The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1895-08-06

OF the men who still labor in that prodnc
ton should be increased, and the profit
OF the promoter OF the enterprise, or th
inventor OF the improvement, should So
come greater"
Harvey rejoined: "Mr Horr, wo do nJ
intend to let you before the Americal
people cloak yourself behind the laborini
man. There have been free schools II
this country for many years and you ~
not going to fool the lsboring men Of til
country. Mr.. Horr asks me about prices,
why they did not drop suddenly 80 pc
cent. in 1873 when silver was demonetized
The reply to that is this: We were no
then on specie basis. We began agar
in 1879; the demand for gold was 10
thrown on it to answer this entire purpos,
of primary money until 1879, and then Z
was cushioned In this country by the dis
puted position OF silver.
HE says my illustration about b al
the gold being destroyed is not like the
wheat II one-half of that were suddenly
destroyed. In this whole argument yuu
can apply one safe principle, and that IL
that supply and demand regulate val
ues." Referring to the table of ratios
again Harvey said that for 200 years
there was a practical parity between the
two metals
Said Horr when Harvey sat down:
"My friend Harvey says that ne Is not
going to permit me IA, stand behind the
lahorlng men, or hide behind them, OF
words to that effect. How are you going
to stop me from standing where have a
mind tor l say l oppose this whole
scheuie because it will injure every man
who lives upon wages in the United
States.
Horr then went into dissertation on
the origin OF value, his conclusion being
that when gold and silver were first us d
to effect exchanges the cost in human la
Dor Of producing them measured their
values. The men who advocated free sill
yer left 'ouJ OF the question the great hui
man product of labor and the manner a
which it will be affected by the legislation
that they propose. Their whole pin
seems to be to enable people who have run
into debt to pay their debts without re-
turning full value for what they have 10.
ceived." But said Horr, the creditors of
the country o1tnumbered the debtors I've
to one. Every man who had worked one
hour of his days work was a creditor.
Harvey would not take up this subject
yet, but would prove when he got to it, he
said, that Hurr was wrong about the crod.
itors outnumbering the debtors. lie
proceeded to show when Germany and
France demoneUized silver, in 1873 and
1874 he said, and called attention TO the
table of ratios to show that it was just
then that the price Of silver began to fall,
his conclusions being that for 200 years
under bimetallism there was parity and
ha "A 81 al
destruction of parity.
Another table was here produced show
ing the annual price at London of silver
from 1888 to 1894 and the period from 1873
to 1864 when silver fell so greatly was
on the table characterization. "
1--WE have relatively now only half as
much primary money in existence as
III 1878 and of course silver is only worth
half as much" He then asked: Has
silver declined since 1873 by reason of
and presented a table
giving the production OF both metals each
year or period of years from 1545 to 1891
in kilos, the ratio of gold to silver IN
weight and in value. From this he ar
gued that: The varying supply OF the
Two metals prior to 1873 never had any ef-
feet in changing their commercial parity
from the legal ratio fixed.
Horr SAID: Brother Harvey omits
this one important thing. You may
make two standards by law, but the PEG
pie will discard one and use the other.
We necessarily are compelled TO do bust
ness with one or the other unless the
value happens to be precisely the same,
so that the measure becomes one and
Harvey referred to the table of produc-
ton of gold and silver to prove that in
the time it covers, 32S years, the ratio
between the quantity OF the two metals
produced huctuated from SO to ] to TO /,
while the commercial ratio hung tenaci-
ously to the legal ratio +"
Horn declared that gold had deprecated
in value-5J-per cent in less than 100
years. How do / know that gold is
cheaper than it was in 1872 / will tell
you. The rate of wages, the amount of
gold that man can get for a certain
number of hours work, tells me whether
gold has decreased in price or not. / can
get today twice as much gold for days
work following the plow as did in 1892
Wages are ~ per cent higher, paid in
gold, for the same amount of work than
in 1860. Has not gold deprecated then
when you measure it with the great COM
modify Of human toil?'
Harvey replied "Mr. Horr says that
everything has been cheapened, includ-
ing gold. 10 say that gold and products
cheaper simultaneously is financial
You buy gold by exchange
ing other property for It, When il takes
more properly TO buy gold than Tor
merly gold has risen
"With US now the price of services or
property means the gold dollar or its
equivalent Price has definite mean.
ing. 1t is gold that property and labor
is being priced in, it is not priced in labor,
and the average human intellect will
have 10 be reduced a little lower than it is.
now, before Mr.. Horr can toll the people
out on limb and chop the limb off and
them any more than they are
now mangled. He is trying to lead you
off on a theory that has no practical ap
pl.cation as a monetary unit"
Here the debate ended for the day.
Those who have seen ex-Speaker Reed