The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1894-11-30
perity, for the simple reason that you
discourage enterprise.
THE CAUSE OF PROSPERITY.


1.-THE real reason why we prefer
steady or rising to falling prices is
that the former condition stimulates
and the latter contracts production. I
The increased production is, of course,
the real cause of the prosperity. All
classes ultimately gain by it, and es-
peoially the working class, who form
the great majority of consumers. /
Even the creditor class will profit in t
the long run. They will find compen- |
sation for the fall in the value of
in the greater demand for |
their capital ca 1sed by the general
In ary case 1t would be
absurd to sacrifice the interest Of the
producer to that of the investor. If
England has become a great creditor
country it is because she has been a
great producing country. She must
make her capital before she can
lend it."
I thought, as the earnest British
political economist uttered these
words, that if they could have only
reached the American Workmen in
their full meaning what a blessing it
would have been to our country in
those days of increasing production
and prosperity which came to an end
in 1892, or if that grand statesman,
William Mckinley, now con cludlng
his remarkable campaign in America
could have heard these words spoken
within the sacred precincts of British
learning how he would have rejoiced
to find the greatest economic thinkers
of England thus recognizing the force
of the argument of the greatest prac-
tical statesman of the New World.
Again on this question Of the fall Of
prices Professor Foxwell said: "The
recent coal strike and the demand
for a living wage may serve to re-
mind us of the serious social difficulty
involved in the fall of prices. At first,
no doubt, the loss is borne by the
employer; but as the margin Of profit
melts away trade becomes depressed
and employment contracted, and
money, wages have to fall. If prices
are to fall continuously no power on
earth can prevent some fall in money
wages.
WAGES AND PRICES.
sIt is all very well to say that wages
must govern prices, not prices wages.
But prices are governed by the mon
etary supply, and unless the unions
can induce parliament to remedy the
monetary contraction they will find
it vain to attempt to maintain prices.
1t will be said, perhaps, that when
prices are falling the lower wage will
buy as much as the old wage did
with higher prices. This is true, but
it is not easy to get men to understand
it. Nothing is more difficult in prac-
tice than the adjustment of wages
to falling scale Of prices. Econo-
mically it looks simple enough, polit-
ically it may mean revolution. So if
we look at the cry for a living wage.
In one sense this is reasonable
enough. There is minimum Of com
fCrt below which it is neither right
nor economical to work human be-
ings."
ALI honor to Professor Foxwell!
That a British political economist
should so boldly enunciate this doc
trine is indeed sign that the old
Manchester school OF economies has
seen its best days. Tho Golden club
today does not number among it's
members a single political economist
of amy consequence or standing The,
men who, like Professor Foxwell,' arc
up to date have long since consigned
the old and antiquated fictions which
Professor Sumner and David A. Wells
preach at home to the sepulchers of
exploded thrones, common errors, and
fallacies which the credulity and su-
periority of mankind have permitted
from time to time to flourish.
Politically it has indeed meant rev.
olution in the United States. One
consequence of the further apprecia-
tion Of gold has been to intensity the
agricultural depression all over Eu-
''pe. ann especially in England Most
of the land charges are fixed, and
they weigh more heavily upon the
landowners as gold rises in value.
THE ROOT OF EVIL.
So again rents will become more
one1 GUS and further reductions must
follow. In short, the active producer
In every branch of industry runs the
risk Of finding himself, crushed by the
weight of an ever-increasing burden.
In short, said Professor Foxwell,
"the root evil of the present monetary
situation is the continued apprecia-
ton of gold, depressing, as it does, the
enterprise of the industrial class, the
great borrowers, without really i'm
proving the position of the compare
lively inactive class, the leaders of
capital"
"Are you making much headway ~
"Yes; we have done better this year
than ever before. You would BE- sur
prised to find the number of prominent
people taking up the subject and look
ing into it carefully. Once they do
this we capture them. Mr.. Balfour
has been a tower Of strength to us.
Mr. Courtney is likewise an acquisi-
tiOn.
Sir Henry James, one of the most
popular men in England, is now on
our side. Lord Rosebery admits it is
an important question. Still we don't
feel much like Dragging. There is
nothing your busy man dislikes so
much as to be squarely faced by in
convenient facts which compel him
to reconsider familiar course of ac-
ton, perhaps even to grapple with an
unfamiliar idea. 1t has been some
what unfairly said that it requires a
surgical operation to get a joke into
Scotchman, but anyone who has
tried both feats will admit that this
is child's play compared with an effort
required to get a new idea into an
Englishman. The Englishnan resists
ideas La outrance. Upon this char
acteristic it is easy to play. And our
opponents do play upon it, as you
Americans say, for all it is worth.