Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-01-02
rn1DAY......-....JANuAgY 2. 1885.
scurci,y Of Gold.

-.
~ scrrci'y Of Gold.
Few people seem to know how little
gold is annually produced in the world.
II Is found in many countries, it is trae.
yet ile total production Of 1883 was
lea than hundred millions Of dollars,
or one dollar for every fifteen in
hsbitants Of the world, or five thou
sand dollars for all the inhabitants Of
Richmond. We suspect that the pco-
pie os Richmond. poor MS they are,
spend Eve thousand dollars year in
articles manufactured Of gold. We
suppose our dentists use up in their
business not a small share Of Rich
mond's proportion Of the gold annually
produced.
The policy Of recommendation is, there
fore, O commercial or financial quick
sand into which all the business OF
the world would in few years be sunk.
Gold is constantly approaching in value,
relatively to other articles. It must
continue to appreciate unless new gold
mines are discovered. The United
States produces annually only thirty
millions of dollars Of gold. What an
insignificant sum compared with the
demands of the country if we are tp
have gold only as a standard of values
IL silver is to be discarded.
The Lynchburg Virginian, speaking
Of this subject, says:
s'This matter Of the continued APP
probation Of gold and the depreciation
Of silver is one that should engage the
earnest thought Of iinanciers and those
who leeislate for the people of the
United States"
If gold is approaching. il does not
follow that silver is deprcciating rela-
lively to any article other than gold. The
question can be settled only by COM
pairing the prices Of mere commodities
now with their prices at other times.
! 1t Is thus only that We can reach sat-
isfactory conclusion. II may be that
4l2l grains Of silver bullion will buy
as much wheat now as it would before
silver was reinonetized, and that Is $40
grains Of gold bullion will buy more.
,If so, it would seem that the monetary
troubles which our financial doctors are
frying to remove are owing not to the
depreciation of silver, but to the appre-
ciation Of gold. These two things are
not the same, by any means.
Let US illustrate. Richmond can
stand for the whole world on a small
case. Let us imagine that Richmond
is the whole world; that she has cpr-
rency consisting Of both gold and sir
yer, and annually produces quantity
Of gold and silver; that both of these
metals are legal tender that the City
Council is her Congress, and concludes
to adopt single standard Of value, and
to declare silver coins no longer u legal
tender In this case, all the property
in Richmond 1.-THE world would be worth
just what the gold in Richmond amount
cd to in dollars. and no more. The sill
yer coins would no longer be measure
of value. Prices woud inevitably fall,
and fall so far that the creditor class
would be ruined, and. being ruined,
would drag down with them the whole
commercial class.
But il is said that there cannot be
two standards Of value. Nor are there
two pendulums to clock, yet the best
pendulum is made partly Of one metal
and partly of another in order that the
expansion Of one metal by heat may be
ncutralized by the contraction of the
other. This is precisely the Office that
Is filled by double standard of value, as
it Is miscalled. II gold had been the sole
standard Of value when the gold mines
Of California threatened to flood the
world with gold, the prices Of mere
commodities would have been so raised
as TO ruin the commercial world. But
silver, then more scarce than gold rela-
lively to its coin value, acted as a regu-
lator, and so prevented a destructive
expansion Of prices. The Office which
silver performed in ls49 gold has since
performed. Gold has acted as a regu-
lstor, and kept down a rumous expan-
sion Of prices that might have resulted
from too great abundance Of silver
relatively to the quantity Of gold.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON was the
frst Secretary OF the Treasury OF the
United States and the sblcss il has ever
had. HuGH MccULLocH is the pres
ent Secretary Of the Treasury, aud has
= worldwide reputation. The former
in his day advocated the double stand
ard. The latter in his day advocates il,
and has the candor to admit that he was
formerly wrong that he was formerly
. monometalIist. In such company We
cannot be far wrong.
-
The Boston Herald undependcnA, |
commenting on the declaration in Mr.. |
CxxyELAKD's letter to tbs Reform
League that the "conling Administra-
- u & - Il ~. a.. - 49,. l. ~, Al,