The advocate and Topeka tribune., 1893-05-31
Is MONEY WEALTH.


lJ8ury as a means of wealth, it is not
strange that he fails to sec anything
wrong In our national finances That
system is especially arranged and man
aged to suit bankers, and our great pub
lie officers are considered wise or unWise
in proportion as they please or displease
Wall street. Then when our fallen
greenbacker adopts the single tax theory
merely to quiet his conscience, without
understanding it, he is quite beyond
hope. There is no use discussing with
him further except in the most public
manner for the good Of others. This is
my reason, Mr. Editor, for asking further
space in your valuable and widely circI-
lating columns, to reply to Brother
Snediker.
In his last article he spends half col
umn in his tsngle about the use OF
words. He says that "worth," ," "Vslue "
and "price are interchangeable. Then
he Immediately coDtradicts himself by
saying that values do not attach to
things on account of their utility as in
trinsiC worth, and gives several illustrs-
tions. It seems to me that he would
better divide and arrange his words 30
that he can understand them himself.
Value is q general term. We have in
trinsic value, commercial value and
monetary value. Some articles have but
one, others two, and still others three.
Worth is another general term, inter-
changeable with value. Price is similar
to monetary value, but not always iden-
tical.
After kicking through his tangle with
"ths ocean," good woman" and other
things which he says have "worth" and
"value but no price, he quotes me, and
re- marks as follows:
e. ''Mr. Davis states: when money plenty,
commodities have high monetary value.
When money is scarce, commodities have a
small monetary value My friend here
states a general principle which, if true, il
true in all places, is true the world over
When we 60 into a new country, just open.
ing PUP to settl ement, we find little money, and
commodities high; at the same time, if we
90 whore population is the most dense, and
money in the greatest volume, we find com
mOdities of the lowest monetary value
while IL We go into new and rich gold dig
RinRs we will find some commodities witt
very high monetary values. We must admit
there is more money in the state Of New
York in proportion to population thar
there is in Kansas. Yet, some commodities
have q much lower monetary value in New
York than in Kansas, while the converse il
true as regards some things in Kansas
While Mr.. Davis states that the $40 Pc
capita in the United States, $A in England
and $48 in France Is only " estimated" T" ant
which hold should illustrate the point, i
the amount of money in country make
high or low values (money Of account is tn
only way We have Of estimating values o
OOmmodities), he evades the real point b.
stating: Are the commodities offered il
the markets Of the three countries the samr
per capitsP If not, then there is anothe
element to be taken into the calculation.
But no where does he tell US what this las
element is."
Well, sir, that "other element" is tn
commodity elementl 1t is several time
stated in my article. The eOmpGrGtiU
plentifulness Of money and commoditie
control prices. This is the burden o
my entire article, and it is even men