Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-11-03
THE LONG DEBATE.
1t Has Been a Campaign of Educa-
tion.
SO THINKS Mr.. ]. STERLING MORTON.
An Interesting Talk From the Sec
retary of Agriculture.
THE NATURE OF MONEY,

"A campaign of education" is the phrase
which is used by Mr.. ]. Sterling Morton, the
Secretary OF Agriculture when speaking of
the two months devoted to the discussion in
Congress of the silver bill. AS is well
known, although Mr.. Morton halls from u
part Of the country where silver men are in
the majority, he is not an advocate of the
free coinage Of silver. He can tell why he
Is not in language that is at once pictur-
esque and convincing. He has followed the
progress Of the silver struggle of the past
two months with close attention. and now
that 1t is over he believes that the delay has
resulted in more educational good than
financial harm.
The manufacturers and commercial men,
he said today to Star reporter. believed
that a delay in silver legislation meant
great loss of money in all branches of trade
and crippling OF the business interests.
While he thought that to some extent this is
true. whether due to this cause or not en-
tirely, yet he was of the opinion that the
long-drawn-out debate had induced people
throughout the country to read up on the
ubject of money, and he believed that, as a
consequence OF the debate and the thought
and deliberation given to this topic by peo-
u
wholesome ideas prevailed today in regard
to the nature and functions of money than
ever before.
What Some People Thought.
Some people thought" he said, that
government made money and gave to it its
value When, on the contrary. all that the
stamp of the government on money indi-
Gated was that the price cf metal had a
a., Ir hot
there was the legal tender quality of money,
but the value and nature of that was ex-
tremely doubtful and often over-estima ted
as economists had argued.
Some might say" he added, that the
government during the war issued fiat
money. But that was a mistake. The
greenbacks were not nat money, but were
simply promises on the part of the govern
ment to pay dollars. and their value nuctu-
ated as the confidence on the part OF the
people that the government would be able
10 redeem its promises increased or dlmln-
ished or fiuctuated
There is another result that 1 trust will
come from this discussion, and that is the
weakening of its hold upon the people of
what might be termed the idea of pater-
nalism in the relation Of the people OF this
country to the government As soon as
this financial depression began TO be 1eit
the people. or at least very largely so,
turned TO the government for relief. In
country like this. where the entity called
government is composed OF the individuals
who are citizens of the country, II is about
as sensible for them to look upon their own
government as a father to them as for
son to endeavor to establish by legal evil
dence that he rs his own father. We have
no wards in this country except those who
have been given an exclusive market for
their goods The government has built
about this class a high wall. which reserves
to them the American market
What the Government Cannot Do.
But the government cannot stamp
piece of metal that is worth IS cents and
by that act make it worth 81 The value of
a commodity depends upon the relation of
supply to demand. 1t is said that labor and
capital create values. But this is a mis-
take. Sometimes labor and capital may
erect a fine mill for the manufacture of
wooden blankets in a tropical country, and
an artificial ice plant near the north pole.
But in neither case is value created, for
the reason that there is demand. But
shift the location of these two establish
rhents, then there will be value because
there will be demand.
1t has been said that / was opposed to
the free coinage of silver. That is true
when there is such a disparity between the
mint price and the bullion market price.
III l have a twenty-dOllar gold piece, and in
some way the stamp of the government be-
Comes Obliterated, / can get so for it's bull
lion. But II twenty silver dollars were
crushed out of all resemblance to money
Under the weight of d railroad engine, for
example, the mass of metal would be worth
70 me about half what il was before the
accident occurred Before free coinage is
established there must be more of a parity
between the bullion and the coin value of
silver In my opinion no arbitrary action
can bring this about. Even an interna-
tfonal commission would be poweriess.
. IL Is my belief that today the people of
this country have a clearer comprehension
OF what money Is and what 1t means than
ever before"