The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1893-06-21
NOT A GOLD MAN NOW
A NEW YORK NEWSPAPER MAN Es-
POUSEs THE CAUSE OF SILVER.

~ I'VE" 1OSaN tN6VOVNCGn MHN 6Sc
POUsEs THE CAUSE OF silver.
He Says the Sentiment In Favor Of the
White Metal Il Growing All Over the
Country - Interesting illustrations BY
Comparison Of Prices.
J. b. Beadle arrived in Rockville on
Wednesday Of last week and soon con-
vinced his friends that he had by no
means lost the use of his voice. While
be talked on many things not Of general
interest to the public. he also had some
thing to say about current politics. His
views on silver struck The Tribune ed
tor as Of special interest, the more go as
Mr.. Beadle confessed to considerable
change Of opinion and thought that he
was but one Of many newspaper men in
New York who had been driven by cir
cumstances to modify their views. For
instance. Matthew Marshall, the great
authority in the columns Of the New
York Sun, has recently given utterance
to views which have caused him to be
classed as ''silver man."
In answer to many inquiries Mr.. Bea-
de said: 81 concede that I havechanged
my mind Otis the privilege of a man-an
idiot can't, but I'm in pretty good COM
pany. John Sherman, if I remember
rightly, has changed his two or three
times, and even in New York city the
sentiment in favor of silver is growing.
There isn't doubt of it. The whole
thing resolves itself into this, Has sill
yer deprecated? I answer no. Emphat-
ically mol The purchasing power of sill
yer is certainly as great if not little
greater than it was 20 years ago."
"You mean coined silver-that is, sill
YER which, according to the goldbugs, is
held up to the gold standard-don't your
mo, sir! mean crude silver-silver
sold at the gold standard if you like.
make this broad proposition: A bar of I'M
coined silver, with no government stamp,
no legal tender power and no fat, sold if
you please at its present price in gold,
will buy on the average as much as it
would have bought on the day silver was
demonetized, now 90 years ago. Inshort,
Ill this talk about deprecated silver,
debased currency and the like when
stewed down simply means an increase
IN the purchasing power of gold"
Can you prove that"
LAS easily as falling off a log. Take
> few common articles as they are sold
right in Rockville. and you will see that
while few things-pork, for instance
are phenomenally high for temporary
and exceptional reasons, yet on the av-
erage the decline in general prices has
kept pace with the alleged decline in sill
yer. To put it in other words, silver has
simply retained it's purchasing power,
while gold has steadily appreciated. You
know my old view on money-that the
great desideratum is to get medium
which will, so far as possible, remain of
the same value. Well, as between silver
and gold. silver is unquestionably that
medium. 1t certainly has not gained or
lost 10 per cent in purchasing power,
since 1865, while gold has just as GER
tainly gained over 20 per cent. To my
mind this is as clearly proved as any
thing in the history of commerce. Now
let us take few illustrations
I'm 1878 wheat ranged am COM
PEELED to give New York prices through
out-from $1.55 to 1926, average $1.9O.
Gold premium 80. Gold price of wheat
$1.36. Silver at nominal par. There
fore an ounce of silver at $1.29 29-1OO
would buy bushel and minute frac-
ton of wheat. Today an ounce of silver
at 81 cents will buy bushel and two
quarts of wheat in the same market.
Corn ranged from so to ", average in
1873 63a cents. Today it is, I believe, 40
cents. So the silver ounce will buy but
q fraction less. Wool was IS to 55, av-
erage As. Gold price 80. Silver buys
about the same. Bar iron ranged $75 to
$40. average $92.5O. Gold price $62.
Today bar Of uncoined silver will buy
one-third more bar iron. But I need
not enlarge.
You may run through the whole list
of. say, 20 articles of prime necessity, and
you will find that while some are higher
in silver just as many are lower, and on
the average the uncoined silver will buy
just as much as in 1878. And if our high
tariff friends told the truth last year,
or came within so degrees of it, the sill
yer will buy great deal more in manu-
features than it did in 1873"
But we free traders always claimed
that was the result of inventions and
improved transportation"
LAS to that l might quote Thurlow
Weed and say it was good enough
Morgan till after the election. That or
something else certainly was big Nor
gan if one may judge from the election
returns. But all jokes aside, while it is
true that invention and transportation
account for much of it, q good deal is
also due to appreciation of the standard
In other words, this marvellous cheap
ness of which the protectionists say so
much-they exaggerate it shamefully-
is largely due to the increased purchas.
ing power Of gold. You can bring it to
an exact test if you like Invention has
not made land, but real estate outside Of
the cities has cheapened quite as much
IS other things
men who ought to know tell me
there is not an acre Of regular farming
hand in New York which is worth any
more than in 1860, and most of it is
worth less. It certainly ought to be