Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1895-08-01
NEARING THE EN-
LAST DAY hut ONE IN THE GREAT
SILER DEBATE.

The Question Of Wages Il Tai
Purchasing Power of Money
House-Owners and Banks.
Chicago. July 25-The seating capacity
OF the rooms Of the Illinois club was ali
taken up when the Horr-Haryey debate
opened to-day. While the size of the rooms
do not permit q large audience. the officers
Of the club are compelled every day to re.
fuse many applications for seats.
The days talk was opened by Mr.. Har-
vey. He said that the debate Of the last
session was OF value as showing that dur
Tag the last forty years silver had been
steadily coined In spite of the assertion to
the contrary; that by the table copied from
the reports of the minis, the commercial
ratio between gold and silver had been
maintained at about the French coinage
ratio of 1914 to ] for 200 years; that during
the twenty-five years since 1873, as the re-
suit Of the demonstration, the commercial
ratio had declined to 80 to /; that In the
83S years prior to 1873 the quantity or ratio
between gold and silver had ranged from
So Of silver to l OF gold, to 4 of silver to /
of gold. and that during all that time the
commercial ratio had chung closely to the
legal ratio. During all that time the CON-
mercial price Of silver bullion had re-
mAlueu Stcduys DlHce 1910 IL ndu sICdQlly
and rapidly decreased. 1t was the dom
mating influence Of London exchange to
all parts Of the world which led to gold
being recognized by the world as the
standard In all commercial transactions.
Mr.. Horr, in his opening remarks, pro-
ceeded to call attention to what he called
misleading statements in Mr.. Harvey's
book. For instance. he declared to be
untrue the statement that It was believed
that the cost Of producing all of the gold In
the world wa. about So per ounce, while
some put 1t much higher. Mr.. Horn pointed
out that there had been a vastly increased
production at greatly reduced prices. At
the cost which Mr.. Harvey spoke of, the
silver miners In three years would have
lost over 500, o 1000. Again, Mr.. Harvey
had put the aggregate amount of silver in
the world at about $4,000, 600, 900. 1t was
estimated that there was about $4,000, 000.-
900. Mr.. Harvey had said the debts Of the
United States had amounted to about S40.-
900, 900, 600. This, Mr.. Horn said,
Was an Absurdfty.
Mr.. Harvey said that the amount Of ST.
yer referred to by him In his book was the
amount available for coinage. For the
rest he proposed to pursue the ordinary
course and answer the questions as they
came. Mr.. Harvey then distributed a table
showing the production of gold and silver
from 1892 to 1892, and proceeded to argue
that In spite of wide relative fluctuations
Ia production, there had been no fiuctuation
In relative value till after the demonetiza-
ton act in 1873. He then proceeded 10
argue that, except In the legal relation or
weight, there should be no difference In the
treatment of silver and gold. He said that
the government was the creator Of money
and had the right to regulate the thing
created TO the extent OF fixing relative ra-
tics, but 1t had no right to take from the
tapo1 ta~1.r nnpllfy of any nnupy created
Mr.. Horn continued his objections to MIR.
Harvey's statement In his books. He took
up the supposition that the government
wanted 100000 horses. Its competition
would increase the value OF horses; that
free coinage of silver would increase the
value Of the bullion. Mr.. Horr said that
all the government did to silver was to put
a stamp on the bullion and return it to the
owner. Suppose the government should
merely call for 100000 horses for the pur-
pose of afixing a brand to Their, and
having done so, should return them 10 the
owners, would that increase the value OF
the horses of the coUntry2 The horse ar
gument, Mr.. Horn declared, was a fraud.
The speaker then took up the matter of the
elements which govern the price of wheat,
arguing that Mr.. Haryey's deductions were
fallaciCus.
Mr.. Harvey said that this government had
fixed the pr. ce of gold, and all the friends
of silver wanted was for it to fix the price
OF silver, in the belief that the nation could
better keep out of the hands of the pawn
broker with two metals than one.
Returning 10 his argument on bimetallism,
Mr.. Harvey said that the option of the
debtor to pay In the cheaper metal should
not be impaired. This would always main
tain a parity. If the creditor were given
the option of the money In which he should
be IA, he wou'd demand the dearer
money, thereby Increasing the d mand for
that metal and decreasing the other. there
by widening instead OF narrowing the dis
parity. Continuing, MIR. Harvey declared
that all nature was timetable. Man had
two legs, two arms, two eyes. two ears.
He declared there were available for coin
age In the world about sixteen ounces of
silver to one ounce Of gold.
Quotes Statistics.
Replying, Mr.. Horr took up the question
OF farm tenancy, whose growth Mr., Harvey
at an earlier stage Of the debate had ad-
verified TO as a bad sign in our national life.
MIR. Horr declared ii a good sign. and
quoted from sta istics ga hered by the State
or Minnesota, showing the steady evolution
or the tenant into the land owner. and
from other statistics showed that the I'm.
crease In the number of tenants had been
accompanied by a decrease in the number
OF farm day laborers. The increase in ten.
ahey mad not been at the expense of the
farm owners. but at the expense of the
day laborers.
Mr.. Harvey declined to discuss what he
called the tenant business" but promised
that he would take 1t up when he got to IL.
ne tnen went on to say that there were
kinds Of money In the general sense I'm
witch the word is used. one being primary
money and the other preventative money.
or, as he would call It, for the purposes of
the debate, "credit money" Ttis latter
kind OF money is divided into paper money
and token money, which includes copper
cents and nickel scent pieces. No attempt
Is made to maintain the commercial parity
or these metals at any ratio with the metal
out OF which primary money Is made.
Token money Is used to pay for articles
whose value is less than that at which we
coin primary money. Primary money is the
measure of value. Gold, Mr.. Harvey said,
Is now our measure of values, and our rep
resentative money is tied to 1t as the tall
OF a kite. He then mare a short argument
showing that supply and demand regulate
the value of money. the same as of all 9TH
er property.
MIR. Horr announced that before proceed
Ing to the question of the production Of
silver he wanted to say a few words on the
misleading nature of some of Mr.. Harvey's
on inance. He then attacked