Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1895-09-03
The Fire Test.

Edward Atkinson, who in reaching
out for reputation us statistican and
an economist has successfully mana ged
to distinguish himself as fake, says
sit is by the ordeal of fire that money
may be tried. The coins which, being
melted down, retain the entire value
for which they were legal tender be.
fore they were melted down are goo6
money. Those which do not retain /,
are not good money" This same so
phistry was once advanced by Secl e.
tary Morton. and it was replied to by
pro-silver wag of Omaha, who pro-
posed the test OF water instead of fire.
Ii, said the wag, you put gold, silver
and paper money in a boat and the
boat upsets, the gold and silver will
sink and you will lose them. But the
paper money will float, and you may
recover it. Therefore gold and silver
are bad and only paper good money.
This answers both Morton and Atkin-
son according to their folly.
But The Manufacturer of Philadel-
phia makes different reply, and one
which, considering that free coinage
is to be the paramount issue in the
sNhonal campaign of 1896, should be
carefully read by every man who has
the right to exercise the elective fran
chise. After asking what Mr.. Atkin-
sons proposition is, in fact, the Man
ufacturer says:
Why. it is simply that the substance
OF which the gold dollar is made is
worth as much as the gold dollar
when made. The sole reason why it
is worth as much is that the govern
ment will paw all the cost of trans
forming the raw metal into coin.
Therefore to the individual holder,
who bears no part of the cost, it must
necessarily be a matter of Indifference
whether he holds metal or finished
coin. This is not the popularity of
gold alone. A ton of steel ingots
woul7 be worth to the holder as much
as a ton of steel rails if the govern
ment or some rich private company
would turn all ingots into rails free of
cost. This is equally true of cotton,
wool, leather, raw silk, hides or any
other commodity in its primitive con-
dition. If the United States govern
ment would agree to grind any pos
sible quantity of wheat into flour with
out charge for the operation the wheat
which would produce barrel of flour
would certainly have the same value
IN the market as the flour itself. That
substance in its original form should
be exactly equivalent to itself in value
alter process of change. which is
conducted free of charge, is not so re-
4ndI'kable as to warrant large boasting
or frequent reiteration.
10 insist upon such a self evident
fact in the case of gold is to evade the
real point at issue respecting the gold
standard. That point is involved in
the question: Has there been anv.
change (not in the relation. afss "a 10
itself) but in the relation Of cold to
other things? If a Fan should whit,le
~. she ngures her Inscriptions.
. s. wooaea 4. kit it would sstsfll
De a just and eXacC measure Of length;
but, if the whittier should try to use
it as a measure, his customer would
inquire, not respecting the absence of
the figures, but whether the stick had
been made shorter or longer. An hon
est stick without marks is the exact
equivalent of an honest stick with
marks; but the stick of itself is moth
ing, one way or the other; what we
want to know, is, if marked or UNI
marked, it is precisely three feet long.
If it be more than three feet long it
will cheat the debtor; if it be less
than three feet long it will cheat the
creditor, absolutely without regard for
inscription or non-inscription.
AS for the gold dollar, nobody wants
to know if 25.S grains of gold will buy
a coined dollar, for that is necessarily
conceded fact. The act of the gov
eminent makes the relation between
the metal and the coin perfectly
stable. The question is Is the re-
lation between coin or metal, and the
commodities produced by human effort
also stable? If man, in the year 1880
should promise to pay ten yards of
wooden cloth OF designated texture TO
another man in 1895, an honest yard
stick would give to the creditor pre-
cisely the number of inches of cloth
that the debtor had agreed upon. An
honest dollar is dollar
which would perform the same kind
of service with equal certainty and
precision with respect to cotton or
wheat. allowing, of course, something
for the usual and necessary fluctua-
tions of the markets. A dollar is
,hietly, in this relation, a record of OBJ
.gation over greater or less periods of
lime. How can it be regarded as an
honest dollar if it record in 1880 a
debt of one bushel of wheat, ard in
1895 calls upon the debtor to pay two
bushelsp
AS Mr.. Atkinson we'll knows, the
against the gold dollar is
that it has been SO much increased in
relative value that it has also in
creased the dimensions of every fixed
debt, to say nothing of taxes. 10 this
Mr.. Atkinson makes answer that re-
duction of the cost of transportation
and overproduction have lowered the
value Of the wheat, while the value of
the dollar has remained fixed. But
oven he will hardly try to prove that
within two years there has been de-
crease of the cost of the cost of trans
oortation which will account for loss
Of % per cent, of the value of wheat;
md, as for overproduction, all the
wheat is now consumed, and still there
ire millions of people who have far
rom enough. The theory that there
S too much food will not stand for a