The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-06-17

men in the workshops have gone
down. The product of the laborer in
all lines has gone down. Everything
has shrunk in value except gold, taxes
and debts. Your taxes have not
shrunk, your debts have not dwindled.
1 wish to God they had gone down in
proportion to your property and your
! toll. But the thousand dollar note
that you owed to your neighbor stood
intact. 1t never shrunk a penny of
value, while your farm and it's pro-
ducts went down one-half in value in
the markets of the country. Taxes,
debts and gold are the only things
that have not shrunken by the strik-
ing down of one half of the money
metal of this country.
Another Misstatcment.
But the secretary has made another
discovery in political economy. He says
the prices of all commodities are not
measured by the amount of final re-
demption money. No, no. He denies
that values in this country are deter
mined by the 1928, 600 Of gold which
is alone the redemption money of the
people. He says, in round numbers,
that there are about two thousand
millions of dollars in circulation of all
description-gold, silver, greenback,
paper, treasury notes, gold certificates
and silver certificates, nickle and cop
per-that this two thousand million
dollars is the standard by which the
values of this country are measured.
1 say that is not true; or, If 1t is true,
these advocates of sound currency are
today upon an absolute fiat money
basis. Whenever you put up stand
ard of mea Surement by which to de-
termine values, if it consists of any
thing except the final money in which
all debts are to be redeemed, 1t is
fraudulent system, with nothing on
earth behind it to make it good. What
sort of position is party that claims
to be par excellence, the advocate of
sound financial system and then tells
you it is measuring all values on a fiat
money basis? If there is but 5,000,-
900 of redemption money in the coun-
try. if there is but one million of final
redemption money, aye, if there is but
one Gods blessed dollar in all this land
of ours of final redemption money,
then that single dollar constitutes the
standard by which all values in this
land are measured. You cannot get
away from it.
Results of Demonstration.
Think of it, my countrymen, what
was the effect produced upon you and
me when that silver metal was
stricken down. One-half of the value
was destroyed. Nor was that all. The
architects of this great financial crime
did more. They not only destroyed
one-half the value of your property,
but they destroyed absolutely one-half
of your ability to pay your debts and
one-half of your ability to earn alive
lihood for yourself and family. Think
of what has been done. Europe used
to pay us two dollars where she now
pays us one for our corn, our wheat,
our beef, our pork. our tobacco and
our cotton. She paid US two dollars in
those years where she now pays us
but one. But we still continue to pay,
to this blessed hour. every year as it
rolls by, to Europe two hundred mil
lions of gold as interest on the debt
we owe them. No abatement of pay
ments of money TO Europe, but Europe
pays us only one dollar for our surplus
products where before she paid US two.
There is the difference between the
condition you were in and the condition
You are in Do you want to get back