The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1892-05-21
A TIRED OLD BANKER.

JuSb llttl StdbiIS WY bHc SOlu iieH Oh
the last Congressional Coinage Com
mittee were correct in saying that gold
had an "unchangeable vaIue.n | told
the silver man with whom | was argu-
ing that all the great financial author
tiles held that gold never varied in
value, because its value was an intrinsic,
or an inside, value, and therefore was
unaffected by either Legislation or Cir
cumstanccs of any kind.
"Now,' said he, ''you have rested
your case on the propositions made.
But are there not some other things
necessary to be said to complete n full
statement of your ideas relative to hon
est money! Please open your pack
age, and if you have any additional
ideas bring them right out. Remem-
Der that Il mans best friend is
the person who exposes his error or
teaches him n new truth. Let us be
perfectly candid with one another;
have no end but the discovery of the
truth; follow all our ideas to their nat
ural conclusion, no matter what it be;
and not cvade, i'll the slightest degree,
any fact or point whatsoever which has
Il direct bearing on the money ques-
tion.n
These remarks surprised me because
had expected my opponent would do
the s%quirming. But | concealed my
feelings and replied that In order to be
perfectly frank | should say that Meth
er my fellow bankers nor myself have
publicly expressed our ultimate aim IN
regard to the national currency. Our
views and purposes are these, to wit
Gold is the only thing possessing II
fixed intrinsic value. Therefore gold
is the only honest measure of value,
and nothing but gold should be n legal
tender. We should burn up the green
backs just as fast as they ON into pos
session of the Government. We should
repeal all silver legislation. The sill
yer bullion now in the Treasury vaults
should be Immediately sold at auction.
All the silver dollars now in the Treas
ury, and all other silver dollars rs soon
rs they come into the Treasury, should
be melted down and sold at auction.
OF course, we want to use national
bank notes, but they would be under
our control, and we could contract
them whenever we thought it judicious
to do so.
AS n matter of discretion we have
not thought it wise to state these
things for fear of alarming the ignor-
ant voters. But this is what we want
as soon rs W. can get it, and / think we
ought to boldly proclaim the truth and
our faith in honest money.
The silver man smiled and SAID: al
supposed you really wanted what you
have just stated. Now, tell me wheth-
er the Inevitable result of accomplish
ing your purpose would not be to ruin
the majority of debtors and to put
most of the national wealth into still
fewer hands than it now isPn
OF course, | admitted that n tremen-
dous CONFUSION would occur while we
were going through the process of get
ting into n sound financial condition. At
present everything is inflated, because
our measures of value are not honest.
Destroy this dishonest money, and then
wages and prices would go down
where they really belong. This would
be a fine thing for the poor pensioners,
the poor savings bank depositors,
because the hest wheat flour would not
be over two dollars n barrel and all
other necessaries equally cheap. But
| pointed out that no real value would
be destroyed, because what the debtors
lost the creditors would gain, More
over, | showed that if an elderly debtor
should thus loose his property, little
harm would result, because in the
course of nature his life would soon
end, any way, and then he would not
need property. And il a young debtor
lost his property, it made little differ
ence to him, because he would then be
down on "hard pan" and could start
and build up on Il good foundation.
The silver man then said: ..This
is Just what Ikoew you all thought and
did not dare say. Now that YOU have
let one cat out of the bag, let me ask
you this; What effect on the value of
gold would be produced of without an
unexpected increse in the supply of
gold) the movement of the past twenty
years against silver should continue
until silver were no longer used as
money, anywhere on earth?"
This proposition | had never thought
of, and SO | sat still and said nothing.
| was worried. Finally my opponent
said: 'Of course, you admit that
such n procedure would enormously
increase the demand for gold. Let us
be honest and candidly follow out our
premises and see where we land"
After thinking the matter over a
while, | concluded to take the bull by
the horn, and so L said: ssAs gold has
a fixed intrinsic value, an increased
demand tor gold could not and would
not alter that inside value in the least
When | had said this | noticed that nay
antagonist wore n very cunning smile.
Thinks / to myself, what | have stated
is logical and must be true, but some
how or ether my instincts tell me that
| have fallen into u hole. Whereupon
the cold sweat ran down my back.
Then the silver man blandly smiled
and said: elf every gold dollar has Il
fixed intrinsic value does it make any
difference in the amount of this value
whether the number of those Gpflars be
large or small'"
l replied that, as each dollar had a
fixed intrinsic value, the number of
those measures of value was an entirely
immaterial circumstance. OF course.
each dollar, in, any case, must always
have the same. value; just rs each bush
ell is the same size, no matter how large
o how small the pile of grain il
measures. No matter how large the
number of yardsticks, each one is Just
three feet long. Just so with an honest
measure of value, to wit, a gold dollar.
Whereupon my opponent said /:
"That Is Il consistent answer, and musk
be true if your premises be true. Now:
please tell me what effect on the value
of gold would result from the discovery
of II mine from which ten thousand
millions of gold could readily be-
taken in II yearP"
The question made me sweat more
than ever. | saw that my premises
make the logical answer to it: Itwoald
make no difference whatever. But
somehow | felt that such an event
would enormously diminish the value
of gold. So, after thinking ana sweat
ing u while, | said | could not answer
that question because no such mine had
been found.
'sAh!" says the silver man, now
you are evading and are not seeking
the truth by a candid statement. You
thereby indirectly admit that your
premises are wrong, because you can