Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1894-05-10

feared tncy WOuIQ De leIC Win q lot OF
deprecated currency on their hands.
This exquisitely absurd burlesque OF
common sense passes current in finan-
cial circles Of the east to this day. 1t
has overleaped the newspapers and
found its way into the graver periodi-
Gals, where deliberation is supposed to
preside.
Imagine man drinking q quart of
whisky because he is afraid it will
make him drunk! And yet such a con-
ceit would be no more absurd than the
spectacle OF banks and capitalists
boarding currency because they were
afraid it would depreciate on their
hands. We had supposed that this alb
surdity was invented to deceive the
public and to solidify opinion in favor
of the unconditional repeal of the Sher-
man law, but it seems not. 1t passes
current among men who are supposed
to be thoughtful, and is put forward
by writer's who seem to have some tai
ent.
1t happens, therefore, that hardly q
! fay passes that we do not see in some
shape or other that the panic of last
year was caused by a fear that our cur
rency would be deprecated by silver
imitation; that depositors first and then
the banks began to hoard their money
because they feared that it would de-
preciate. The same argument in an
other form is illuminating. A man
has a valuaple horse for sale, and he
has reason to believe that it will be
worth less in the market in a few weeks
or months. So he takes his horse and
hides him away for fear some one will
buy him before his value depreciates.
The neighbors of such a man would
characterize him as fool. But we
are grayely told, nevertheless, that
the bank depositors and the banks
themselves began to hoard their mon
ey and pay premium for all the cur
rency they could get their hands on
because they thought it would soon be-
gin to depreciate.
What wonderful students of econom-
les they have in the cultivated east! And
what plausible explanations they have
for the phenomena that marked the
government criminal violation of the
laws of sound finance! But we may be
sure that these delusions are not coun-i
tenanced in the back parlors of the
counting houses, where the conspiracy
to demonetize silver was hatched.
The argument of imitation and depre-
citation was thrown to the hack writer
from the windows of these back par
lors by way of joke. and it was
promptly snapped up. There is but
one sign of imitation that is infallible
and that is rise in values and prices.
just as values and prices fall when
there is not enough money to supply
the demand, or when the supply OF re-
demptive money is abnormally con-
tracted, SO values and prices rise when
there is more than enough money to
supply the demand. When prices fall
below the level of prosperity, it is an
evidence that money, or the money
basis, is increasing in purchasing pow
er. When prices rise above a healthy
level, it is an evidence that there is
more than enough money in circula-
tion to supply the demand. In one
case money is dear when compared
with the value of commodities; in the
other it is cheap.
There was no sign of imitation when
the Sherman law was increasing the
volume of currency at the rate Of $54-
900, 900 year. On the contrary, pric-
es were falling gradually when the law
was adopted, they fell with crash
last June, and they have1continued to
fall at great rate since the law was
repealed.
But the eastern fnanciers discuss
these later phenomena with dull eyes
and dizzy head. The relief they
promised as the result Of repeal is
farther off than ever.-AtlGntG COnsti-
tuition.
It Should Re in Every House.