The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-11-01 00:00:00

3tontilri4e QYperinr.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1873.

THE PRESENT Pr ItcHASING POWER

OF GOLD.

Eleven years ago, wile people flocked in im-
mense numbers to the International Exhibition
at :south Kensington, one of the chief sights of
that interesting collection was a collosal pyramid
representing the quantity of gold, which since
the date of the Australian discoveries, has been
brought to England from that distant part of
the Britisfi possessions. As people stood and
contemplated the glittering pile, amazement
was the predomineut feeling by which thoy
were tilled, while those to whom the possession
of a few pounds sterling was an object of con-
siderable importance were temporarily lost in
wonder at the vast mass of wealth which was
there pourtrayed. All who have followed the
reports of the Tichborne trial will have noticed
the eilLet which the gold fever had upon the
Australian population in the summer of 1854.
Sailors left their ships, tradesmen deserted their 1
shops, and even professional men threw up their ,
avocations for the purpose of trying their ,
fortune at the diggings. Pew, if any, of those ,
who gazed upon the golden pyramid. of 1862:
had any idea of the ultimate result which the '
stream of precious metal towards this country
must produce. Perhaps it is not too much to
say that the vast inereaae in the quantity of
gold brought into England during the past
twenly yeara is the main can-e of the high
prices of when such loud complaints have
latels been made, and as the days shorten, will
continue to be made. Gold, although anch an
important element in the transaction of the
World's affairs, must, as far as its value is con.
cerued, be regulated by the saute laws as those
wil:ch "(WWII the moat ordinary commodities
used in every-day life. When anything is
scarce, it becomes, to use a well-anderstood ex-
presaion, " dear ;'' when it is ideotifai, on the
other band, the article is " cheap." A glut in
the e•stkot pre,i.v es the vatne of any article
of human reqiiireaWnts— whether it he a
sovereign, an ex. a sack of corn, or u load of
any description of ferns produce. Now, there
can be no question that, while the nominal
value of the soser,ign is still twenty
its purchasing power is nothing like what it was
even half a dozen years ago. A housewife who
then went out to market on a Saturday evening
with a pound in her hand, could buy a great
deal more for it than she can now. Why is
this ? Simply because the great influx of gold
into out laud, by making money wore plentiful,
has diminished its value, just as a good harvest
brings down the price of corn, or a favourable
grazing season cheapens the cost of animal
food. The large capitalist, in the plenitude of
his wealth, is euabled to pay his workmen
higher wages; the w-rkinan, with his increased
receipts, can thus afford to provide his fatuiß
with a better class of food than when wages
were low. Hence the secret of the rise in
prices which is so often the cause of bitter de-
nunciation. A great increase of national wealth
is invariably accompanied with an auguniented
scale of expenditure. When Germany exacted
from France a war-fine of two hundred millions
starling, many a poorer nation envied the con-
queror such a vast accession of wealth. But
what do the working classes of Berlin say to it?
What, they urge that it has become the most
expensive capital in Europe, and that the scale
of hying, and the augmented rents have rendered
existence there well nigh impossible for the
humbler members of society. The moral is the
same as that taught by the long-sustained flow
of gold into Great Britain. Rapidly accumu-
lated wealth is not an unmixed benefit to any
nation—it is an advantage to a proportion—a
very considerable proportion doubtless—but to
a large number ,d annuitants who possess fixed
incomes, and are unable to add thereto by exer-
tions of their own, whether physical or mental,
the oft-repeated stories of our national pros-
perity can be nothing less than as " sounding
brass and tinkling cymbal."