The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-11-21

price rose to IL cents ana cOntlnueC
to rise until it reached 12 1-2 cents
which price it held with slight varia
tons for the next ten years. in the
face of an increasing production that
doubled itself in 1859 and 1860. 1t i!
the causes that produced this rise anc
sustained it for the next ten years, IL
the face of an increasing volume, that
soon doubled itself, which now pro
pose to consider.
AS the crises with which l have SC
far dealt resulted, principally. from
changes in the paper circulation,
have not hitherto alluded to the more
imperceptible influences of the volume
of the precious metals. But as they
will hereafter become the most impor,
tant factors in guessing the price OF
cotton, l deem it necessary now to re-
trace my steps, and consider their ef'
feet upon prices.
Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, y
page 1913, says: "From the high OF
low money price of goods in general,
or of corn in particular, we can infer
only that the mines which at that
time happened to supply the CONNER
cial world with gold and silver were
fertile or barren. That is, the output
from the mines governed the supply,
and the supply regulated the price.
Mr.. Jevons tells US that from 1889 to
1909 gold fell 46 per cent. This de-
cline in it's purchasing power was
caused by large augmentation OF Its
volume, by an increased production
from the mines. But in 1908 Bona,
parte invaded Spain and as the moth
er country was overrun, the Spanish
American colonies, from whence this
increase had been desired, began to
assert their independence. The con
sequent turmoil and unsafety of in
vestment banished capital from the
mining industry and the output being
diminished by one half, gold rose rap,
idly in value.
Speaking of this dearth of the pre-
cious metals aggravated by the paper
contraction of 1919, r. H. Patterson in
his New Golden Age" volume 2,
page 211, says: Perhaps the most
impressive testimony to the strange
widespread distress which then lay
like nightmare upon Europe, OF in
deed upon the whole civilized world,
is that borne contemporaneously by
the calm-minded philosophic historian
Sismondi, who wrote as follows In
1927, of what he justly called this
great European calamity "A cry OF
distress is raised from all the manu-
featuring towns of the Old World.
and all the fields of the New World
re-echo it. Everywhere commerce is
struck with the same languor; every
where it encounters the same Difficult
ty of selling X x this period of dis
tress went on, tightening merely fol
passing moments, until suddenly in
1S4S, the apprehension of Sismondi
was suddenly realized All society
was shaken to its foundations; gov.
ernments were overthrown by wild
impulse. a grasping after some better
order of things; and wars and revolu
tons rolled over Europe, from the
Baltic to the Adriatic, and from the
Bay of Biscay to the Euxine."
It was of this epoch, 1s4S, that Mr.
Shepperson spoke in his interview
with the New York Tribune, repub
lished a few days ago in the News
and Courier. when he said: I'm Octo-
ber, 1S4S, under the influences of fpoliti.
cal disturbances on the continent, and
financial panic in England, the price
of middling upland cotton, in Liver
pool, was forced to 3-s pence. That
was the lowest quotation in the Liver
pool market until now, when the price
is down to 3-32 pence"
This low price in 1S4S, as we have
seen, was not due to overproduction,
for it's volume had remained nearly
stationary for the ten preceding years
it took place, however, after forty
years dearth of the precious metals
which had reduced the price of com
modities, cotton included, to nearly
one-third of their former value.
Professor w. S. Jevons, in his
Money and Mechanism of Exchange,
page 1896 says: From 1909 to 1S49 it
(gol0 rose again in the extraordinary
ratio of 100 to 245 or by 145 per cent,
doing whatl-rendering government
annuities and all fixed payment ex'
tending over this period almost two
and half times as valuable as they
were in 1S09."
Cotton is now lower by 5-32 of a
penny than it was it 1S4S. Why is ii
so lowe From the same cause that re,
duced the price in 1S4S-a dearth OF
the money metals. How was this
dearth occasioned9 By discarding sill
yer from the mints, and thus cutting
off one-half, or over, of the natural
supply from the mines. Why was
this done2 To make the dollar unit
twice as valuable and to double the
value of all credits. How does this
double the value of the money units
1t reduces by one-half the metallic
basis of money and proportionately
controls it's volume, and as did the
contraction occasioned by the panics
of 1919 and 1887, reduces by one-halt
the value of all commodities.
Whom does this benefit? All those
who live upon the labor of others-the
creditor and income classes. Those
who receive salaries and annuities,
and whose charges are fixed by law OF
custom.
How does it benefit them2 1t ena-
bles them to command twice as much
labor and twice as much commodities
for the same money.
Whom does it injure? All debtors
and producers. How! By doubling
the burdens of all debts, taxes and
fixed charges and diminishing by one
half their power to pay them-a condi
ton of affairs which all standard writ
e,.s q aoree does more injury to d cOun.