The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1893-06-23
THE APPRECIATION OF GOLD.

cause of it. and that because of this
the debtor class is being ruined, land
that silver alone will save the coun-
try. Ha1per's Weekly has been looking
over the matter and admitting, as
one must. that there has been de-
cline in prices. thinks the situation
has been somewhat exaggerated by
the free silver advocates. 1t says that
"the year of 1873 was exceptional,
marking as it did the climax of a
period of speculation and inflated
prices, from which recOil was newt.
able under any circumstances. But
after making allowance for this, and
taking the normal prices of genera
tion ago as the standard, real and
substantial decline in prices has TAX
en- place. The decline has appeared
both in wholesale and retail prices,
and, to all appearances is permanent
and not unlikely to go further" 1t
is undoubtedly fact that the pro-
gress of invention has had as much as
anything to do with the cheapening
process which has been going on, eX-
erting a more powerful influence than
the alleged financial system,
No doubt the falling prices have
been harmful to certain classes, and
particularly the debtor class. Great
changes of any kind are always harm
full to certain extent, and work
hardship to many, until matters ad-
Just themselves to the new condi-
tions. But, 1--WE may observe by the
way" continues the Weekly, "that the
silver advocates, in their complaint
of the fall of prices, too often COM
pare the present situation with the
inflated paper prices of the period
Immediately after the civil war, and
so greatly misrepresent the real
change in specie prices. 1t is true
that even on gold basis prices have
fallen, but the extent of the fall can
not be guaged by comparison with
the regime of irredeemable paper"
The Weekly points out an important
fact which the SilveriteS always over
look, as follows:
In our fundamental regard, how
ever, the decline of prices has diff
fered during the last twenty years
from that which we should expect
from simple contraction OF the cur
rency. 1t has been confined to COM
modities; it has not appeared in the
return for human labor. Money
wages and incomes have not fallen.
They have certainly not fallen when
measured in gold, and even from the
paper money rates of the war period
the decline in incomes has been very
slight Reduced to specie basis, in
fact, the money return for labor,
whether we call wages, salary or in
come, has steadily tended to rise
throughout the civilized world for the
last half century.
Therefore it finds that the pressure
upon the debtor class has not been as
great as has been represented, as
their incomes on the whole have in
creased, though 1T thinks there are
undoubtedly individual cases where
they have suffered. The income of
the wage-earner is larger than it was
third of century ago, in gold. and
it will buy more, therefore the great
crime which the free silverite prates
about does not seem to effect the
great class of the American people.
In summing up the situation Harper's
Weekly says:
The truth is what is called the ap-
probation of gold is simply the result
of the enormous improvement in pro-
ductiOn which has taken place during
the last century, and has operated
with intensified effect during the past
generation. Inventions, machinery,
improved transportation, the opening
of new countries and the discovery of
rich mines have greatly increased the
efficiency of labor. The sum and va
riety of material commodities have
Swelled, and the concrete form in
which the results of the improvement |
have come within our possession has
been that of lower prices of commod-
titles. The world is simply better off.
If it has happened-and doubtless it
has happened-that the money in
comes of particular classes or partic-
ular sections have diminished, the
cause must be found, not in the scar
city of money, but in some eddy or
in the general stream
of progress. To the civilized world as
a whole, and to the mass of the peo-
pie in every part of it, the change in
the prices of commodities, combined |
as it has been with rising money in
comes, has been blessing and not an
evil.
THE Pioneer Press thinks that if |
President Cleveland is going to call
congress together for the purpose of
the Sherman silver law, the |
sooner he does it the better. 1t seems