The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-08-29

Written for the Chicago Times by
Hon. H. G. Miller.

Why have the two metals, gold and sill
Yer, so widely separated, and why does one
ounce of gold, which prior to 1873 would
exchange for only 1512 ounces of silver,
now exchange for SO ounces of that metal?
The value of each metal is simply it's rela-
ton to commodities and other forms of
property. If we take American commodi-
ties-wheat and cotton, for instance, the
home prices for which are determined by
the prices of the surplus of these staples
sold in the English market, gold market
that silver bullion sustains about
the same relation to them that it did 20
years ago; that is, a given quantity of sill
Yer bullion will exchange for about the
same quantity of these commodities
that it did then but if we compare them
to gold we see that given sum in gold
will exchange for nearly twice the guam
tity of these commodities now that it did
then, and therefore the relation of gold to
silver, while silver is in the situation of
merchandise, is about the same its rela-
ton to these commodities.
If we go to Silver-uSing countries we find
that the relation of silver to commodities
and other forms of property is un
changed. that a given quantity of silver
will be exchanged for the same quantity of
commodities that it did 20 years ago. There
has been no fall of prices in these coun-
tries. consequently their manufacturing in
dustres have never been prosperous as
they have been during the last 20 years,
and their exports have been constantly in
creasing. But the fall in the gold prices
of commodities in silver-using countries
have corresponded with their fall in gold
using countries. We must therefore con-
clude that this change in the relative value
of these metals is due to a rise in the value
or purchasing power of gold, and not to
any fall in the value of silver. Consequent
ly we should pay no heed to the oft-repeat
ed statement in gold newspapers that there
has been a fall in the value of silver in
consequence of its over-production or the
diminished cost of producing it. These
falling prices, which all must admit have
brought on us 1.-The winter of discon-
tent" prevail universally in all god-using
countries, and in some Of them more in
tensely than in this country, and they are
everywhere accompanied with industrial
depression and social disorder. For this
sad condition the gold men have no remedy
whatever to propose other than the vain
cry for confidence. This widespread dis
tress must have an adequate cause COM
mensurate with its effect. What is that
cause?
These deplorable effects are confined to
gold standard countries; the cause of them
manifestly is the adopting, by the leading
commercial nations in 1873, of the gold
standard, and making their currency con-
yertible into gold This had the effect IF
limiting their primary money, upon which
credits rest to such quantities as can be
made from gold alone. The consequent
largely increased demand for gold for none
tary purposes caused a steady and continu-
Gus rise in the value purchasing power
of gold, and a corresponding fall in the
price of silver and commodities. Since gold
has become a form of wealth Of constantly
increasing value, it furnishes subject in
which accumulated wealth was, and is
now, being extensively boarded in both
gold ard silver using countries, thereby
withdrawing a large portion of it from
circua ton, and still further contributing to
a fall in prices. This boarding of gold has
constructive influence upon the moral
qualities of the men who own it, AS the
venerable DR.. Hopkins said: 1T is like an
India rubber bag; the fuller it becomes the
tighter it grows. No wonder, then, that
the owners of gold regard with complacency
the continuous increase in its purchasing
power and the fall in the prices of other
forms of property, and that they so strenu-
ously oppose any alienation of this condi-
tion large and dominant section of the
metropolitan press is thoroughly enlisted in
their favor. Money is a necessary and eX-
celent servant, but a relentless master.
Henry Clews of New York, the recognized
spokesman of the money interest, boldly
SAYS money is king. and it will require
the united effort of the people to dethrone
it, This one thing we must understand,
that our suffering is not attributable to a
fall in the value of silver, but wholly to a
rise in the value or purchasing power of
gold; that the work before us is not to
lift up silver, but to bring gold down; that
the single gold standard has become the
enemy of the human race and must be de-
stroyed, and that the only remedy for our
industrial and social ills is the bimetalic
standard.
Tn accounting for the monetary convul-
sions which succeeded the radicl change in
the standard of value made in 1873 by this
country and the commercial nations of
E,urope Lord Beaconsfield, whose words on
financial subjects were always listened to
with profound attention, said in an address
delivered in Glasgow, Nov. 10, 1873, on the
occasion Of his installation as rector of the
University of Glasgow: when the various
states of Europe suddenly resolved to have
the cold standard, and took steps to carry
il into effect it was quite evident that we
must prepare ourselves for commissions in
the money market not occasioned by specu- |
lation or any old cause, but by new cause
with which we are not sufficiently ac- |
uuafnted, and the consequences of which |
are very embarrassing" In the monetary |
conference held in Paris in 1878 Chancellor |
Coschen said States are afraid to en- |
nlov silver because of its depression, and |
the depression continues because the states |
refuse to employ it. We are in a vicious |
circle
Senator John Sherman, ~ letter adj
dressed to the Hon w. S. Groesbeck, one of
our delegates to that conference, and which
was placed before the conference at its fifth
.o;1 tr,ey fha mo-