The state herald., 1890-03-28
THE SILVER pRoBLeM.
An Able Paper by the Editor Of the
I Salt Lake Tribune.


J Salt Lake Tribune.
| In the February Commonwealth
Judge Go odwin replies to recent article
in the same magazine by Mr.. Posey Wilson
on tho status OF silver. The paper is such
an able exposition Of this subject that We
give 1t nearly entire:
The argument Of Mr.. Wilson that there
can be no double standard, but only gold,
Ia very subtle, and we Judge that 1t is the
money question from u bankers polished
iron grooves.
The first assertion In his argument which
arrests attention, is tho following:
"a Nation which makes n disc OF metal
and equivalent to a certain value Of weight
and fneness, us three hundred and seven
ty-one and five-tenths grains of silver
equal to twenty-three and fifty-two ono
hundredth grains Of gold, is defying tho
laws Of supply and demand and is guilty OF
tyranny towards the people,"
Right there prudence demands o halt.
There are different ways of stating such
propositions. Suppose the counter propo-
sition be presented us follows:
| For Nation with an interest bearing
debt OF s2,250, 100000, with States and
cities owing us much moro, with corpora
tions owing as mucn more, with Its citi-
|
debts payable in either of two metals as
the debtors might elect, for the representa-
tivcs OF such u Nation, to decrce that one
| OF these metals shall no longer retain its
| dcbt-paying function, that all debts shall
be paid In the other metal, is to defy every
law of justice and business honesty, 1t is 70
violate all existing contracts, and the re-
suit Is tho merciless spoilation of the peo-
pie. Or IL may be stated in another way,
| as follows;
When the experience Of the ages has re-
duced two products Of labor to an exact
| ure OF values, for any Nation to ignore the
one product, and to place oil the burden
| on the other, is to reduce values, to take
| from the debtor class fully seventy-five
per cent. of its capacity to pay, and is u
shameless, merciless robbery OF the great
mass OF producers, in the interest Of n
small band OF interestgathcrers.
Mr.. Wilson cannot bc ignorant of the
fact that the law OF supply and demand
ncts out indirectly when applied to money.
The values OF commodities are governed
by the amount of money In general circu-
lation among people. Property values
doubled from the Atlantic to the region of
the unappropriated Government lands in
the Mississippi Valley, between 1919 and
1859, because the placers of California had
doubled the amount Of gold In the country.
Does he pretend that u HAT that.if general,
would strike out of existence half the
money of the world, would not reduce val
ues correspondingly. He assures us that
.'in all the storied past, gold has been in
higher esteem than silver We fear that
this is but one Of MIR. Wilson's stories.
When the conspirators OF England, prior
to 1916, determined that because of the
product OF American mines there was so
much money that interest had become too
low, and that one or the other of the prec-
ious metals should be demonetizcd they
hesitated good while which should be
sacrificed, but finally determined that us
India and China and all South America
were silver-standard countries, and as no
colony OF England was producing silver,
they would adopt for Great Britain, on the
grounds OF expediency only, the "yellow
metal.h Again the tankers Of Central
Europe in 1874 became alarmed at the
mighty flow of gold from California and
Australia and determined to ignore 1t as u
precious metal, and more than one Gov
ernmcnt there actually dcmonetized 1t.
Above al things a writer should be GER
tain of his facts.
notice that Mr.. Wilson all through his
essay deals with the matter OF the possible
restoration OF silver, us though II wns
something which concerned no one but
silver miners and silver mine owners.
The assumption may do for New York
banker; II Is ncxpiicable coming from u
men who raise wheat and cotton as much
more than the silver miner, us the value OF
their products exceeds the value of the
silver miners product: for. us we have
shown already In this paper the shameful
legislation OF lsii did not In the least de
tract from the purchasing power of silver.
A thousand ounces OF II Ia the bar will pur-
chase Just us much now of the products Of
labor us the same amount coined, with the
siguet OF the Government upon 1t, would
have bought in 1877 whclfit commanded u
premium over gold. The demand Of the
silver men is In the direct interest Of every
man who labors, no matter what may be
his field, all over our land. Tho fall in
values has gone 10 every product Of the
soil and to the soil itself. Mortgages on
the farms OF the East have doubled since
the decentralization of silver. the value of
the farms themselves has fallen Ia the
same ratio that silver has fallen, though
In that period the population OF the country
has increased iifty per cent; hence, when
Mr.. Wilson talks OF the silver mine owners
wanting u better market, as though that
was all there was In the theme, ho talks
more than foolishnessi his words sound us
might those OF an accessory after the fact
TO the crime OF silver characterization.
Neither is he right when he snys, there
Is no question oi former rights or Withheld
rights To IT," The question of violated
rights Is the que ton above NIL others. IT
MIR. Wilson owed 100. and By u trick OF
the Colorado Legislature, his debt was Ia
effect made 81 800 and at the same time his
capacity To pay was reduced seycnty-fvc
per cent. he would, fancy, have very
much TO say about violated rights.
but may be he cannet sec the pcrtincncy
of this comparison. | will try TO show him
All men are not bankers. The great ma
lority OF the world are poor working men.
Suppose Mr. Wilson, In ls,a, had been ed
t.l nntN "A q "a fut md h. hal
possessed 5000. Suppose he had found
farm that needed improvements. but that
suited him, that he could buy for $1,000
and that he had bought II, borrowing S.
uOo NJ seven per cent. on ten years. with
the agreement that he would pay the inter.
est for five years and thereafter $1,000 n
year on the principal for i've years. A
proht OF ten per cent. per anhum Is "A fair
proft In prosperous times 10 make In farm.
ing. Well, suppose he had paid the inter
est for five years. In the meantime land
and land products had fallen two per cent
per annnm. At,he end OF the sixth year
he could have paid no interest, there was
no profit left. II would have continued
worse and worse for the next four years
At tho end OF ten years he would have
found himself In debt the original sS,Op,
the interest for hvc ears, 81. 80. "a total oI
tB, 80 and hi. farm would have been worth
only 8, 900. For ten years work he would
would have ,windlcd To u, 900 or seventy
i've pcr c nj. 1hc man from whom hc
borrowed tho 5000 wonld have collected
sl,.i0 In interest aud would have
held an Indebtedness tp tho
farm for s6,;a0. That illustration showa
what has been happening NIL over the East
since ls,a,
In n contcmptuous mood MIR Wilson ns'
surcs us that "to common man In every
day Affairs II appears but a question OF ~
ilntion md tampcrlng with the s,sndars,n
What has been Inflated II II rcquiiss
thirty per cent more Of all the products III
labor 10 buy nn ounce OF gold now than III
did sixteen years ago, " that IL the ofhy
article on which there hna been any III.
vance, does II not look as though possi ply
gold Itself hns bcon inflated TO u pDnt
which. for the work OF men. whom M ,s
urcd by the gold yard'stlck. leaves no
profit To the worker.
Mr.. Wilson insists that "tho very frm
| standard involves the Idea Of slnHlche ~
well m stability" 10 illustrate III nh.