The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1894-08-29
THE SILVER QUESTION.
AVERY ABLE ARGUMENT FROM THE
FREE COINAGE SIDE.

- SCnl H01G NnSO"%'N' NV" '''~
FREE COINAGE SIDE.
a Quiet Man Who Hss Suddenly I'm
pressed Himself Upon the pubNc-A
Presentation OF the Question thst !.
Wen Worth Residing.
GREENv1LLE. S. c., Aug. 25.-"Joe'
Johnson, as everybody IN Lsurens
calls him, made a quiet canvas:
for Congress in this district In 1892
He strictly toted bis own skillet, bul
received very little more than the Con
Seryat1ve vote because he frankly
avowed everywhere that he was not
Tillman man and did not intend tc
vote FOR TillmaD.
This year be is making another quiet
canvass, speaking often to small gath
eripgs at country places. The people
however, have suddenly walked TO the
conclusion that in this comparatively
little talked Of candidate they have 4
very able man and the one who knows
more about the all important financial
question and talks better about 1t than
anybody else.
The follov iGg is a synopsis Of Mr..
Johnson's spaecI. on free coinage which
was declared by Governor Tillman to
be the ablest, clearest and strongest
talk on the currency question be had
ever heard or read:
Upon the proper solution Of the f.
nancial problem depends the future
prosperity and happiness Of our people.
That solution demands thorough
knowledge of all the principles under
lying money.
Money is not only a medium OF ex-
change but a measure of value. Sugar
coffee or nails give so many pounds for
dollar, so that the dollar measures al!
human labor and sacrifice. Money has
its price and is bought and sold in the
markets. The rule that prices are fixed
by supply and demand applies to mon
ey as well as TO other commodities. If
money is abundant dollars must be
cheaper; if it IS scarce dollars must be
high. John Stuart Mill says that the
price of money moves in reverse ratio
to other commodities-that it rises as
they fall and falls as they rise. # that
be true the proposition follows that
when money Is, high more labor and
sacrifice are required to get dollar
than when it is low In 1870 the salary
of the Governor of South Carolina was
$500. When the tax payers went to
market to buy that $500 to pay their
governor with they carried thirty five
bales of cotton for it. In 1893 the gov
ernor's salary was still So. SOC, but when
the tax payers went to buy those dol
lars they had to carry over hundred
bales of cotton to get them, represent
ing three times as much labor and sac
rifice as in 1870.
All political economists have receg-
nize6 this principle as the true one on
which to base financial legislation.
The trouble of having limited money
or contracted currency arises from the
fact that where one man has money TO
sell ninety-ntne are trying to buy it.
Legislation which increases the value
of the dollar belonging to the ona man
who had it to sell must decrease the
value of the other commodities, the
labor and the sacrifice with which the
remaining ninety-nine men must buy
the dollar. To shcw that the volume
Of money controls the prices of COM
moditleS the familiar course Of wheat
may be considered. In 1882 the wheat
crop of the world was o00, 100000 bush
els more than the crop of 1898 and the
surplus brought into 1882 was greater
than the surplus brought into 1898.
The supply Of wheat in 1882 was hun
dreds of millions of bushels more than
in 1898; the population of the world
had increased enormously from 1882 to
1883. Yet with lessened supply and
San increased demand the average price
Of wheat in New II ork IN 1888 was 60
cents bushel against S1.13 in 1882.
This cannot be explained on the over
production theory because there was
less wheat in 1883 than there was IN
1882 an6 more people to buy it. The
one fair and reason able explanation is
that between 1882 and 1893 dollars in-
creased in value so that the man who
carried wheat to market to buy dollars
had to carry more of it TO get them
with. So 1t was with cotton aid ali
other commodities, for there is a gen
eral range OF prices which ln the hrsf
instance are fixed by the supply OF
money, or in other words, by the aver.
age amount of sacrifice IN all lines OF
business that is required to get dol,
lar.
Tie effect upon the country of a con-
stantly contracting currency IS q con.
stant fall in the price Of labor and its
products. People have fixed Liabilities
to meet which require 80 much more OF
the results of their labor to satisfy that
nothing is left for comforts or .uXuries
or to meet current Indebtedness. In
this country since 1878 there has been
a persistent fall in the price of com
modities so that the people who depend
on the sale of those commodities fol
their livings have been unable to meet
the debts they had contracted and have
been sold out. The census statistics
show that many thousands of people
who we're land owners ten years ago
are now tenants. These facts rouse II
the hople the spirit of discomfort and
UNREST, such as We have had in South
Carolina.
They seek to apply local remedies fo1
- a general trouble and by State legisla.
&Sp and changes to remove evils Which
are as potent aDd as patent in Nebras
ka, Louisiana, Texas and Kansas as il
South Carolina makes it low in Missis
sippi and the same causes make cheap
corn and wheat in Kansas ard Ne
Draska.
Another eject of the increase of the
value of commodities and property is
that it prevents men from investing in
and developing enterprises and indus
IcieS. The fact that money IS steadily
gaining in value induces those who
have 1t to hoard it and lock it up. It
is withdrawn from the channels OF
trade and the laboring man IS denied
the opportunity to earn support. That
makes hard times. All commercial
history shows that whenever for a Sc
ries OF years there has been constant
fall in the price of commodities hard
times have come. Eogiand had an il.
lpefratinD o+ thtS ,ShsD m 1910 ehG