Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1895-11-06
 CHEAP MONEY CHEATS LABOR.
Experience of This and Other Countries
 With Depreciated Currency.

Expeflenee of This and Other Countries
 With Appreciated Currency.
 Undoubtedly thousands of wage earn ers believe that somehow they would be benefited by cheap money. The most modern form of cheap money, as it ex- ists ill their childish minds, is the 50 cent silver dollar, made of this value by coining it at q ratio of $ to 1 with gold. Such persons are either incapable of reasoning or they have never really applied their reasoning powers to this question. Neither have they learned the lessons of history ill regard to cheap money and wages A pamphlet entitled 'Quality of Money and Wages" has just been published by the Reform club, which is intended to teach the lessons of history and to facilitate clear think ing on this important question. It's au- thor, Mir. Frank L. McVey, first demon strates i'll the simplest way that de- preeiating currency must iniure the wage earner. Here is the way he begins his discussion:
 The operators in our mills and fac tories, together with those engaged in day labor of other kinds, constitute q great creditor class. They are creditors i'll the sense that they advance labor At the end of t day or a week the amount due them for services performed is greater than that owing to any other class But in the majority of cases the wage earner is dependent upon his daily or weekly earnings, so that the vital question with him is as to their imme- diate purchasing power.
 What q laborer really works for are the things which he consumes. Every thing that goes to make goods cheaper tends to increase the real as compared with the nominal wages of the work man, for he is then getting more goods for the same money On the other hand, every tendency to make things dearer tends to decrease i'll d corresponding de- gree the real wages of the people Wages are high or low according to the abundance of necessities, comforts or luxuries obtainable for them ''
 Mir. McVey proceeds carefully to in quire into the relations between money, prices and wages. Here is another of his statements:
 ''The prices of what wage earners have to buy respond far more promptly to changes i'll the quality of money than do wages-the prices at which labor is sold. Hence whenever money is getting better, though nominal wages may tend to decrease, wage earners are constantly getting more goods ill exchange for the money they actually get for their labor, and whenever money is getting poorer, though nominal wages may tend to in crease, wage earners are constantly get ting less of the necessaries and comforts of life in return for the wages they re- ceive. Appreciation of the dollar in which wages are paid and consequently lower prices are therefore constantly and certainly to the advantage of the wage earner. Depreciation of the dollar and consequently higher prices are always and certainly to his damage 7
 After reaching conclusions from theo- retical reasoning he studies the expe- rience of most of the leading countries of the world He finds that not only are wages nearly always lower ill silver than ill gold standard countries but that there is abundant reason why such should be the case. To cite one instance he shows by statistics and diagrams that our wage earners during our civil war suffered Il great loss in wages due to the depreciation of our currency In 1865 days labor purchased only four fifths as much as t purchased in 1860. Wages had risen only about AS, while prices had risen 90 per cent since 1861. This notwithstanding that the with drawal of one-fourth of our best work CTS to serve as soldiers greatly lessened the competition among laborers and that both before and since our greenback imitation period both nominal and real wages have been advancing from year to year.
 Mr. McVey closes with the following impartial statement
 The only fair and just currency 10 all parties is a stable one. Under snch q currency the conditions of the future are more easily ascertainable, legitimate enterprise more confidently entered upon and progress more sure Wage earners have no right to agitate for an apprecia- tion of q currency. Neither have they any reason 10 submit to depreciation by others