"Free Silver"

[neilgin1]

for your consideration, past is prologue...note, i rarely use wkik..wiki...but it can be a good starting point for deeper dives, Happy New Year!!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_silver

[silverflake]

Howdy Neil and a happy new year to you! Interesting info from a bygone day. I don't think it could ever happen here. One thing about hearing silver being the "peoples money" is that it really makes you realize how cheap and devalued our "money" is (the fiat US dollar).

It also makes me remember the saying from back in those days (I am paraphrasing, not sure of exact quote) that you use gold to buy your house and land, silver to buy your horse and copper for everyday commerce.

Not anymore.

[TXSTARFIRE]

Happy New Year Neil! It always makes me happy when I see you post.

[68Camaro]

That was interesting. I read the 1893 popular science article that was referenced in the wiki article, to get some contemporary perspective. The "free silver" movement (or return to free silver) was really only an issue because of the massive new silver finds that had occurred to that extent only one other time in history (when Spain took over the South and Central American mines of the indigenous peoples in the 16th century). It was a "temporary" issue, though one that would last several decades. The gold standard issue is that there was concern that there wasn't enough gold to fund expanding commerce. There were other solutions (such as revaluing gold) but the financiers wanted to be able to inflat the fiat without limit, thus the Federal Reserve was born and the path to pure fiat without support was taken. Interesting history.