The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-12-05
WAR ON THE MINER.

The gold and silver produced yearly in
this country is about $4,000, oO0in value,
The production Of precious metals by the
whole world is about $500, 900.
The gold and silver product of this coun-
try is therefore two-ffths that of the
whole world.
The population of this country is g.
100000; of the whole world, about l, AGO.
DOC, 600.
The proportion of people occupying this
country is therefore less than one
twentieth of the population OF the globe.
That is, while the proportion of people
occupying this country is less than one
twentieth of the worlds inhabitants, the
product of gold and silver of this country
is two-fifths of the worlds droduct
We naturally expect to find, then, that
this country has some gold and silver to
sell to other nations; and on an average we
find that considerable amount of the pre-
cious metals is each year exported from
this country. In the fiscal year ending
with June 80, 1890, for example, the export
of specie was S52. las, 400 and the import was
1913, 976, 1926, the excess of the export over
the import being SIS, 49, 94
The specie thus bought and sold, ex-
ported ard imported, is sold by weight like
| -four or wool. 1t is not money, then, but
merchandise. Men speculate in it just as
they do in wheat or cotton. 1t is one of
our products, of which we export the sur
plus.
The principal use of gold and silver is to
furnish the material for coin money, each
country needing a certain uamount, fixed
with unerring certainty by the demands of
its trade. No country can proftably use
more money than this normal amount, and
if the coined money is made to exceed this
amount, the value of each piece of money
falls in the exact ratio of the over issue.
The need of money arises from the ex-
change of products; and that amount of
money which enables each producer to ex-
change his surplus products for other
things he does not produce, is the amount
of money required in country.
Money may be compared to wagon in
which goods are carried. When the wagon
is large enough to carry all the goods of
fered for sale, there is no gain in increas-
ing the size of the wagon. The size of the
wagon is regulated by the amount of pro-
duce it carries and the frequency of its
trips. In like manner the amount of money
needed is determined by its abundance and
its rapidity of circulation.
When man laDors and receives his pay
in gold, silver or greenbacks, these are
simply checks with which to purchase
goods. No man works for money, but for
what he can get with money. He doesn't
care whether he is paid in bank notes or
gold What he wants is the goods. Money
is check, good on any store. It is a certi-
ficate that the owner is entitled to that
much wealth; it shows how much he has
earned: it is bill of credit valuable only
because it is convertible into goods. The
amount of goods these checks will purchase
determines their value. From 1863 to 1879,
this country had no coins-only greenback
checks, yet no one noticed the difference.
A weak contemporary states that a surplus
of gold or silver is an impossibility.
Why is it exported thenl 1t is true the
people of this country win buy all our sill
yer or gold, fthey can get it at their price
but the miner has the right to sell his silver
in the market in which he gets the most for
, it. After selling all our market will con-
, sumo at the usual price, there is no posi-
BILE way OF selling the remainder here un-
, less the price is lowered. Then, and not
till then, is the silver sent abroad. The
fact that any Of our silver is ever sent
} abroad shows that its price is lower here,
!, or it would not be sent. There need be nc
talk about exporting gold or silver if our
, market will consume it all, that is, if it will
J bring as much in goods here as elsewhere
, Owners of gold or silver are not such fools
as to send these metals over the sea if there
is the same demand for them here that
: there is abroad AS well say to miner
! that he must keep his gold in his pocket
: instead of buying provisions with it; as
: well say to the Ontario mine owner t.
; keep his silver in Utah, as to say to the
: owners of precious metals that they mus
: sell all they have of them in this country
: no matter how little they get for them.
This foolish contemporary urges that the
) export of precious metals makes thi.
country poor and should therefore cease
; 1t iustifies the tariff, which conficates one
! third of the pay the miners receive for theil
, surplus, and says the amount of this con