Rocky Ford enterprise., 1895-06-13

| mite from their dogmatic editorial guns
at some Of these questions and objected
to reply. and Prof. Laughlin haa
tackled the last question and claims TO
have demolished she contention Of BIZ
metallists. in theoretical and substan-
tial facts, with a comparison of prices
of silver and 232 commodities from 1850
to 1894 by a statistIcian whose facts
were Incorporated In a senatorial re-
port. The senate certainly needed
some philosophical buttress to sustain
It's bungling work of 1873. and sup
posed q will assume) that they had
] found the Gibralter of their financial
longings for scientific Endorsement IN
this report. Let us see what the condi-
tions were in 1850 from my report, as
an actual participant in the horrors Of
that time.
In 1857 and 1858 "stumptaii- money
held undisputed sway in the Caz-H-
States; of government no-zT-s7ti
and silver-there was noos !. sSEA--
state banks-the best zs Usl Il La
poorest-had suspended s-,as5s Enr-
ments and universal tsoEu4.eT wis
rampant Who couId pay ds.'-s w7ntsl
there was 10 lsxai-ss-6s- o1os! II ess
had except By esa--. This nI-;iay
virus in trade made the prizes 81 ssi1vlt-
and coo-o5iI5as. sllra- q srIEss=u
commanded : prsoiu- ors- --i3- tGz
what about pork wheat E-5 rs-l-
three Of the farmers articles 1zhs- tc-
sczs-u5c comparison bF 01- s=-E-7-l2s
coonil,ss- Co-n was used to- fUsl h
cheaper than oozl OF wood. and pg-E
was hauled 10 eastern markets over ll@
miles and sold for $3.50 a hundred
weight and wheat for IS cents . bushsl
q did it myself few years betore)-
The middle ages in prices had come
to America for the want of real money,
and this is the time that our senate
and their defenders in demonetizing
silver have taken in comparing prices
Of silver and commodities with those
of 1894.
For thirty years prices of conmoti-
ties. under the stimulus of war tariff
and uneIampled production and con-
sumption, should have risen much
above that middle-age level, even with
our improved machinery, etc.-for we
had market-but they fell per cent
AASi-ol- ds euO"u W lutu oWu S"tell
scientific and confiding senate report,
while silver, poor thing, in that labored
report decentralization in 1873, of
course, had no influence on it,, fell 80
per cent Therefore, want of demand
and an overstocked market supply OF
silver. enabled unaided gold 10 knock
out silver in the scientific battle for
supremacy as money in the United
States, without any effect on prices"
and this is scientific statement
In Allison's history of Europe we
learned that in the reign of Augustus
the value of the coined metals in the
Roman empire of gold was. in cur
money, 81 900. .O00, 900, and that in the
reign of Justinian 1t diminished to
about $40o. .000, 900, or nearly four -fiftlis.
Allison's opinion was that the i.i. OF
that empire was caused more by this
contraction of the currency than by all
other agencies.
Before the ninth century the value Of
the available stock of the precious
metals was reduced to $3.50, ,000, 900, and
at the close Of the fifteenth century it
did not exceed 5000, 900 900, and Allison,
in describing this period, paints the
condition Of the working classes as SO
low that extrication seemed hopeless.
In 1545 the Potosi silver mines were
discovered and its effects noticed as fol-
lows: THE supply of precious metals
was trebled, the prices of the species of
produce quadrupled, the weight of debt
and taxes wore of under the influence
of that prodigious increase; in the
renoyations of industry the relations OF
society were changed, the weight of
feudalism was cast on, the rights of
man established" In 1916 England,
against strong petition portraying
vividly the effects of a contraction Of
the currency, went to a gold standard.
Allison gives the result in England Of
ibig action thus: "The effects of this
contraction of the currency were soon
apparent and they rendered the next
three years a period of ceaseless suf-
fering in the British islands. Prices
declined in general within six months
to half their formar amount. and re-
rnained at that low level for three
years. Distress was universal in the
latter months of 1913. Mr.. Barring said
IN the house If commons: 'Wba. We
are now witnessing is the exact con-
verse of what occurred over the whole
world from the discovery Of the mines
Of Mexico and Peru"
Passing on to the panic OF 1887 twhen
was boy Allison writes thus: with
the steady contraction Of the currency
by the Bank of England. which began
in 1896, prices fell during the whole of
the ensuing winter, but as prices of all
sorts Of manufacturer produce had
previously sunk nearly half fwhen sill
yer was discarded). manufacturers were
under the necessity of lowering wages,
which induced strikes in nearly all
branches of industry"
The discovery of gold in California
and Australia now suddenly expanded
the currency and relieved the universal
distress, which Allison thus describes:
THE era of contracted currency and
consequent low prices and general mis-
cry, interrupted by occasional CLEANS
of prosperity. WAS at an end. at the
same time decisive evidence was af-
forded that all this sudden burst of
prosperity was the result of the ex-
panded currency"