The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1894-08-30

sacrifice to obtain It. A money to be
honest must keep pace with the in
crease in business and population,
With any other kind of money there
must be contraction. In this country
whenever railroad Is built or n facto.
ry constructed or a mine opened the
money to pay for the work must be
taken from some other line of business
and thereby contraction results. AS
business increases the facilities for do
ing business should increase. John 6.
Calhoun taught that if the country had
ten billions of property and q given
quantity of money and the property
was doubled, unless there was u cor
responding increase Of the money sup
ply the money value Of the property
would not be increased. Blackstone
one of the greatest thinkers Of modern
times, said that horse might sell for
ten pounds at one time and twenty
pounds at another time, the difference
In price resulting from the difference
In the amount of money in the king
dom. If man give his obligation to
another for one thousand bushels Of
corn and tho government should after.
ward change the bushel measure so as
to require 1l2 pounds instead Of Sc to
the bushel to discharge the obligation,
paying the enlarged bushels would
place upon the debtor burden he new
er contracted for and give to the credi-
tor an advantage that he was not en-
titled to receive. The principle Is not
different when the obligation is ex-
pressed In dollars. A striking example
Of this unearned profit appears upon iu-
of the United States. That
debt in 1865 amounted to $2,8Ol,0OO 900
and 100000 bales of cotton
would have paid the entire debt We
have paid on the debt In principal, in
terest and premium more than SIS 5,C10,-
100000. We have reduced the princi-
pal to $sG35, 100000. Today the balance
due calls for more cotton, more flour,
more labor and sacrifice than the entire
debt would have commanded In 1865.
The burden has grown no lighter.
One of the most eminent bimetallIsts
OF the country in the early part of
1873, before the United States and Ger.
many demOnetiZed silver, wrote that,
in case any country of Importance,
adopted the gold basis, persistent de
cline would set in In the prices of com.
modities, money would appreciate;
that times would grow harder, spirit
OF unrest and dissatisfaction would
manifest Itself and would result In
strikes, idle workingmen seeking en-
ployment, sc. The history of the past
twenty years could be no more cor
rectly written. This prediction was
followed by another, in almost the
same paragraph to this effect: Various
causes will be assigned such as, i'm
proved machinery, new Inventions
and over production; some will also
claim that falling price and hard times
fn1 frntS
few people will realiZe that the true
cause of the appreciation of money anC
the depreciation ofproperty. Our own
experience and observation that all
these causes have been laid hold Of
during the last few years.
The remedy, however, is the impor.
tant question. The Democratic party
both by its platform and by Its tradi-
tion Is pledged to the restoration Of
silver to the mints. That platform
says: eve hold to tho use Of both gold
and silver as the standard money Of the
country, and to the coinage OF both
gold and silver without discriminating
against either metal or charge for mint.
age At the time Of the adoption OF
this platform In the House Of Repre-.
sentatives Of the United Statos seven
representatives to one had votel i'm fl.
vor of free silver and eight to one in
tho senate.
whenever = propoaitiOn Is mado to
rest ore silver to the minta various OBJ
jeciions are urged against it,. For IN
stance, some people claim that tho in.
trinsic valuo OF the silver in Il dollar is
not worth q dollar. There is no such
thing az intrinsic value. Intrinsic
means TO lie in. Silver has properties
such as hardness, which accompany 1t
wherever it goes. Value Is not Il prop.
erty; value is a conception Of tho mind
1t Is ssomething that resides in the mind
OF tho person and not in the object
sought. If man was on an uninhab
tied island and had no hope of over get
ting Cf he would prefer a bushel oi
wheat to a bnshel Of gold. SO what
the intrinsic value advocates really
mean ta commercial value. The com
mercjal value Of gold or silver is al wavs
equal, at least to the coinage value. II
the mints Of the United States were
open today for the coinage of silvek al
the rate of 4l219 grains to the ~, tYIat
would bo Its value for all other pnr.
poses, because If man had silver
enough at that rate to coin ono hun.
dred silver dollars, that silver could not
DC purchased for less than ono hundred
aolh"o, lol ~ lOnH hS LllS purchaser Qlu
not Ollor the owner az many dollars ae
the silver could coin tho owner wOulC
just make dollars out Of IT..
There has never been a time when
the commercial value OF a money metal
fell below the coinage value when the
mints were open to it. Twelve of the
| ahlcst mon in Great Britain after &
most thorough investigation reported
to the British government that France
had kept the commercial value all over
the world at 1516 to for q period O.
seventy years, and that France, Eng.
land, Germany, United States, or any
other leading country could main
tain tho value of silver a
whatever rates It might es
tablish. If value is a conception Of tht
mind, 1t may be asked whether it car
oe created by law. No it can not. De
,iiano, however, may be created by law
anu mat makes tho value. TO illns
c.ate, suppose the United States gov
ernment .,rn should prohibit by law the
use of any kind of horses IN this coun
Try except yellow horses, the result OF
such legislation would be to destroy the
demand for all other kind Of horse
and their value would 20 down O,