People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1893-05-19
Insecurity of the Gold Basis.
st. Louis Republic.

1uC QuCcllOu uClOlt OuC UuoluCSo
men of the country is of choice be-
tween the cash or credit basis of
trade. OF course we can never have
condition under which the cash ba-
sis will wholly take the place of cred
it. We do not know that it would be
desirable, but we do know that it is a
great calamity to any country to be
forced entirely away from the cash
basis. Trade is then necessarily I'M
stable and there must frequently be
recurring cOllapseS.
The gold basis OF the country neceS-
states a most inflated basis of paper
of private credit. On the gold basis
collapse is inevitable. The only queS-
tiOn is of the frequency of its recur-
renee.
To examine the existing conditions
of trade is to see this at once. Trade
has increased at ratio so enormously
greater than the increase in the sup
ply of gold that there is hardly
gold enough in the world for interna-
tiOnal business. Put the country on
a gold basis and there will not be five
per cent of cash to the volume of bus
mess. The rest will be credit. The
holders of gold will then have it in
their power TO control all trade, and
the result will be an intOlerable COM
mercial tyranny as well as most in
secure condition of trade.
The powerful capitalists who are in
combination to bring the world into
subsection by controlling the gold
supply propose that the vast pyramid
of trade shall rest, not on its base,
but on its apeX-On the very small
supply Of gold there is in circulation.
In forcing the gold standard, they
force the country further and further
away from all forms of cash business.
All business must be done through
them and through credits which they
eithek grant or withhold as they
please. In ordinary times, the bust
ness man can capitalize his credit by
securing it with forms Of wealth
which will circulate as money. BIT
in times of depression and uneasiness,
he can no longer do this. The cur
rency of credit, issued on gold basis,
is suddenly and violently contracted
by the withdrawal in a few hours or
in a few days of millions of the paper
of private credit, which under this
system almost wholly takes the place
of cash as medium Of exchange.
Thus it inevitably happens that when
circulating medium is most needed
it is most sure to be lacking.
At the mere suspicion of stringency,
which can always be created at will
by those who control the gold supply,
the paper of private credit goes out
of circulation in such enormous guam
titles that the result is an immediate
collapse. Business, in the absence of
a supply of cash, provided by govern
ment in sufficient quantities to meet
the demands of trade, is at the mercy
of those who, during the flush times,
have quietly collected sufficient sums
IN gold to control its circulation, at
least for the time being. And the
time being will mean ruin for hun
dredS of buineSs men and democrat
izatiOn for the country.
A currency of both gold and silver
will not take the place of credit, but
it will give sufficient basis of cash
to prevent the frequent recurrence
of these violent and calamitOuS con-
fractions Of the currency of private
paper, which must be of frequent oC-
Currence as long as the currency is on
a gold basiS-aS long as all other forms
of circulation must be converted into
gold.
The result of changing six hundred
millions of silver money from cash
asset to liability payable in gold
must be panic after panic. The gov
eminent of the United States under
the Harrison policy is bringing all its
immense power to bear to continue
the abnormal demand for gOld-tO
bull it higher and higher, and to in
fate the paper of private credit to a
corresponding degree. The newt
able result is frequently recurring
collapse. The business of the cOun-
try is perpetually embarrassed by the
squeeze" for gold. From time to
time the squeeze" becomes a ''strin-
gency," and as the volume of credit
paper is suddenly contracted by the
boarding of gold, which is a necessary
incident of this policy, the stringency
results in a collapse of the entire vol
ume Of credit paper.
The safety of business demands the
maintenance of the bimetallic stan.
dard and the use of gold an silver as
money. If this is not done, the bust.
ness men of the country will be forced
into abject subjectien to a few great
money dealers, often the agents Of
combinations of European capitalists,
who will not hesitate to bring disas-
ter on thousands if by doing so they
can make nrOtit for themselves.