By selling it to the government, the mining interests hoped to keep the price of silver from falling.
VOA: special.2010.06.03
And the iron monster was sunk to keep it from falling into Union hands.
VOA: special.2009.09.10
The purpose of it was to keep people fromfalling into the abyss, keep us from sliding into a literal depression, and begin to build a ladder to climb out of that hole.