The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1876-05-13
THE DOUBLE STANDARD.

THE DOUBLE STANDARD.
The Bonanza kings are striving very hard |
to revive the double standard of gold and
silver for metallic money of the country. !
Of course their only aim is to make mar
ket for silver Nevertheless we hope they
will succeed, unless the greenback can oe
the country. There have been hundreds
Of volumes written upon the double stan
dard, but we have got to read q single one
that touches the real merits of the issue.
Not one Of them, SO far as we have read,
and we have read n great many of these
books, have a word to say about cornering
the gold market, and the effect of such
corners upon the money market. All OF
these writers have observed that the ma
ton which adopts the single gold standard,
suffers terribly from periodical panic, com
mercial CT Uses, and fluctuations of periods
of great prosperity, followed by great stag
nation in business. Whereas, the nations
that have adopted that double standard are
comparatively free from these modern
phenomenon of trade. We do not con-
slider these phenomena half as mysteri GUS
as the schoolmasters have tried to make us
believe they are. The teachings of the
books are ali wrong, in our opinion, upon
this subject. If we will only look little
beneath the surface, we will find that the
over production theory, which has been
advanced by every writer who has at
tempted to solve the problem, from Nc
| Culloch to Horace White, is the most unmit-
igsted bosh, although they claim to be
highly scientific in their analysis. Their
science, however, is a science built up in
utter defiance Of all facts. Whereas the
science which will bear the test. Of ages, is
ami must be, built up upon facts and &C
cords with all OF the known facts.
In the light Of facts collected by innum-
cradle writers upon points that have oc-
Cured both in England and the United
States during the past hundred years, we
lay down this principle panics have
invariably occurred from a sudden corner
on the gold market whereas, in France,
Belgium, Holland, and Germany, where
the double standard has prevailed, when a
corner was attempted on gold, and its value
rose, the people at once began to pay their
debts i'll silver, and when silver became
scarce, owing to corner, or from any
other cause, they paid the debts in gold
Hence having the choice Of paying, either
silver or gold at their own option, it be-
came absolutely necessary that both silver
and gold should be cornered in order to
produce p panic, and as this was next to
impossible, the countries using the double
standard have been comparatively free
from disastrous panics. In fact no such
panlcs have ever occurred as those which
have spread desolation' broadcast in Eng
land and the United States every few
years.
If this theory be correct, it explains the
bitter enmity against the double standard
on the part Of those who make a business
Of coming money out of the toiling mil
lions, by manipulating the gold market,
and by engineering corners, whenever it is
to their interest to do so. Furthermore,
by adopting the double standard we curb
this power Of money, which has been the
curse Of this country from its first settle
ment. We guard against these periodic
panics, and we insure labor more Just
share Of its legitimate profits. This dou-
bic standard, and consequent freedom from
panics is one of the chief reasons why
France is the most prosperous nations on
earth to-day, and the abandonment of the
double standard is one of the principal
reasons why Germany is far from prosper
GUS in the hour of her great victories.
Theoretical statesmen have thrown away
the advantages Of the greatest victory of
modern times, and by her mastery of true
economic science, French statesmen have
compelled English and German citizens to
pay the enormous French indemnity, and
these payments have so exhausted English
and German resources that industry is suf-
fering in those countries to q greater ex-
tent than in this country under the blight
ing influence Of the gold delusion; whereas,
France with her high tariff and dodble
standard thrives and grows fat upon the
resources of those nations that accept the
specious economic teachings of the free
trade and hard money illusionists. If we
cannot have greenbacks interchangeable
with bonds, give US the double standard.
We could possibly bear the strain Of re-
turn to specie payments on this double
basis