The Louisiana populist. [volume] (Natchitoches, Natchitoches Parish, La.) 1894-1898, 1894-12-28

1hC oNi't 'lipi VI thO = u "iItt
ard ny Only ,ne-third of Il w)r,
has 80 appreciated the vslla Of 81
dollar ,has business Is par4!YEad
and tho products of labor forced 20
sell Lelcw the cost of PRODUCTION,
what results may We not expect
before the balance of the world is
placed upon gold basis. Already
Il has driven the price of sugar
with the tariff upon it down to
three cents a pound, cotton to FIVE
cents, wheat to forty cents, and all
the products of mans labor in like
proportion. A more cunning and
successful scheme was never de-
vised to enhance the value of gold
credits, and pauperize the produc-
tive industries of the land.
The money OF a country is its
legal standard or measure of value,
and when a government so arranges
its financial policy that dollar be-
comes dearer with each recurring
year. it legalizcs the robbery of
one class for the benefit of another,
and sleeps itself in crime as deep
as if it had used the army to dis
possess the producers of their
homes and firesides.
Impressed with the truth of this
proposition, the farmers of our
constitution incorporated as one of
the few articles ''That Congress
shall have the power to coin money
and REGULATE the value there
of, and of foreign coin, and fix the
standard of weights and measures"
The failure of the government to
observe this Injunction, and its ac-
tive corporation with the holders
of credits, marks the commence
ment of an era of agricultural, in
dustrial and commercial decline.
1t stamps the age with notoriety
for greater distress to the human
family than an army of invasion
would have done with its desolate
march. Had the government vio-
lated the constitution by changing
the standard of weights and meas
ures, without providing protection
for contracts under the old system
the fraud would have been so open
and conspicuous that no set of rep
resentatives could have withstood
the fury of an outraged people.
Precisely the same kind of a fraud
has been accomplished in money
contracts, by changing the stand
ard of legal mon " from gold and
silver to gold alone. For ages the
two metals have been running
mates in measuring the values of
the world. One has been o check
upyn the other. Destroy either,
and you practically lmpart the lost
value of one to the other.
Can we therefore wonder, with
the constant appreciation of the
gold dollar, that the products of
the field and factory should lesson
iu gold values annuallyf And
with the increasing demand for
gold, is there any hope for better
times or better prices for the pro-
ducts of iabOrs
A slight reaction may follow this
great depression even from a GOLD
standpoint, but &c permanent
prosperity can be obtained, until
both metals are recognized as the
basis upon which o financial sys-
TEN shall be SO enlarged as to meet
freely the demands of commerce
and trade.
Had we a financial system such
as existed prior to 1873, our pro-
ducts would be selling for twice
the amount they are realizing TO-
day. A dollar based upon the
concurrent average value of gold |
and silver is the only honest dol
lar. 1t is the dollar of the consti- |
tuition and should be the dollar of
to-day. If the value of dollar is
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