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

must be contraction. In this country
whenever railroad is built or a facto.
ry constructed ora 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 G.
Calhoun taught that if the country had
ten billions of property and q given
Quantity of money and tho 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 the government should after
ward change the bushel measure so as
to require 112 pounds instead of Sc to
the bushel to discharge the obligation,
paying the enlarged bushels would
place upon the debtor a burden he nev-
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-
vestigation of the public debt
Of the United States. That
debt in 1865 amounted to $2,80o,OO 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 CO.,.
CJ0,OOO. Web reduced the princi-
pal to SsG3o, ,O00,O0O. 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;
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
have resulted from local causes, but
few people will realize that the true
cause of the appreciation of money and
the depreciation Of property. Our own
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: "We 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 voted i'm fl.
yor of free silver and eight to one in
the senate.
Whenever = propoai!ion Is mado to
restore silver to the minta various OBJ
JectiunS are urged against it.. For in
stance, some people claim that tho in.
triDsic valuo OF the silver in II dollar is
not worth dollar. There Is no such
thing as 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 q conception Of the mind,
It Is something that resides in the mind
,nf In IL
sought. If aman was on an uninhab-
tied island and had no hope of ever get
ting eff he would prefer bushel of
wheat to 4 bnshel Of gold. SO what
the intrinsic value advocates really
mean 1S commercial value. The com.
mercjal value Of gold or silver is alwavs
equal. at least to the coinage yalue. If
the mintS Of the United States were
open today for the coinage Of silves at
the rate of 412119 grains to the 81, THAT
would bo Its value for all other pur-
poses, because If man had silver
enough at that rate to coin ono hun
dred silver dollars, that silver could not
be purchased for less than ono hundred
dollars, for so long as tho purchaser did
not 0ller the owner aa many dollars az
The silver could coin tho owner would
Just make dollars out it.
IneTe mas never been q time when
the commercial valuo of q money metal
fell below the coinage value when the
mints we're open to It. Twelve Of the
ahlest mon in Great Britain after a
most thorough investigation reported
TO the British government that France
had kept the commercial value all over
the world at 1915 to for q period of
seventy years, and that France, Eng
land, Germany, United States, or any
other Leading country could main.
tain tho value Of silver at
whatever rates It might es.
taDlish. If value Is a conception Of the
mind, 1T may be asked whether it can
ne created by law. No 1t can not. De,
@ olaho, however, may be created by law,
anu tnt mat makes the value. TO illns.
Ilace, suppose tho United States gov.
etnnenI .,a should prohibit by law the
,So tnn VI 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 horses
and their value would 20 down. 9Io On
the other hand there would be a laroelv
Increased demand for the yellow horaea
That Is precisely what the United St tates ho
aud other countries have done yuhon
they have declared by law that tho n