The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-05-25

ly eleCtr1neQ many OI MS dSSoocAotSS AL
that body by appearing as an advocate
Of the free coinage Of silver. Below Is
his statement Of the reasons which
caused his conversions:
Why He Is Bimetallist.
IT am convinced that there is too little
gold in the world to make 1t stable ana
satisfactory currency. There Is neces-
sary connection between business prosper
ity and the volume of primary money.
Gold alone does not furnish the necessary
volume Since the great nations demone-
tized silver gold has been constantly ap-
preciatlng in value. (Griffin, monomet-
allist, but great statistician, readily ana
thoroughly comedies this to be a factD
This has shown itself by depreciation IN
values Of commodities, while gold has APP
parently remained at the same value
This is a mere appearance, however,
That 1t should rise enormously in value
was q necessary consequence OF the disuse
of silver by so many nations. the demand
for gold being twice as great, and, per-
haps, in consideration Of the extension OF
commerce, three times as great. The rise
in the value of gold or decline In value OF
commodities, is well shown by the Sauer-
beck index tables. He took forty-hve or
the principal commodities, and his tables
show a decline in the average price, from
in the same period, having been demone-
tized, declined from 95S to 65.4. In some
respects this falling in the price of pro-
ducts Is less serious than the increased
burden of Indebtedness. A debt must be
paid in the number of dollars promised,
and, therefore, If the value of the dollar
increases and the debt remains the same,
It can be easily seen how the debtor Is
burdened in the end. On long time obli-
moi 90 pac long leases.
confiscation Is almost sure to result. Mu-
inequalities, or rather the taxpayers OF
municipalities; railroad companies, or
rather their stockholders, where long
time bonds have been issued must suffer
under the present monometallic system
severely.
while products decline in price, very
strangely, other things do not. Taxes re-
main about the same, because salaries,
being regulated by law, government costs
as much OF rather demands just as many
dear dollars as 1t did dollars not so dear.
And, again, there are many things which
we pay for that seem to be little affected
by the law Of supply and demand. They
are governed more by custom or combi-
nation than products are Transportation,
amusements. gas, professional services
and matters Of that kind belong to this
class.
His View of Labor's Interest.
Labor in it's direct products suffers first
and most. A very little observation will
teach any one that labor and raw mate
rial are much more sensitive to the mar
ket than materials in their manufactured
or subsequent forms. The laborer and
the farmer are the first victims of falling
prices-the richest manufacturer and the
largest landholder finally feel the pinch.
In the end we all suffer, except the broker
and the debt-holding capitalist-or, to put
the matter less politely, the money
changer and the usurer
"Even without the exclusive use Of gold
as primary money, 1t has other advantages
which have often been remarked upon
The volume of 1t being small, it IS easily
cornered. And because representing large
value in small weight, It is easily boarded.
Panics are easily precipitated by such a
condition through greed on one side and
fear on the other. The hoarder helps the
cornerer always. The great principal fact.
however, in this money question is that
the decentralization of silver caused O
great contraction of currency and conse-
quent depreciation in prices. 1t has and
will breed many disasters-they are only
beginning. Sir Archibald Allison, in his
history of Europe, ascribes the downfall
Of Rome and Roman civilization to a con-
traction of the circulating medium, due to
the failure Of the silver and gold mines Of
Greece and Spain and the revival of COM
merce and civilization to the increased
quantity Of gold and silver consequent
upon the discovery Of America. Hume,
the philosophic historian, remarks that:
Failing prices and misery are inseparable
companions The present secretary of the
treasury, now q monometallist from force
Of circumstances, said, in speech deliv-
erad phi1o n rnQrnhar nf tho Fnrfv-hffh
congress: The absolute and instantaneous
destruction Of half the entire movable
property of the world, including houses,
ships, railroads and all other appliances
Tor Carrying on commerce, while 1t would
be felt more sensibly at the moment,
would not produce anything like the pro-
longed distress and disorganization Of
society that must inevitably result from
the permanent annihiliaton Of half the
metallic money of the world Bimetal-
lism largely, and perhaps entirely, would
relieve tho country from the disasters
promised under the efpresent system. The
huctuation In the currency would not be
80 great. Statistics show that gold has
fuctuated In quantity, Tin a single century,
from to 10. In all the years prior to the
demonetization Of silver, the fiuctuation
of gold and silver together was never more
than to 4. We cannot. of course, avoid
AuCtutttiOtl-dS SOlu anu silver are COM
modities before they are money, and are
therefore subject, to some extent, to the
laws Of trade. We can, however, by COM
bination Of the two metals minimize the
perils Of fuctuation. This Is largely
avoided by the very value given to them
as money. I do not mean in mere fiat
value-I mean the value which is given
by the demand of government for them as
money. OF course, a constant, unlimited
demand would make absolute stability.
Anyone, however, asserting that the metal
or metals used as money must circulate
at Just their intrinsic value, has read little
and thought less. Apart from the in
trinsic value Of coin metals, they also have
law value. And this law Is and always
will be the principal factor to prevent
fuctuation. Aristotle said Money is a
creation Of law, not Of nature The
writer on money in the Encyclopedias
Britannica says: The theory Of the in
trinsic value of money has been aban-
doned by the best writer's and speakers
The Price Of Silver Dollar.
THE ,monometallists, not taking this
truth Of financial science into considera-
tion, are fond Of calling attention to the
fact that the present gold price Of a silver
dollar is only SO or 60 cents. They forget
or conceal their knowledge-that they
are valuing metal discredited by legis-
lation and robbed of Its best use, in anoth-
er metal made valuable by the great
artificial demand made on It, as the sole
primary currency of the great nations of
the world. Restore to silver the purpose
Tor which the world thought 1t fitted for
years, and which Is and always will be its
best use. and then 1t will be fair to make
the comparison-but not now. It would
not be fair to enact a law that wheat
should not be made into flour, and then
talk about the price of 1t as Indicating its
intrinsic worthlessness. have gone ex-
tensively into the reasons against oui
present monometallic system, because