The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-03-27
it's On this point | first present biI

-
year q ten ounce silver bar mo fiat, nt
buying it up by government credit
sold in New York city for S13.10 IL
gold. Gold was at a lower premium
than some years after. so the bar o
silver was worth almost eXactl y SIS IL
greenbacks. This would then buy il
New York city 81 bushels of wheat
26 of oats, Is of rye or is of corn, ant
likewise so pounds of cotton or 80 o
wool or 361 of bar iron Today tina
ten ounce bar of silver would sell,
believe, $3.50, which would buy il
in New York city II bushels of wheat
or 112 pounds of cotton, nearly twice
as much bar iron as in 1871, somewha
less of rye, oats and pork, and some
what more Of other things. On the
general average of 100 commoditie:
the purchasing power Of uncoined sil
YER has declined, as near as can estl
mate it. 10 per cent. Now it is clear tt
my mind that 10 per cent. is equal tc
the cheapening caused by increased
invention in mining and reduction
and by the general demonstration. L
would take columns Of figures t
prove it, but also believe it to be true
that the smaller cost of producing
commodities, due to inventions since
1871, would with stable money have
been balanced, or nearly SO. by in
creased consumption, and that as
measured by an ideally perfect or alb
solutely invariaDie standard commodi
ties have really cheapened but the
merest trihe since 1871. All the rest
which appears in the nominal quota
tons is due to the 40 per cent increase
in the purchasing power Of gold.
BLINDED BY SELF INTEREST.
The cold hard truth is that on this
particular point the goldbugs are af,
tiicted with delusion like that which
possesses a child or green landsman
voyaging down very crooked river.
Now the sun is on his right and now
on his left, at one time IN the north
and again in the southeast. while
woods and hills move around him in a
regular devils dance, but to his seye the
boat goes straight on The landsnan
knows better. and the child can be
taught better, and both will admit the
truth because they gain nothing by
self deception, but the goldbug's inter
est blinds him, and though convinced
by unanswerable figures he would
still deny the truth.
Our creditors have assumed, as if it
were primary truth, that while all
other articles on earth are perpetualiy
in value gold alone is gifted
With the great attribute Of God-im-
mutability. They have asserted this
so loud and long that they have come
to believe it themselves, and this radi-
cal error has debauched all their po-
litical thinking. In vain do we point
out to them that a bar of uncoined sill
yer viii exchange for nearly as much
as 80 gears ago, while uncoined gold
will exchange for 4G per cent more.
In vain do we prove the steady decline
of all commodities in equal measure
with silver. and that regardless of new
or relative production.
SILVER TEE MOST. CONSTANT VALUE.
T would not rashly rush in where
angels fear to tread and contradict sci
enti6c men who have made an ex-
haustive study of the subject, but GER
tainly all the evidence in my posses
sion goes to prove that silver is the
most constant in value of all the pre-
cious metals, and that gold is ext, eme-
ly variable. I present few reasons.
Nearly all the silver is produced from
deep lodes-great assures extending
to unknown depths in the earth, caused
by primal convulsions and filled prob
ably by mineral rising in a sublimat-
ed state. A true fiss;ire vein once
well opened is permanent property
and the supply therefrom is, as rule,
tolerably regular Such mining is in
every sense a legitimate business, and
even if there is an immense yield for
a few years it makes but a trifiing diff
ference because of the vast stock al
ready in the world.
Gold, on the other hand, islargely
the product of placer, gulch and bar,
of washing in gravel beds and picking
nuggets from apparently accidental
deposits. In such mining there is no
certainty, and hence a gold famine
like that in the early part of this cen
tury is followed by a gold glut like
that OF 1S5O-60, and that in turn by a
gold famine. It is true that there are
permanent and reliable lode mines Of
gold, but enough of the others to pro-
duce great variations. Let gold be
quoted in terms of silver, and all men
would soon recognize that it is the
more variable in value.
And if any reader thinks that the
gold basis will broaden to fit the needs
Of commerce let him consider these
facts, given by the eminent staistician
Mulhall: In 1900 the international
of the world aggregated but
81, $40, 100000, less than the exports
and imports of the United States last
year. In 1910 it was but S2. S65, 600, :
900, when all the world had but 4, SIS
miles Of railway and ocean shipping Of
but 10,4S2,Q00 tonnage Today the
world has 3S4, 900 miles of railway,
over Il, 600, coo tonnage Of ocean ship
ping, Il interconI:nental ocean cables
and an international commerce a lit
tie in excess Of $4,000, 100000. But
credit currency supplies the deticien-
cy." Unfortunatel y true. Credit
has expanded far beyond the sustain
ing power of the gold basis. And
that's what the matter with the coun
try. J. II. BROWNING.
Phillip s.. George Cooke.
RICHMOND, VA, March 20.-News
has Just been received here of the
death in Detroit OF Gen. Philip st.
Ieorre Cooke, the father of the late