Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1893-02-28
the ARGUMENT FOR BI-METALisM

49, LAA 1879
there has existed with greater OF
less Intensity throughout the coA-
mercial world in Europe and Amer
lea, p condition Of discomfort which
differs from former periods Of de-
preston in it's apparent perma-
hence. At the same time there
has been an immense expansion of
the volume of business; so that,
while profits are at a minimum,
the turnover is enormously great
er. A continuous fall IN prices,
not only Of commodities but of
property of all kinds, has inaugu-
rated a process of Capitalization
by which the larger are swallow
ing up the smaller concerns only
to be themselves absorbed by still
greater aggregations of capital.
The smaller manufacturers, as
well as the Independent freehold
ers of commerce, maintain their
ground with increasing difficulty;
and, as large corporations multi
ply, the class of dependent wage
earners must increase. The man
of business, who, by his personal
activity and skill, might pay a
good rate of interest on the Dor
rowed capital experimenting his
own, is succumbing to the contin-
uous fall in prices which steadily
wipes out his margins; much as
the tenant farmer has been losing
while the value of land excepting
in large cities has been failing.
Capital is abundant, interest was
never lower, farming land is cheap
er than ever, but, in the face of a
continuous fall in prices, with no
prospect Of a check, the borrowers
and users of capital and managers
of land a e little promise of
profit
This process, until it is consum-
mated by a revaluation Of all prop
erty in material things must con-
tinue to cause uneasiness. The
laws of political economy work
their dispassionate course, like the
laws OF physical science and their
effects extend from class to class,
needless of individuals. The fall in
interest pinches smaller investors
who are not consoled by a fall in pri
cesfor the loss of half their incomes
and the peril of the rest. The
large capitalist may suffer at the
outset by the shrinkage but he is
not ruined and his surplus of saw
ing over his living may be prohta-
bly, re-invested IN the wreckage Of
smaller fortunes. The salient.
characteristic Of modern business
Is the elimination of hen of mod
crate means, but such a class has
always been considered to be the
cement of society. To build up
that class has been the aim of
every great political thinker from
the time of Moses. In our day it
is the main barrier against an ex-
aggerated socialism which is adj
vancing with very rapid strides in
consequence of the widening gulf
between the rich and the poor.
Many writers on political science
have dwelt with much satisfaction
upon what they call the abolition
Of the "middleman" man, but it is
a question whether the working
classes have benefited much by it.
The condition of the working
classes has improved; but the very
rich and the poor are now as never
before coming face to face, and
unions and strikes show that
the working classes think they do
not enjoy their fair proportion of
the increased economy in distribu-
ton and production, while the fall
in prices is compelling a resort to
lockouts for reduction of wages.
The wide diffusion of education,
both by the multiplication of
schools and colleges aud the uni
versal permeation of newspapers,
tends to increase the discomfort of
the working classes when they
compare their condition with the
occasionally ostentatlous luxury
Of the very rich. 1t is not sufh-
cient for them that they are bet
ter fed or clothed than before for
the Improvement of their condi-
ton lags far behind the awakening
and increasing needs of a progress
sive civilization.
Many of the vicissitudes Of
n H. a. A.