The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-12-04

twenty pounds of cotton, is certainly in
jured. An injustice is done him by the
appreciation of geld. So with the manu-
factIrer. The farmer, again, sells at
wholesale, he buys at retail; he pays
wages that do not fall as fast as the
prices he receives for his products. Does
this not impoverish him? And so with
the manufacturer, who is also further
impoverished by the impoverishment of
the farmer, and a curtailed market for
his goods. And the laborer receiving
pay, higher relatively to Wholesale
prices, which fast impoverishes his en-
ployer, leading up to enforced idleness,-
but spending his wages at retail prices,
he. too, is impoverished. The value,
that is the value in use, is not affected by
the price of gold, but the price of com
modities are, and it is with relative prices
we must deal in the distribution Of
wealth.
Mr.. Nichols: "Neither party will keep
the gold he gets for his goods till he
makes the profit which might accrue by
the slow advance in the market value of
gold, if your contention were true. Each
will put his gold into new commodities
or properties, and not keep his gold
boarded. Not even the banker will re-
tain his gold coin long enough to get the
profit on it's appreciation.
What is it, Mr.. Nichols, but boarding
gold when men withdraw their invest
ments from productive enterprises, shun
the products of labor, and seek invest
ments in government, state and munich
pal bonds. at merely nominal rates of in
terest? 1t is thus the owners of money
make the profit which does accrue by the
advance in the market value of gold
And this in itself impoverishes produc-
ers. Money no longer seeking the pro-
ducts of labor, producers must seek a
market for their produce, Jo-wit, the
financial centers and there accept what
the possessor of money, for the money
demand constitutes the only demand, will
offer. So we find the cost of reaplng
and threshing the grain, and Transports
ton charges made high by necessity of
earning interest on more and more bur-
densome debt, absorbing the whole price
obtained for the product, incentive to
production destroyed, and farmers i'll de-
spair burning grain for fuel, not because
a real demand. but mouey demand is
wanting Not because men have not
nccn for food. but because he fol- can
not profitably be exchanged for fuel or
clothing. This, the effect of separation
OF producer from consumer, as 1t ever
must be when money appreciates, and is
attracted to the financial centers. For
when the owners Of money prefer to eX-
change it for debts rather than commo-
dities, the producing classes seeking a
market are at their mercy.
Mr.. Nichols: And since gold, as it is
used every day, is merely i standard Of
valuation to facilitate an exchange of
commodities. it makes no difference what
it's value is, at any given time so long
as all commodities are reckOned in it.
Mr.. Nichols has evidently not grasped
the 1aealiing of the word standard, which
means an unvarying stable measure.
Mr.. Nichols "It is of no consequence
how ,ong your yardstick is, or how short,
so long as all use the same length Of
yardstick. And even if, as you contend,
the yardstick grows by small fraction
each year, no one will be injured so long
as Ill yardsticks an1 other measures
grow at the same time and equally
This we have already commented upon.
Suffice it to repeat tha5 the assumption
that al! prices fall equally and together is
ali unfounded assumption.
Mr.. Nichols "a few longtime debt
ors might suffer, but they would be too
few to make it worth while'fo the public
tc legisiate for them especially"
If the debtors are too few to make it
worth while for the public to legislate
for them especially, necessarily it follows
that the creditors also are too few, and