The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1895-06-04

their own products, but they sell them ut
home to somebody else who sends them
abroad, and If the exchange Is steady and
the money in which he is to pay for the
products has a fixed value relatively to the
money In use in the country where he ex-
poets to sell them, the purchaser here can
afford to pay the highest price that would
leave him a reasonable margin of profit in
view of the conditions existing in the mar
ket abroad. In other words, he has to In
cur but one risk-the possible fall in the
price OF the products abroad--but If the cur
rency here is deprecated and fluctuating,
If our money has no fixed and certain val
ne relatively to the money in use abroad
where he expects to sell the products, there
is an additional risk to be incurred which
will have great influence in determining
the price he can afford to pay the producer.
The Producer Must Pay.
In addition to the risk of fall in the
price of the products abroad, he must
incur the risk of o rise in the price
of silver between the time of his pur-
chase and the time when he receives the
proceeds of his SALE for if silver rises In the
meantime he may not get back as many
dollars as he paid out. The producer must
~
smaller price for his commodities, and
hence his prices will never increase in pro-
portion to the actual depreciation of the
money in which they are paid.
To illustrate my meaning, when silver
is worth 90 cents per ounce, the bullion
contained in silver dollar Is worth 46. 4
cents, bat if the price of silver should adj
vance to 90 cents per ounce the value of
q hp 1,.ll Ia. IN .l.,l1
would be As cents an increase of over
per cent. Now, the price of cotton or wheat
will not rise in proportion to the deprecia-
tion of the dollar in which it is to be paid
that is, the purchaser for export win not
pay for it at the rate of 40 4-10 cents for
each dollar when silver is worth 60 cents
an ounce, because he knows that silver
may rise to 81 or 62 cents per ounce before
he can sell the product abroad and get his
money for it, and he knows that if this
happens the gold he receives abroad cannot
be exchanged for as many silver dollars as
he paid the producer here. He will not
take all this risk upon himself, but will
compel the producer to bear it by receiving
n less price for his cotton or wheat, and
this argument applies with equal force to
all other articles. 1t is impossible to esti-
mate accurately the amount of loss which
this would inflict upon the American pro-
ducers of exportable products, but it would
be very great, as the value of
our exports of domestic merchaAdise is
nearly $50, 100000 per annum, and a
small percentage upon this largo sum
would very materially affect the incomes
of our producers.
1t is argued that the existing standard
Of value ought to be abandoned because
since 1873 prices of commodities have fall !
en-, and will continue TO fall, if the stand |
ard is maintained so that it has been, !
and will continue to be, more and moro |
difficult each succeeding year TO pay debts; |
that this fall in the prices of all commod- |
tiles is attributable TO the appreciation of |
gold, and that the appreciation in the value
Of gold has been caused by the alleged de- |
of silver in Germany in 1871 !
and 1873 the omission of the standard sill |
yer dollar from the coinage of the United |
States in 1878, and the suspension of the
coinage of silver by France in 1876 1t is
true that the prices of manyTalings have |
fallen since 1878, but it is true also, that |
the prices of many things had fallen long
before that date The assertion that the |
fall in prices since 1878 is due to the APP |
probation of gold alone is based upon the |
assumption that the relations between |
supply and demand have not changed, that |
there has been no diminution of the cost of |
production and distribution, that the IA |
cilities for effecting financial exchanges |
have not been improved, and, in brief, |
that the world has made no progress in |
the conduct of its industrial and CONNER
,ial operations for more than 20 years.
Effect of Labor Saving Machinery.
This assumption is so inconsistent with
we'll known economic and historical facts |
hat it seems scarcely worth while to give |
It a serious consideration. Reductions in |
the prices Of commodities are generally |
lue to so many different causes that it is |
scarcely ever possible to ascertain the OK
Jent of their separate influences. / pre-
;ume, however, that even the most ardent |
advocate of free coinage would be willing
o admit that the invention and use of la
)Or saving machinery the extension of our
'ailroad systems, the improvement of our
and the great reductions in the
'ates for carrying freight, the employment
If steamships, the use Of the telegraph on
he land and under the sea, the application
If electricity in the production of light,
leat and power, the utilization of by prod
lets which were formerly wasted, the in
reduction of more economical methods in
he processes Of production, the wonderful /
Idvance made by our laborers in skill and
Efficiency, the greatly reduced rates of in
crest paid for the use of capital and many
'ther things which it would require much
lime to enumerate and explain, have affect
ID prices in some measure, at least, and
ret they ignore all these great influences in
heir argument upon the subject and at
ribute the lower prices of commodities to
. single alleged and inadequate cause
he appreciation of gold. l presume, also,
hat our free coinage friends will admit
hat if the change in prices has been caused
ntirely by the appreciation of gold the
would have affected all things
like, because it cannot be denied that in
he absence of other influences gold must
bear the same relation to the price of one
rticle that it bears to the price of another.
But we do not find that the prices of all
Kings have been reduced in the same pro-
,ortion, nor do we find that the prices of
il things have in fact been reduced.
In 1891, 1892 and part of 1888 had the
lonor to serve on q subcommittee charged
~ the senate of the United States with
he duty of ascertaining the course of prices
md wages Of labor for as long period as
records would enable us to en-
most thorough and impartial examination
# the subject a report was made which
Ills four large volumes and embodies a