Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1878-11-06

cents on the dollar. In 1873 q loan of |
SIG .OOO. 900 was authorized at 6 per cent,
and they vere sold 1t 50 cents on the
dollar. In 1914 several 6 per cent. loans |
were authorized, and all were sold At 80 |
cents on the dollar. Recent as 1912,
under the administration of John Tyler,
when the old national debt had been
paid and the government did not owe q
dollar, an issue Of 81 ,000, 900 of per
cents was authorized to meet current ex-
penses, and they were sold at 974 cents
on the dollar.
Mr.. Allen gave the history of
all the loans ever made by the gov
eminent. He then said that what
ever the discount on the paper, however
small, it subtracted just 80 mt Oh from
its purchasing power. Though the dis
count to-day was but I of l per cent, it
still had Just that amount less of pur-
chasing power. For example, take 5000
of gold and you get it exchanged for
s2Ol of our paper At present discount.
And $20l has more purchasing power
than 5000.
Much has been said about
VdE f6lC6 We LA0Ohs
Labor is an exchangeable commodity.
It is exchangeable for food, clothing,
costs of educating children, etc. The
question is not the nominal price of
labor, but on what terms it can be ex-
changed for the necessaries, and Injuries
if need be, of life. For the argument,
call common labor, if you will 81 per
day, with -four At IS per barrel, coffee
at 10 cents per pound, and calico prints
at 8 cents per yard, and it is exchanged
on these terms But when these articles
have advanced, in consequence of the
depreciation Of the circulation, to $15 for
the -four, and 80 cents per pound for the
coffee, and 80 cents per yard for the cal
leo, and the wages doubled in conse-
quence thereof, or e per day, and the
laborer receives largely less at 81 per day
tnan he did before when he received
only 81 per day-and this rule is newt
able and always existing, that in all de-
precautions in the value of the circulat-
ing medium prices Of articles of neces-
sary consumption rise greatly above the
advance in the price of labor. Labor is
always the greatest sufferer. For the
agriculturist, the price of his wheat and
his corn is made in Liverpool and on the
basis of gold. Under our home deprecia-
ton in the purchasing power of our
paper money, he is compelled to pay in
exchange for mis- wheat and his corn
prices for all that he buys enhanced by
q per cent. greater than the nominal
measure for that depreciation-greater
because an additional per cent. is added
as security against = further deprecia-
ton it is daily liable. Every man who
holds the pillow and who sows and who
reaps, has vital interest in q sound and
redeemable paper money, and worth at
all times 100 cents on the dollar and of
full purchasing power; as his own pro-
ducts that he exchanges are based
wholly upon the same foundations. All
labor has an equally vital interest, and
on the same and similar grounds. In all
the difficulties attending the fluctuations
and depreciations of the circulating
medium,
LABOR AND AGRICULTURE
are the principal and almost sole suffer-
ers. Such times are the harvests of
bankers, and moneyed men.
Here he gave an illustration of those
effects that occurred in 1856, in connec-
ton with the so-called free banks of
India.
There is great Misrepresentation in the
public mind ON the subject of the nation
al wealth. Aside from the government
property, the wealth of the people is the
wealth of the nation, and this wealth il
not dependent upon domestic prices
or prices as between our own citizens.
When boots were 5000 per pair in Rich
mond, during the confederate reign, in
the only money in the confederacy, were
all properties estimated on that basis,
which they in fact were, the confederacy
was one of the richest nations on earth.
But not 80 rich rs the kingdom of Hayti,
where all the property is valued upon
the basis of the value of its paper
money, that value being one-third of one
cent for one dollar. By this mode Of
estimation Hayti is probably
! THE wEALTHIEsr NATION
in the world. 1t is the property itself
that makes the nations wealth, and moi
the prices put upon it in exchanges
| 0mOuk lux OWA PcOPlc' Vu1t ~ VIII
bring in the money Of the world, gold,
or what it will sell for to foreigners, il
the more correct basis d value. Should
I sell to you, Mr.. President, jack knife
for 5000, I may be the richer, but the
country is not, for it still only has the
Jack knife and the $2O0-chaDged hands
between its own citizens. But should
sell the jack-knife to an English subject
for $500, our country would be the
richer by the difference between the real
value Of the jack-knifs and $500 High
prices among ourselves count for moth
ing to the nation AZ q whole, though it
may, and does, to the different individ-
uals.
In domestic exchanges what one man
makes another man losss-the sum total
to the country remains the same.
Mr.. Allen then pointed to the great
destruction of properly during the wal,
which was at first MT properly realized
on account of the high prices resulting
from an inflated currency, and showed
that since the collapse OF 1873, though
individuals had suffered in consequence