Morning journal and courier., 1886-01-13
CAPITAL AND LABOR.

The Silver Question And the Labor
 Question Talked About By the Cur-
 rency Reform League.
 At the Currency Reform leagues recent meeting the president called attention to what he termed widespread uneasiness among all classes. Wage-earners were on strikes, debtors and business men were in grave uncertainty over the whole world; cap italist classes were by no means without dis turbances. The question of silver disturbs them all Continuing he said: We are told that unless we stop the coinage of silver that we shall drive out the gold and go to silver, and then assurodly creditors will in sist on their debts being paid at once, or that the note or bond be changed to gold. The same men say if we do stop the coinage of silver we shall have first drop in the price of silver, then a panic, and then lower prices for cotton, wheat, and all other commodities, lower wages, de creasing ability to pay interest and.. principal. foreclosures, etc.; but we may also so dis tress the debtor classes of England, Germany and other countries that the creditor classes, through the destruction of their debtors in England, Germany and other countries, will join us in free coinage of both metals. This will bring monetary peace. But is this not an awful price to pay for peace! It is not very cheerful prospect certainly. We need above all things good nature, clear thinking and lucid statements by the very best heads and hearts of the coun- try.
 MT. Shepherd, workingman, was then in- troduced and illustrated the effects of the stopping of the coinage of silver in most definite and easily understood state in 1ahOrarS' he thought had been fully 50 per cent from 1868 to the present time. The man who then earned $4 day now got only S2 day. Some workingmen thought that the $2 day was just as well if their living cost them only half as much as before. If man had a mortgage on his home of $1 900, and it took him fifteen days at $4 day to pay the interest, it would take him thirty days to pay the interest at g day. It would take him 250 days to pay the principal at $4 day and 800 days at $2 day.
 To show that stopping coining silver would raise the price of money, or, which is the same thing, put down the price of every commodity and the wages of every man, he said: If New Haven keeps on growing in population and law were passed that no more houses were to be built, it is easy to see that rents must go higher; that is, more days works would have to be given to pay the rent than if new houses were being built all the time. More houses will make lower rents, and so more money will raise the wages of every workingman. MT. Shepherds conversational remarks were very pithy and carried the audience easily with him.
 He was followed by MT. Louis Day, who made some interesting remarks and promised hereafter to give more definite statement of his views. He favored the regulation of interest money by law.
 Dr. Fuller then gave some clear and distinct statements iu writing in regard to the func tions of money and the wrong and wickedness of making gold, that was irregular as regards the amount that given number of days work would produce a given quantity of it, the sole standard of value; while silver was far more nearly equal in the number of days work required from decade to decade to produce a given amount of it. He made some very vigorous answers to questions propounded that are outside of our limits.
 A paper by MT. Henry Rogers was read showing most forcibly that to stop the coin age of silver now would be far more likely to SOW the wind and reap the swhirlwind than to keep on coining it. The whole of Mr. Rogers paper was regarded by all present as full of weight and force the articles that have attracted so much attention and favo1a- ble comments under the name of "specie basis"