare for a lickin’ good right then and there. The feathers flew and the et enin’ air was punched right through to let the screams of the fair maids pass, as now and then they lay on the grass, out into the calm and stilly night as they frantically pulled the pillow shams white from the avenging angel forms divine who long had fought the demon wine. Mother and maid in the dying day joined in the hand-to-hand affray, till ribbons and garters and tresses of hair flew out into the twilight air and settled in showers upon the ground, whence they were gathered as trophies found. But we draw the veil on the painful scene, for the courts will settle the row between the mothers and maids whose valor that eve was displayed in a way to make angels grieve, and we’ll hope that the highly moral test that seems to prevail in the woolly West will not find favor on Hoosier soil and end in an internecine broil. ABOUT SILVER. Silver has been used as a medium of exchange since the time of Abraham. It is still the money of a large part of the world’s population. The history of Greece records the fact that silver was coined for money at a period so remote as to be lost in the shades of antiquity and tradition. The first gold coins to be given the stamp of governmental sanction were put into circulation in the time of Philip, about 360 years B. G. In prehistoric times the precious metals were measured solely by weight, and they were used as mediums of trade and barter because of their convenience and accepted valuation among the primitive merchants and traders of that era. Silver was coined as money by the Roman Empire for the first time at the comparatively modern date of 250 years B. C. and that country established the double standard fifty years later. In England silver was a full legal tender until 1816, when the gold standard was adopted. Previous to 1664 the value of gold, coins was regulated by proclamation. From 1664 until 1717 silver

was the only legal tender and gold fluctuated according to its market value. In 1717 the relation of the coins of the two metals was fixed at 21 shillings for a guinea. By this Jaw gold was overrated and it .became the principal currency of England. In America a few small silver coins were struck in Massachusetts in the seventeenth century. During the colonial period the metallic money in circulation consisted entirely of foreign coins, and the Spanish milled dollar was recognized as the standard of value in all the colonies, and was so recognized by the Articles of Confederation. Under the Constitution the right is reserved to the Government “to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin ” The Act of April 2, 1792, established a mint, and fixed the weight and fineness of the various coins, and also provided that any person might take either gold or silver to the mint and have it coined ■‘'free of expense,” the said coins to be equally legal tender for all debts. In 1837 the mint laws were revised and the standard for gold and silver made nine-tenths fine —and they have remained at that ever since. The weight of pure silver in the standard doller has never been changed. It is the same unit and the same standard as the first coin minted in the United States, although the alloy in the silver dollar was reduced in 1837 from 44.75 grains to 41.25 grains, so as to make it nine-ten ths fine. The foregoing statements are gleaned from “Facts About Silver," a brochure issued by the National Silver Committee, and are intended solely for the unprejudiced and non-partisan information of our readers, being in no particular intended as an argument for or against the unlimited coinage or restricted powers of the “dollars of our dads.” BOLIVIAN SILVER MINES. The silver mines of Potosi, in Bolivia, have produced nearly $4,000,000,000 worth of silver and are apparently inexhaustible, Ten thousand mines are known to exist in the district, which is 300 leagues long by 70 leagues wide. They have been abandoned because of the extinction of slave labor, unstable governments, lack of highways, etc. Capital is now rapidly being invested in these abandoned workings, and the outlook is that all these abandoned mines will soon be operated with improved machinery and modern milling plants, and that new ledges will undoubtedly be discovered that may increase the annual out-put of silver in the world to an unheard of figure. Expert silver authorities predict that the price of silver will yet fall to 20 or 25 cents an ounce. Prospects certainly indicate that the price will fall far below the present market rate.