Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1893-08-17
THE CHEAP MONEY Racket
What It Is Costing and win Cost the Wage
Garner.

The CHEAP MONeI HACkEls
What It L. Costing and win Cost the Wage
Earnor.
There are thousands and perhaps mil
lions of poor people who imagine that
all the country needs is more currency,
and they think that the free coinage OF
silver would increase the number Of dol
lars per capita and make times better.
What now would be the inevitable ef-
fects upon the poor, hardworking peo-
pie Of the free coinage OF both gold and
silver as proposed by the bimetallists
who domineer the Peoples Party and
who hope to hold the balance OF power
between the two old parties?
They propose to have this nation coin
gold at about its actual value and silver
at about twice its actual value in the
markets Of the world-that is, to make
silver dollars worth about half as much
as gold dollars, at least outside OF this
country. They say that we will then
have more currency, because we will
have both gold and silver in circulation.
QOW WILL bCuCuAO WOAA
In the first place, we cannot have a
double standard of currency any more
than we have double standard of yards,
bushels or pounds. One must give way
to the other. II merchant should have
two yardsticks, one 36 and the other 20
inches long, and attempt to sell cloth by
either at the same price, he would soon
have no use for the 20 inch stick. II
grocer should attempt to sell bushel of
red apples for g. and bushel of russell
apples worth equally as much in all 9th
er markets for 81, his red apples would
be likely to rot on his hands. Men will
always get as much as possible for their
money-that is, buy as cheaply as posi-
BILE. An intelligent farmer will not pay
5000 for a moving machine when he can
get another just as good for $10O. Hu-
man nature is the same when it comes
to money.
If this government should declare that
a cheap dollar should have the, same pur-
chasing power as dear dollar, the dear
dollar would soon be discarded, and the
cheap one would have the field to itself.
We should not have enough gold to pur-
chase all Of the silver of the world and
to make gold and silver interchange
able at our mints, and hence gold would
soon be at a premium and would be
withheld from circulation. We would
have swapped gold for silver money and
would not have increased the amount OF
currency in circulation. This is exactly
what will occur at present if Secretary
Carlisle is unable to pay gold for the sill
yer which he mustpurchase each month.
AS soon as he must pay out silver for sill
yer, gold will go to premium, and all
who are fortunate enough to possess any
will hold on to it. Cheap silver dollars
will be the only ones then used as cur
rency, and of course prices will 60 up
some at once and some later on.
| And right here is where the rich spec
ulator gets in his fine work at the ex
pense of the poor laborer. Prices oi
commodities, provisions, manufactures
etc., which the laborer has to use every
day, will go up at once, and the shrewd
speculators who have capital to pur
chase large quantities Of these commodi
ties Just before the break will make for
tunes by selling just after the break al
the increased prices. If wages would
go up at once SO that the price of days.
labor would purchase as much as be
fore, the workingman might not los,
much by the change. But the price o.
labor-all the workingman has to SELL
is the last thing to adjust itself to tn
inflated values. Wages can be forcei
up only after strikes, lockouts and labo
troubles extending over months, an(
perhaps years. During this period la
borers will be paying increased price
; for what they consume and will be get
ting only the old rate of wages. TIL
} total loss to wage earners of such
change would be hundreds of million
] of dollars. 1t would be pocketed b,
} capitalists and Spectators.
Would there ever be any gain to tn
workingman, the farmer or the salariet
clerks and professional menl On tn
contrary, the loss would continue to in
crease. If half of the civilized nation
, of the world were doing business on
! silver basis it is not unlikely that gilve
would make as good and as stable cur
rency as gold. But little, half civilize'
Mexico is now about the only countr
5 still clinging to silver. If the Unite
States should discard gold and sdop
silver, it would practically ALLEVIATE itsel
from the rest of the world and would b
, at war with the financial systems of al
} of the countries with which it has i'm
portant dealings. Commerce would b
handicapped by the change, and the los
would in the end fall on the laborer an
. farmer. This is great country an
can do many things single handed, bu
S it would be foolhardy for it to attemr
D to buck against the financial system o
. the rest of the world.
] BYRON W. HOLT.