The herald., 1895-05-24

crease the price OF cotton or wheat or
any. other American products in Liver
pool. Paris or Berlin. whatever effect it
might have upon the nominal price in
this country. The only effect would be
that the exchange would be doubled and
the pound sterling. instead of being
worth S4. s66 in our currnecy as it is now,
would be worth 50. 1872. and when our peo-
pie wanted to m Ike remittance to pay
debt abroad they would have to pay
twice as much in our money for the
same number OF pounds as they pay now,
while the foreigner who wanted to make
remittance to pay debt here would
pay only half as much in his money for
the same number OF dollars as he pays
now.
In addition to the risk Of fall in the
price of the products abroad he must in
cur the risk of a rise in the price OF silver
between the time of his purchase and the
time when he receives the proceeds of his
sale, for If silver rises in the meantime
he may not get back as many dollars as
he paid out.
When silver is worth co cents per ounce
the bullion contained in silver dollar is
worth "a cents. but if the price of silver
should advance to 81 cents per ounce the
value OF the bullion contained in silver
dollar would be As cents-and increase of
nearly Al per cent. The pirce of cotton
or wheat will not rise in proportion to
the depreciation of the dollar in which it
is to be paid; that is, the purchaser for
export will not pay for it at the rate of ~
cents for each dollar when silver Is worth
cents an ounce. because he knows that
silver may rise to 81 or 81 cents per ounce
before he can sell the product abroad and
get his money for it, and he knows that
If this happens the gold he receives
abroad cannot be exchanged for as many
silver dollars as he paid the producer
here. The assertion that a fall in prices
has occurred since 1873. due to the appre
citation OF gold, is SO inconsistent with
well-known economic and historical facts
that it seems scarcely worth while to give
it serious consideration. l presume
even the most ardent advocate of free
coinage would be willing to admit that
labor saving machinery, extension of
railroad systems, reductions in freight
rates, use OF telegraph on land and sea,
the application of electricity, the greatly
reduced rates of interest paid for the use
of capital, and many other things have
affected prices in some measure. at least,
ana yet they ignore all these great infu-
ences in their argument upon the subject
and attribute the lower prices of commod-
tiles to single alleged and inadequate
cause.-the appreciation of gold. pre-
sumo also, that our free coinage friends
will admit that it the change in prices
has been caused entirely by the apppre-
citation OF gold the reduction would hay
affected all things alike, because it cannot
be denied that in the absences OF other
influences. gold must bear the same rela-
tion TO the price OF one article that 1T
bears to the price of another. But We do
not find that the prices of all things have
be en- reduced.
In 1891. 1892 and part of 1893, l had the
honor to serve on sub committee
charged by the senate of the United
States with the duty of ascertaining the
course of prices and wages OF labor for as
long "a period as authentic records would
enable us to embrace in our investiga-
ton. For the purposes of comparison the
prices of commodities and the wages of
labor in the year 1860 were adopted as
the standard, becaue there were no great
financial or other disturbances during
the year and business was in a normal
condition Ill all parts of the country. The
committee selected 232 articles which
constituted the great bulk of consumption
and expenditures of the people. 1t was
found that the pricee of articles used
for food taking. them altogeter. had fallen
less than ten per cent since 1873, while
the prices of clothes and clothing had
fallen 81 per cent; fuel and light nearly "a
per cent; metals and implements 80 per
cent; lumber and building materials,
81 per cent; household furnishing goods
81 per cent and miscellaneous articles 10
| per cent. The prices for the year 1860
being taken as the standard were repre-
sented by 100. When this investigate on
was made. the 80 articles of food stood
at 1879, or nearly four per cent higher
than in 1860; clothes and clothing at 81.1;
fuel and lighting at 81; metals and i'm
plements at AS; lumber and house
building materials, at 1928; drugs and
chemicals at S6.3; house furnishing goods
at 70.1, and miscellaneous articles at 95.
The prices: of articles of food. the pro-
ducts of FARMS gardens, orchards and
dairies were about four per cent higher
than in 1860, long before the silver legis-
latlon now complained of. The fall in
the prices of these farm products since
the year 1873 has been much less than the
fall in the prices OF commodities the farm.
ers have to buy, and the reductions in
prices have not been uniform. and there.
fore cannot be attributed to one cause-to
the appreciation of gold, for instance
Notwithstanding the great increase in the
production of cotton and wheat here and
in other countries and the consequent de-
Glue in their prices given quantity OF
either of them will now purchase in our
markets and in the markets abroad a lar
ger share OF many other useful commodi-
ties than it would have purchased in 1872
or 1873, so that in fact, as compared
with many other things. the values of
cotton and wheat have increased.
The only thing which has been less
affected by the changes in the relation
between supply and demand by improve
menus III une MetHOuS OI pIOOuCblOH anu
distribution and by the other influences
which produce fluctuations IN prices and
commodities generally, is labor, and it
is by far the most important single suorce
OF income possessed by our people. a
much larger amount being expended
every year IN the payment Of wages than
for any other purpose. If the alleged de-
preciatlon of gold alone has caused re-
duction of prices the wages of labor, the
greatest commodity in the marllert,
should have fallen since 1873, but exactly
the reverse is true.
The investigation found wages nearly 61
per cent higher than IN 1860, thirteen
years before the silver legislation. and
more than eight per cent higher than in
1873. when that legislation was adopted.
One of the most effective arguments
made by the advocates of free coinage it
that the people are in debt and thaG it is
the duty of the government to relieve
them by such legislation as will enable
them to procure cheap money for the
purpose of discharging their Obligations.
This argument comedies that under the
proposed system of free coinage at the
ratio of 16 to |. all the various kinds OF
currency used by the people, including
the silver dollar itself, would be worth
less than it is now, for. OF course, if this
is not to be the result money would be
no cheaper than it is now. The indebt-
edness OF the farmer, mechanic and other
laboring classes OF our peop e, although
large in the aggregate, is quite small in
~ r,o orisp wi "a mh hOla iDIphtoH