People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1894-05-04

The monemetallists talk about the
25.S grain gold dollar as honest
money" What would our good old
ancestors think of calling the gold
dollars of to-day, honest? About three
hundred years ago, during the reign of
Henry VIII, the value of 25.S grains of
gold was about ten times greater than
now. The only value of money, as
such, is its purchasing value. Hence,
its value is measured by the general
price of commodities. The more of
general commodities a given sum of
money will purchase, the more value
money.
Five hundred thousand hungry peo-
pie in the wilderness of JuGea, eight
cen hundred years ago, procured a
square meal for 2OU pence, or about
$50, or mills each. That was money
that was money" Seventeen cents
of it would board and lodge man a
week. One dollar and thirty-six cents
of it would pay months wages, and
SIT would hire laborer whole year.
The purchasing value of money then
was fifty times greater than it is now,
although the precious metals were no
finer, nor was their intrinsic, or useful
value, any greater then than they now
are. 1t was like an insufficient sup.
ply OF life preservers in wreck. The
life preserving value of this IN
strument is not increased by scarcity,
but its purchasing value may be aug
mcnted hundred fold.
Money is the life-preserver of indus
try and enterprise. When there is not
sufficient amount to accomplish the
object, it becomes very dear, and
commands fabulous products of labor.
AS the purchasing value of money is
measured by the selling price of la boris
products, 1T follows that dear money is
al"aysac:ompanied by cheap labor and
commodities. Doubling the purchas-
ing value of thousand million dol
lars of our money since 1868, has de-
prived the productive forces and ele-
ments Of our country of ten
thousand million dolllrS of their sell
ing value What matters it to a sink
ing man whether his life preserver
cost one or one thousand dollars?
So, what matters it to the industries
of the country what the intrinsic value
of the tools they use may be, so thai
there is an abundance to perform the
service?
One thing is remarkable in all TIT
history of the world, the cheaper an(
plentier the medium of exchange, tn,
better employed and paid is labor
and the greater and more general i
the prosperity of the people.
The exhaustion of the gold and sill
yer mines of Greece and Spain put on
the lamps of civilization, and eevel
oped the night of the Dark Ages, an
the dawn Of day only returned on I'll
wings of irredeemable government
credit tokens, as a substitute for tn
precious metals.
Men and misers hoard dear money
Dear money is an aristocratic toe
of trade.
1t accumu.ates by lying idle an
traficking in its credit.
An industrious people need an indus
trious money.
They need money that everybod
wants, for the sake of getting rid {
it. They need money so useless fC
every other purpose that it must kee
constantly employed to pay its kee
ing.
1t is said that to double, or to qua
ripple our volume of legal tend,
notes would depreciate their vail
relatively to gold.
That is just what we need. That
Just what this country is suffering +
the want of.
They would depreciate relatively
labor and all kinds of labor product
Nh}sars are SO dear that it takes