The Madisonian. (Virginia City, Mont.) 1873-1915, 1895-04-27
silver AN IDEAL MONEY
It Is the Best Continuous Meas
ure of Values.
JUST TO DEBTOR AND CREDITOR.

to F1uctuation-What Silver Has Done
For Mexico-1he Metals Compared on
Their Merits-Goidbug Delusions.
Does justice require that silver be re-
monetized or the old ratio Of 16 to /?
Let US bring this issue to a plain test Of
facts right at the start, and to that end
[ beg leave to take a case in which l am
personally interested and which is but
a type Of many thousands. My home is
in a town of some 1000 people in the
Wabash valley, in a region singularly
blest by nature in climate, timber, coal,
rock and water, and with a soil fruitful
in all the products of the middle tenn
perate zone. There l own a little real
estate, and every fact herein given is
within my personal knowledge ans can
be verified by the records. Several years
ago the county bonded itself heavily to
build a Jail and courthouse and for
other purposes, and some of the bonds
are still due, and I as a real estate own
er must pay taxes thereon.
When this debt was contracted, ISL
600 bond would have bought in that
town 052 bushels Of wheat. 1t will to-
day buy 2,326 bushels. 1t would then
have bought l, 700 bushels Of corn. 1t
will today buy 5000 bushels. 1t would
then have bought eight good average
farm horses. 1t will today buy 20. 1t
would her have bought 10 acres of first
class land within easy sound Of the
courthouse bell. It will today buy 20.
And so | might go around the list, for
Of all farm staples pork is the only one
sold at near the old price, and that, as
everybody knows, is a purely accidental
and temporary matter.
Now, l respectfully submit the ques-
ton to any honest mar as yet untainted
by goldbug sophistry, Is not the prac-
teal result Just the same as if the gov
eminent had sent the army there and
compelled those farmers and owners Of
town property to pay So where they had
agreed to pay 81? And if this be, as we
believe the result of legislation, where
in is it morally one whit better than
highway robbery? Nor is this an ex-
treme case. We have the official facts
in the federal census and the authorized
statistics of the nation and states.
Goldbug sophistries.
| anticipate the We are all
familiar with them. The first is that
invention has greatly cheapened produc-
ton. This is a self evident falsehood.
There is not an implement now in use
on the farms of Indiana that was not
then, save possibly the Irvine binder,
then invented, but not in general use.
The labor cost of farm produce has not
decreased by SO much as 2 per cent. But
suppose it were true. Should the credit
or have all the gain Of an advancing
civilization? Is not the farmer entitled
to at least one-half of it? The goldbug
argument on this point is self destruc-
tive. They assert that invention and
the consequently increased production
have ~cheapened commodities so per
cent. They next assert that the enOr-
nous output of the mines has cheapened
silver 80 per cent. Therefore, they say,
silver is not ''honest money" If the
premises had smallpox, the conclusion
would never catch lt-so far are they
apart. We know it to be true that prod
ucts have cheapened so per cent in
terms of gold; if it be also true that adj
vancing civilization has c~heapened sill
yer in the anne ratio, is it not conclu
sive that silver is the best possible con-
~linuOus measure of values? Is it not,
our enemies themselves being judges,
the ideal money for which economists
have sighed SO long-the money which
will, through all the changes of years,
buy most nearly the same amount Of
commodities? Is it not indeed the only
money which works exact justice, Ell.
abling the creditor to buy as much a:
did the money he lent and compelling
the debtor to pay no more?
maintain, however, hat their con
tention as to silver is false. | insist tina
of all products of human labor silver j!
the most consistent in value-that is
it bears in purchasing power the leas
variable relation to other commOditie,
and that gold is, by natural law, a
shown by geology and metallurgy, a
least foul times as subject to huctua
lions in value as silver. OF this | will
treat later. Much is said of overpro
duction, especially in wheat, but it ha
repeatedly been proved that the worl
does not yet produce all the wheat
wants. Our agricultural department
shows that consumption OF the grain ha
decreased IL this country, cheaper stuff
being substituted, and in Europe thel
are still 100, O00, 600 people who ca
not afford wheaton bread, bun use rye
oats and potatoes. are we to suppo,
that they do that for fun: No, til