Morning journal and courier., 1886-01-05
THE CURRENCY REFORM LEAGUE

They Adopt Articles of Association,
 Elect Officers and Have Lively
 Talk About Precious Metals and
 Silver in Particular.
 Last night in Good Samaritan hall the "Cprrency Reform League" was formally organized, the following articles of associa- tion adopted, and officers elected. Articles of association:
 The name of this association shall be the Cur rsy Re oass5S h f the currency law and the laws of coinage
 2d. To discuss the relation of those laws to wages, prices, commercial exchanges, and the prosperity of this country. of such laws will tend to promote the general welfare, and especially that of the producers ef
 4th. To secure the repeal of such laws tend di rectly to produce falling prices, lower wages build up enormous p ivate and corporate fortunes for the few, and create widespread bankruptcy,
 five vice presidents, secretary and treasurer who be charged with such duties as usually devoved on officers bearing the sane names in similar 1 or citation may, by vote from time to time, devolvs
 The said officers shall constitute an executive committee, whom shall be referred all candidates proposed for membership, and upon their approval, may elect such candidates who shall thereupon sign the above declaration of objects.
 The league elected the following officers: President, Judge Joseph Sheldon; vice pres idents, Dr. John P. Phillips, Alexander Troup, Henry Killam, Isaac Anderson, Hen ry Rogers; secretary, Dr. Austin B. Fuller; treasurer, Harvey G. Shepard.
 A letter from the National Bi-Metallic Coinage association at Washington was read inviting the league to send delegates to rep resent them on a national committee in whose hands is to be placed the management of the work of the association. The. meeting is to take place January 20, and Judge Shel- don and Henry E. Baldwin, of Naugatuck, were chosen to so represent the league. About forty members were present, and ad- dresses were made by Dr. Phillips, Judge Sheldon and Dr. Fuller.
 Dr. Phillips spoke upon the proper mean ing of the term ''value" as applied to gold and silver. He said that all the difficulty in dealing with these metals arose from the premise that they possessed an intrinsic value. He then proceeded to show that their value could not be intrinsic, because in trinsic qualities were inherent and unchange- able, while the value of the metals was fuc- tuating and dependent on certain economical conditions. The doctor picked up an axe which he had brought in and illustrated that it's inherent qualities, viz, hardness, shape, weight, etc., were the same practically the world over, while the value varied with their abundance CT scarcity, etc. So the qualities of gold and silver were intrinsic. But sup pose solid mountain of gold were discover ed; it's qualities would remain unchanged, but it's value would be diminished. Value is affected by such conditions as scarcity or plenty, capacity under particular circum- stances for usefulness, exchangeability, etc., etc.
 Judge Sheldon spoke upon the effect of the resumption of specie payments in the United States. His point was that thereby gold and silver were drawn from the countries using them into this country and prices in those countries correspondinglY reduced since the more money in circulation the higher the prices. This reacted against our exporters and through them against the country in gen eral
 A reference to greenbacks in the course of his remarks called forth suppressed applause from his hearers, showing the sentiment of the meeting upon that question.
 Dr. Fuller argued that silver was prefera- b1e to gold @ money medium because while the value of gold had in the past been subject to great fluctuations on account of the irregularity with which it could be pro- duced, silver, since it was more accessible to the varying demands upon it, and could be more readily produced according to the vary ing needs of the commercial world had varied almost none at all in value. It was, there fore, more stable and trustworthy medium of exchange.
 The meeting adjourned until next week.