Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-11-28

I
The Silver Convention now in session ut
st Louis should tread with care the path
which their convictions ON the silver qucs-
ton will no doubt induce them To- pursue.
The D.spa'oh was. when under IT'S founders
control. one of the warmcst of the adyo-
Gates of the BLAND bin. and has never
ceased 70 favor the policy Of cndeavoune
by the use of all proper measures To- put
1.-THE dollar Of the daddies upon an equal
fly with the gold dollar. Nevertheless, we
would not rush IN where WISER men fear 10
tread. We would not try any experiment
which we felt TO be dangerous. Let our
congressman study the subject IN all ITS
bearings before they resort TO any cxpedi-
ents which financial experts say would de-
prive us of the right to boast that We have
1.-THE best currency IN the world
Z. BENJAMIN ANDREWS, Esq, president Of
Brown University. read paper at the
third annual meeting of the American
Economic Association IN Philadelphia in
December last which that association has
Just had printed. Coming from the source
IL does che paper must attract much atten-
ton. President ANDREws seems 10 be por-
fectly impartial as between the monome-
tallists and the bimctallists. lie says very
truly that a rise in prices, or, what is the
same. fall in the value of money, Is not
an unmixed evil, for II draws money out Of
Its hiding-paces and renders business
brisk. lie adds that the central virtue of
good money is to have it, value persist
emily Constantly the same" But again
he manifests has cauhousness by saying
that a condition Of rising prices is less ont
rageOus than a condition OF falling prices.
IL this last assumption be true the
monometallist has an unsafe foot
ing; for 1t is deplorablo fact
that after paying of thousand millionsof
dollars Of its debt the national Govern
nent owes more now than II owed when IT
began to pay il, OF. in other words, itwould
take more cotton 10 pay the debt now than
81 would have taken twenty-fOur years
ago. The silver in silver dollar will
purchase more cotton now than IL
would in 1868. And 80 President An
pREws says Gam in moneys pur-
chasing power is change in that power and
ought not to be-" NO well-informcd per
son will claim that gold never apprc-
ciates or dcpreciates." To justify an
approaching money unit is TO justify
regime Of falling prices-a state OF things
which. besides involving no less injustice
than yaits upon rsing prices, may easily
yetard the amassing Of wealth as much in
year as would a national war" These
are truths which will reach the lover Of
Justice in spite of all the efforts that can
be made 10 induce the people to believe
that the bimetallists are mere theorists.
Again As TO the injustice Of a monetary
system which compels condition Of fall
ing prices. President ANDREWS, speaking Of
the national debt. says that though from
1870 TO 1884 that debt decreased about
$50, 600, yet II We take beef, corn,
wheat. oats, pork, coal. cotton. and bar
iron together as the standard. the debt
actually increased by not less than 80 per
cent Il il any wonder that farmers com.
plain Of the injustice of these falling
prices. and demand the free coinage Of sill
yer? Indeed il is not; for this sum Of
$3.50, 900. 900 has been as good as lost by the
Government and therefore lost by the tax
payers. No man can stand before the peo-
Die and argue down these facts.
But President ANDREWS is not On ex-
tremist lilo holds that the rehabilitation
Of silver ~ full legal tender cannot keep
changes of prices from recurring, though
be also holds that silyeris q better measure
Of yalaes than gold. and that the two to-