The Delta independent., 1893-12-20
ans I.lsE Of GOLo.
Tho Arguments Of Gold donometallist
Answered = Gold Has Appreciated In

AnowoE00 - ooA0 nAo ApPEOChAtosA AAs
value.
The monometallists in this country
and in England persist in denying that
gold has appreciated in value. During
the silver debate in the house several
of the single standard advocates, nota-
bly, Bourke Cochran, loudly asserted
that there was no ground for claiming
that gold had risen. And now we have
the article of Sir John Lubbock in the
North American Review for September
on -.The Silver Problem" He adopts
the views of the financial writer's of
that way of thinking, whom he quotes.
With them he takes issue with the BIZ
metallists, who assert that gold has
actually appreciated in its purchasing
power from so to 50 per cent since sill
yer WAS demonetizcd by the United
States and the nations of Europe.
When pressed to the wall by the
well-known and uadeniable fact that
given amount of gold or its equiva-
lent will now buy nearly, il not quite.
80 per cent more of the supplies for
living, the gold standard advocates in
sist that that fact must not be ascribed
TO any rise ia the purchasing power of
gold, but it is to be explained by the
decrease in the cost of production re-
sulting from the improvements of ma
chinery. the chcapening of transporta-
tion and the progress OF Industrial
methods Summing the matter up,
Sir John Lubbock. whom we quote be-
cause his discussion of the subject Is
the most recent at hand says that in
his opinion the fall in the value OF
commodities is mainly due to ecouo-
mics in manufacture and carriage. to
the discovery of new processes and
new sources of supply, and but slightly
to any appreciation in the value of
gold
That this theory IS untenable has
been shown time and again. 1t utterly
fails TO account FOR all the phenomena
While the prices of some articles of
production have fallen since 1873 from
those causes the shr:nkasc of values or
fall OF prices has been universal. and
canno. be explained by the improve
mcnts in methods of production of
particular things And besides, as n
matter of fact, nearly all OF the i'm
poriant inventions such as the cotton
gin, the steam engine, the sewing
machine and the like-inventions
which have rcvolutionized tie worlds
industrics-wcrc invented and practi-
cally perfected before 1873, when the
marked and persistent fall of prices be-
gan.
But before we proceed with this dis
cuSsion let us see Just what we mean
whea we say that gold has risen or ap-
prccia:ed in value
Gold money, though universally used
by the western nations rs measurer
of the relative value of the product of
labor md of all property, is still itself
n commodity whose value, US compared
with all other things. is determined by
the law OF supply and demand. When
gold money is plentiful, It being the
standard. it Will buy fewer things.
This phenomenon we call rise of
prices On the contrary. when gold is
scarce, II Will then puy more or every
thing, and we say that prices have
fallen OF course, the converse of this
proposition would be true. II the prod
ucts of labor were Unfortunately in
creased in relation TO population and
the stock of gold-the standard for the
measurement OF valucs-thc same phe-
noincnon would appear. There would
bc corresponding fall of prices But
we know that this is not So We know
that production barely keeps pace with
the Increase of population. This fact
In its relation TO food supplies, is stated
ia the economic law that consumption
Is ever pressing upon production.
II is not necessary here to secure the
statistics for the purpose OF proving
that there has been in all gold standard
countries universal fall of the prices
of commodities This shrinlsagc was
not observable, did not in fact begin.
Us has often been pointed out, until
1871, the very year that silver was set
aside and gold made the sole standard.
From that time To this the fall of prices
has been steady and uniform. II the
phenomenon could be accounted for by
improvements in industrial methods
and facilities for transportation. then
there would be marked variations in
the shrinliagc of various products
Those articles in the production of
which the greatest advance has been
made would show the greatest reduc-
tion. But this is not so Tho down
ward tendency of prices has been, as
we say, uniform. Butter and eggs for
instance, have fallen in price from thir-
ty to thirty-fivc per cent and il cannot
be claimed that this Is the result of i'm
proved machinery.
Curiously enough it can be shown
that the fall of prices since 1873 has
about kept pace with the fall of silver
bullion measured by gold. At least
this was SO until the recent slump fol-
lowing the closing of the Indian nints.
And this interesting fact amply sup
ports the contention that silver is less
fluctua,iag metal than gold In other
words, that while the price of conmod-
tiles estimated in gold have been con.
stantly falling the price of the same
things. estimated in silver, have not ma
tcrinlly changed.