The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1885-08-08
THE GOLD STANDARD THE OBSTACLE
! New York sun /

New Iorl; sun
y grra, many people are fond of
repeating that the coinage of the silver
dollar Is what kills enterprise and makes
trade dull. Among others, Mr..
+ iward Atkinson of Boston is reported
in the New York Herald a dsc0ursing
thus:
"Our population is increasing with
great rnpidity, yet little or nothing OF
constructive charac!c: is in progress.
Can there be any other o;son than the
doubt AS to whether the standard of
value viii remain the same: Every
one who holds a share in this existing
surplus of capital is enIeiVoring to fad
amy existing bond or any existing stock
IN which he can maintain 1t at his gold
value. He will not risk it in any new
constructive enterprise until the coinage
of silver is stopped. Therefore, although
our national conditions have become so
nearly adjusted that we might prcdi-
cate period of the greatest possible
prosperity upon them, yet this purely
artificial obstruction of a dollar of low
and uncertain value which has been
thrust upon the country mainly for the
private benefit of petty interest in
silver mining, stops all constructive
enterprise"
Mr.. Atkinson fails to explain pre-
ciSety how the coinage Of the silver
dollar produces the mischief, and lust
why men do not undertake new cnlcr-
prises because of it. lie fails also to
mention the fact that in Great Britain,
where gold is the exclusive standard,
and where there is not the slightest
possibility OF its being supplanted by
silver, there is the same slut of unem-
ployed money and the same unwilling-
ness among capitalists to embark in
new enterprises that there is in this
country. This fact alone, if he had
thought Of it, would have been enough
to show him the absurdity of his talk.
Tho real obstacle to enterprise and
the real weight that drags down trade,
both here and abroad, is the gold
standard. AS Mr.. Atkinson truly
enough says, the doubt as to whether
the standard of value will remain the
same dctcrs men from making new in~
vestmcnts. The gold standard, instead
of being fixed and steady, has been
rising higher and higher for the past
ten years, and accordingly prices Of all
Ing. Whatever man has bought or
produced, lie has been obliged to sell
for a little less than it cost him, and
both trade and manufactures have
therefore been Improbable. For all
that appears, gold will go on rising and
prices will so on falling for some time
to come, and until capitalists can be.
assured that the bottom has been
reached they naturally prefer to wait.
Their gold dollars, measured in NOR
chandisc, are growing bigger and big
ger all the while, and they can gain
moro by sitting still than they can by
going to work.
Conversely, the establishment of the
silver dollar as the monetary standard
would break the deadlock and cause
trade to rcvivo. For, while gold has
been rising in value silver has kept
company with the other products of
human industry, and is therefore trucrr
measure of their value. The fall in
prices would be arrested, aud mon
could make investments with reason
able assurance OF profitable rcturns. If,
too, rs the enemies Of silver assert, the
adoption Of the silver standard means
a nominal rise in prices equal to the
difference between So and 100, capital
lists ought to be anxious to invest their
gold dollars now, at once, while prices
are low, so as to get the advantage of
tho rise when it arrives. We do not
believe that there will be any such rise
so long as tho coinage of silver dollars
is restricted rs it is, to 5000, 900 a
month, but those who profess to see it
coming ought also to sec its inevitable
and not talk about the
fear Of il as check to enterprise.