The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-08-03
appreciated. we could correctly express

| appreciated, We could correctly express
it at this time by stating that 81 today !:
equal in purchasing power TO Sl.65 befor,
! the characterization of silver
The gold monometallists never tire o.
| measuring the gold dollar by itself and
| when they speak of il as always being
! worth one hundred cents they seem tC
| thirk that they conclusively proven thai
| gold is fixed and stable measure OF
| value. They would have US believe that
the gold dollar unit is the regulator of the
value OF gold. It regulates the price. OF
| course, because it is measured by itself
! and god bullion is convertible al plea
i sure into gold coins; but, as a matter OF
fact, il is not the unit that measures the
| purchasing power of the unit Of value.
| The value of the unit is fixed by the value
| of 25.S grains Of standard gold, and there
| fore the purchasing power Of the unit
| OF value, the gold dollar, must fiuctuate
with the value of gold. The increased
demand for gold as a money metal since
the characterization of silver has caused
an appreciation in the value of gold of al
least % per cent, and the purchasing
power of the unit CT value, the gold dol
lar, has risen to like extent.
But the gold monometallists, from ig-
norance or brazen purpose to mislead,
deny that gold has changed in value, at
of the dollar 10 the cneapening of COM
modities. They tell US the gold dollar
is worth a hundred cents, and therefore
it's value has neither risen or fallen, It
is surprising that such an absurd at
tempt TO show the value of the gold dol
lar by measuring it by itself should not
excite ridicule.
For how could the dollar be worth more
or less than one hundred cents? The
cent equals the one-hundredth part of
the dollar, and therefore 100 cents must
equal the dollar. The purchasing power
OF the dollar may be trebled, but still 1t
must equal 100 cents. for if the value of
the dollar is trebled, the value of the
cent must be trebled also. To say that
the dollar is worth 10 cents is to say that
2j.S grains of gold are worth 100 times
.25S grains of gold or 25.S grains. We
might as well say a pound of iron is worth
a pound of iron, or a bushel of wheat is
worth bushel Of wheat. 1t is absurd to
say that dollar is always worth 100
cents and that therefore its value is fixed
as it would be to say that because the
pound of iron always contains sixteen
ounces its value never changes.
But, say the gold monometallists, the
gold dollar Is worth 100 cents and the So
called silver dollar is worth only so cents.
ing power of gold is fixed and that silver
has deprecated 100 per cent. OF course.
the gold dollar is worth 100 cents in gold,
but this does not show that its value has
not appreciated, and so the Mxican dollar
is worth 100 cents in Mexico, and in the
language of the MexicanS it is gold that
has appreciated and silver that IS stable;
but this does not show that silver has
not changed in value.
If we would arrive at the true facts we
must not measure gold by gold, or silver
by silver, nor must we measure silver by
gold, or gold by silver, but we must mea-
sure gold and silver by commodities.
When we do so we find that measured in
Silver prices have remained comparatively
stable, but measured in gold have fallen,
in some instances more than 80 per cent.
This shows that it is not so much silver
that has deprecated as it is gold that
has appreciated. AS shown by the tables |
Of Mr.. Sauerbeck, based on the average |
price Of forty-five general commodities |
in the London market, prices have fallen |
about 80 per cent since the demonstration |
Of silver This shows that the purchas- !
ing power of gold has increased by about |
. per cent; that the gold dollar of today is /
worth as much as s1.65 was twenty years |
ago.
1t IS very easy TO exagSerate lIe I'M
oortance of a few petty raises in wages
n two or three of our leading industries,
out when the facts are fully understood
t will appear that even in these cases the
advances granted to workingmen merely
amount to a partial restoration OF the
wages paid before silver was entirely de-
and more frequently to in
,reased working hours where men have
,een employed only half time or less.
There is just one way to restore
business activity and to restore the
rice of lands and the prices of pro-
lucts of the farm and Of the factory
nd of the mine, and that is by reStor-
ne the monetary conditions under
which the former good times and good
rices were maintained. The goldites
lay hold their corner and preach until
ratons have come and gone and
q the absence Of a restoration Of the
ormer volume Of money there can be
o prosperity like that which in being
riven from the land bankrupted half
its great interests.