Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-05-24
FOR SOUND MONEY.
CONTINUED from LIST page.

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ticles. 10 per cent. These results of the
investigation establish three facts which
have an important bearing upon the pres
ent controversy. The first fact established
Is that the prices Of articles Of food which
are the products of tho farms, gardens,
orchards, and dairies Of the country, were
about per cent. higher than they were
in the year 1860, long before the silver
legislation now complained Of the second
Is, that the fall In the prices OF these farm
products since the year 1873 has been
much less than the fall in the prices of the
commodities the farmers have to buy;
and the third Is. that the reductions in
prices have not been uniform. either as to
particular articles or groups Of articles,
and therefore cannot be attributed to one
and the same cause-to the appreciation
OF Qold. for instance. The conclusion Is
inevitable that various influences have
operated to produce these changes In prices,
some affecting one group Of articles and
some another and doubtless some affect
ing ALL but to 10 one influence can the
whole result be attributed. Cotton and
wheat arc the commodities most fire.
duently referred to by those who contend
that the fall In prices Is due to the ap-
probation Of gold, but there Is nothing
whatever in the methods Of producing
those articles, or in transporting or selling
them, or in the character of the money re-
ceiyed for them, which would make the
appreciation Of gold affect their, prices
more than It would affect tie prices of
other commodities produced by our peo-
pie In addition to the various causes
which hav mot or less affected the prices
OF all articles, the prices Of these two pro
ducts have been seriously affected by the
enormous increase in their production
since the year 1872 which was the la.
crop year preceding tie legislation in re-
gard tn silver But, gentlemen, notwith-
standing the great increase in the pro
duction If cotton and wheat, here anu in
other countries, and the consequent de
cline IL their prices, glven quantity OF
eli her of them will now ptlrcha o in our
own markets and In the markets abroad
q larger share of many other useful com
modities than 1t would have purchased In
1872 or 1873, so that, in fact, as compared
with any other things, the values Of cot
ton and wheat have appreciated.
The one thing which has been less
affected by the changes in the relation be
tween supply AMI demand, by improve
ments in the methods Of production and
distribut on and by the other influences
which produce fluctuations in prices of
commodities generally, is labor and 1t is
by far the most important single source
of income possessed by our people much
larger amount being expended every year
In the payment of wages than for any
other one purpose The cost of labor in
the manufacturing and mechanical indus
tries alone during the census year 1889
was S., 2S3, 2 Is, 529, which was nearly two
and one-half times tho value of all the
wheat and cotton produced in this coun
try; and If we add to this the amounts
paid for farm labor, for clerical and other
work In mercantile establishments for
domestic service and for work on railways
OF all kinds, on water craft, on streets and
other improvements in the cities and in
the many other occupations which give
employment to our people wo would
have sum almost, IL not quite equal to
tho value of all our agricultural products
1t Is evident, therefore, that il the alleged
depreciation of gold alone has caused a
reduction of prices, tho wages of labor. the
greatest commodity In the market, should
have fallen since 1873; but exactly the re-
verso Is true. Wages were found to be
nearly 81 per cent. higher than in 1860,
which was thirteen years before the silver
legislation, and more than eight per cent
higher than in 1873, when that legislation
was adopted.
The argument that the reduction of
prices Is due to the appreciation of gold is
necessarily based upon the further
assumptions that the legislation in regard
to silver has produced "a scarcity Of re
demption or metallic money in the world,
and that prices are fixed and regulated by
the amount of such money in circulation,
or available for circulation. Neither of
these assumptions is justified by the facts
Tho most exhaustive efforts have been
made from time to time by tho treasury
department, through the director of tho
mint, by careful examinations of the
monetary statistics of other countries by
correspondence with our diplomatic and
consular representatives abroad and with
foreign financial authorities. and other
wise, to ascertain the actual amount of
gold and silver used as money in the
world, and the result shows that there is
now more gold and silver in tho aggre
gate, and more of each one of them, in use
as full legal tender money than there ever
was at any other time in the history Of
the world. The gold In use as money
amounts to 50, 965, 900. 600. the full legal
tender silver amounts to SO. 1875 500, 00o,
and the limited legal tender silver
amounts to S6l9, 900, 900. The policy of
maintaining or rather attempting to
maintain the SO. called double standard
never succeeded in keeping SO large an
amount of full legal-tcnder silver in circu
lation in the world as there is at this time,
and one Of the principal reasons for this
is that the effect of the policy was to drive
first the coins Of one metal and then tho
coins Of tho other into the Golfers of the
hoariers or into the melting pots, because
they were under valued in the coinage
laws and would not ROMAN in use as
money.
attach very little Importance to the
per capita argument, because the amount
of currency required in a country depends
mainly upon tho volume of business to be
transacted and the customs Of the people
in conducting their exchanges, and not as
all upon the number of men, women, and
children residing in it, but. as there are n
great many who believe that the cirouia
ton should be regulated by the census re-
turns 1t may be worth while to state
that the production of gold alone in 1890
and it is much larger now was nearly
two and half times greater than the
average annual production of gold and sill
YER both during the decade which closed