The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1895-06-29
SOUND MONEY.

| CITY ls entitled 10 the credit of haVinf
furnished a most complete exposure O.
the forged and falslfied statistics giyer
In the fake book called Coins Financial
School," The pamphlet In which thl.
Is done Is not big one. but 1t Is brimfu
| OF SOLID information, duly credited, which
talrly and squarely meets every one OF
the allegations and so-called argument,
adduced by Coin" His statement OF
the amount of silver coined previous to
1873 is shown TO be wrong by more thar
| SSlOOO,OOO. Page 10 shows that his table
OF the worlds production of gold anC
silver Is deliberately falslfed In more
than half It's items. Page 98 shows thai
he falsified to the extent of over so per
cent in his statement of the amount OF
money in the United States. Page 16f
shows that COINS" table of export prices
of wheat and cotton for twenty-five years
Is wrong in 70 instances and correct only
In three. his object evidently being to
make the prices of these staples appear
larger tnan the truth for the years in
which silver was high In price and lower
than the truth for the time during which
silver was most depressed. For numerous
other Instances Of classification the reader
Is referred to the book itself.
The following are the most salient
IIee
silverltes propose that the government
shall cut all debts in half, SO that the
debtor class may be relieved" and this
in the face Of the express declaration of
the Constitution forbidding the passage
of any law which will impair the obllga-
tions Of contracts When prices advance
labor is the first to feel 1t-at the wrong
end. The immense monetary imitation in
France has not raised prices in that
country, as 1t ought to do If COINS"
theory were correct. The government can
pass O law fixing a value. but II cannot
fix a value by passing a law. 1t can pass
law increasing the age of mortality,
but this would not prolong human life.
Our total gross exports for the fiscal year
ending with June, 1894, were little more
than seventy-seven millions, out of which
less than fifteen millions went to Eng
land. Where did England get the balance
of that two hundred millions of gold
which we are told It draws every year
from the United States. A true bimetal-
lie international system of coinage would
be one under which there should be a
worlds coin Of gold under one name.
and al worlds coin of silver under an
other name. whoever names either in
any contract or bill OF exchange to be
called upon to pay that coin, and not to
substitute one for another. 1t is a false
bimetalllsm under which 1t is proposed
to force a man to take silver when he
has been promised gold. The favorite
American investment of the British
bloodsucker" for many years has been In
our railroads. II the five thousand mil
lion dollars of stock were at par value 1t
would become ten thousand millions un-
der free coinage, and the debts of the
Zines would all be payable at so per cent
discount II the so cent dollar were made
legal tender for all debts, public and
private. "Coln" understates by 5,90l cubic
feet the quantity Of gold In the world.
Suppose the size of the acre to be re-
duced one+half, as 1t is proposed to re-
duce the value Of the dollar. Then
farmer who had 200 acres calls 1t AGO.
He may sell ''2O0'' because he thinks his
400 acre farm Is too big to work. BY and
by the unit Is reduced again, so that he
calls himself the owner of 400 acres and
sells off another '2OO." Continuing to re-
peat this process n few times how much
land would he have left? From 1871 to
1901 the average price of the great staples
wheat, corn, oats and cotton, rose from
52A cents to 5Sh, while silver declined
from $1.32 to 90 cents. Eleven million
people In the United States, owning
shares In building loan associations saw
ings deposits. and net value of life In
surance policies, to a total amount of
about $3OOO,00O would be the creditors
most deeply affected by payment in de-
preclated silver dollars. II gold has APP
preciated It certainly will buy more land
today than It did in 1873, But the assessed
valuation of all the land In the United
States increased 90 per cent from 1870 to
gaA nnlxg
81 per cent "Sllver fell from 100 to TIA
while meat fell from 100 to $685." While
silver has fallen 22i6 per cent all prices
have fallen only ~ per cent, and gold
has become cheaper as compared with
labor. II "the gold standard will give
England the commerce and the wealth
of the world the silver standard could
not make us the most prosperous peo-
Pile ON the face Of the earth.
II is clearly established IN the pamphlet
that the greater part Of COINS" state
ments are forged that one dollar In the
abstract was originally constituted our
unit of currency value, the metal In
which IL was first expressed being copper,
while gold, silver and copper, are equally
the money OF the Constitution; that our
net exports OF gold to England during
twenty years averaged less than six mill
better methods OF transportation, in
creased supply and greater general econ
omy have caused reductions In prices,
which have been entirely to the benefit
OF the farmer, wage Garner and man Of
fixed salary or income; that the hours
Tof labor have been shortened and the
wages OF labor Increased while the pur-
chasing power OF wages has almost
doubled In the time during which It Is al
legged the gold standard has caused hard
times: that In twenty years our popula-
tlon has increased 60 per cent and our
material wealth over 100 per cent; that
England Is our most profitable customer,
buying from us as much as all the rest
OF the world put together and selling usl
only one-tifth as much as we buy from
the rest Of the world; that We have more
than sufficient money to conduct our busi-
ness and could not use more IL we had
Il; that the annual production OF gold
is fully adequate TO the worlds needsi
that the decline In the value of silver
has not been caused by its demonettza-
ton. but by oversupply; that IN the
twenty years following 1878 the world has
coined far more than one thousand mil
lions In silver, or Is per cent more than
In the thlrty-two years precedinSi that
vast proportion Of the mortgage ana otier
debts are owed to our own people, we
helne our chief creditor: that the success
AZ free oolnare at the polls would be the
start OF the most terrible financial panic
ever known and that the advocates OIL
free silver invite us to the degradation
OF Mexico. India and China, countries In
which labor Is content 10 exist on vase
OF eight 10 twenty cents per day, and that
,.,,.irored In deDreCiated silver.