Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-05-21

be disturbed on their account. The sunda-
mental proposition OF the advocates of
free coinage IL that all values are mea-
sured and all prices are fixed and regu-
lated by the amount OF redemption-money
In the country. and that the amount OF
paper currency. or credit money. as u y
sometimes called, such as bank-notes,
governments notes. and other circulating
media, exert no influence on the values or
prices OF commodities.
Having Dramatically asserted this prin-
cIple, they proceed without further argu-
ment. to the conclusion that the legal de-
monetization OF silver in 1873 and the
legal establishment OF the gold standard
OF value at that time are the causes OF
the alleged decline in the prices CT COM
modIties In this country, and then. rpOn
the theory that high prices for the ne
cessaries OF life would be a blessing TO
the people, they appeal 10 the consumers
OF agricultural and manufactured PRO-
ducts 20 unite with them In the effort
to secure the free and unlimited coinage
OF all the silver that the owners OF bull
lion may see proper to present at the
minis
Even II we should admit the truth OF
their first proposition, their conclusion
that the characterization NJ silver reduced
prices rs founded upon The assumption Ct
a fact which cannot be established. They
have wholly failed to allsge, much less
to prove. that silver actually constituted
any part OF the redemption money In use
or in existence in this country
before or al the time Of that legislation.
III Il did not then II is clear that its
legal decentralization did not and could
not, in fact. reduce the amount OF such
money in this country, and, therefore,
cannot have reduced prices.
II is we'll known personally to every
gentleman in this audience who was old
enough 10 know what was transpiring In
1873 that there was not dollar OF silver
In circulation at that date. The assump-
ton upon which the argument Is based is
Numerically opposed to the historical
and official fact The only metallic or
redemption money I'm use here at that
time was gold. which amounted 10 only
$i35, 10000 including what the govern
ment was using. whereas we now have
about $625. 900 in gold. and 1891, 652.Sl3
in full-legal-tender silver, besides about
S77000,o00 I'm subsidiary silver coin. IT,
therefore. prices have fallen since 1873,
the decline has taken place in spite OF
the fact that our full-legal-tender me
talllc money has been increased until II
now amounts 10 more than seven times as
nluCn as ~ ulu at lfidl utl7, anu fphrt-
quently, the alleged decline I'm prices must
be attributed 10 some other cause than
the demonstration OF silver. These facts
prove not only that the characterization Of
silver did not reduce the amount Of re-
demption money I'm this country, but
they prove also that the fundamental pro-
position OF the advocates OF free coinage
IS erroneous, and that prices are not
fixed or regulated by the amount OF re-
demption money alone, for, II so, prices
should have increased since 1873.
ARGUMENT FLIMSY.
Substantially, the whole argument for
free coinage, so far as IL Is addressed 70
the honest people of the country, Is based
upon this fimsy foundation. upon an
erroneous principle and "a false assump-
ton of facts. That the amount OF money
in circulation, or available for circulation,
has more or less influence upon the prices
of commodities Is not disputed by any
body, but it is not the amount OF metallic
or redemption money alone that exerts
this influence. If all other conditions re-
main the same. IL the relations between
supply and demand are unchanged, II the
cost of production, transportation, and
financial exchanges are stable an Increase
or decrease of the currency i'm circulation,
or available for circulation, will, 10 GER
tain extent, increase or decrease prices,
as the case may be- but by the terms
money" and currency" I'm this connec-
ton, | mean every element that enters
into and is utilized in the complicated pro-
cesses of buying and selling In the mar
kets for products and In the mercantile
exchanges, whether IT be gold, silver
bank-notes. United States notes, checks,
bills. or other forms Of credit, written or
unwritten.
Credit or confidence IS an element of far
greater importance IN fixing or upholding
prices than the mere amount of actual
money In use. or available for use; and
in fact, about s. per cent of the entire
business OF the country Is transacted with
out the actual use of metallic money or
its paper representatives: and as 10 metal
lie money itself. whether i'm gold or silver
II is not used 10 the extent of more than
l per cent. I'm our business transactions.
In view OF these facts which are as well
as any other facts relating TO
our commercial and financial operations,
how absurd Il Is 10 contend that prices are
fixed by the amount OF that particular
kind Of currency which does not con
stitute more than one-hundredth part of
the whole In the broadest and most
sense the business capacity
and personal integrity Of each individual
constitute part OF the effective cur
rency Of the community in which he lives.
because these characteristics enable him
TO become a purchaser OF the commodities
II has to sell, although. at the time, he
may have neither money nor property.
Credit is a purchasing power. and the man
who possesses Il completes In the mar
kets with the men who possess actual
money and contributes as much as they
TO the maintenance of prices. To assert
that prices are fixed by the amount OF
money alone is equivalent TO
the assertion that II all the silver dollars,
silver coin, silver certificates,
United States notes. Treasury notes, ma
notes. and every other form
of credit were destroyed. leaving nothing
but the gold. prices would remain the
same as they now area proposition so
upon its face that ! presume
no man with any regard for his reputation
would venture 10 make it except in dis
guised form.
WAGE FARMERS.
The great majority Of our people render
service for wages in one form or another
and they are compelled TO purchase in
the markets everything they eat, drink.
or wear. and I'm most cases they are com
PEELED To pay rent for the usd OF home
for themselves and their families. Like
the farmers they have no silver bullion
TO carry to the minis to be coined at the
public expense: they have nothing to dis
pose of but their labor and their skill,
and as a general rule all, or substan-
TALLY all, the wages they receive must be
used In procuring commodities for the per-
sonal use OF themselves and those de-
pendent upon them. They cannot eat,
drink. or wear the money paid to them
for their labor, and IL is valuable TO them
only because they can exchange 1t for the
and comforts of life; and
there never was time in the history Of
the world when the workingman's dollar
would buy as much OF the neces-
saries and comforts OF life as it
will buy now. and there Aever
was a time I'm the history of the world
when the workingman received more good
dollars for the same amount of labor
tran he receives now In this country.
Any policy which reduces the value Of
this dollar on the day 1t is earned or
on the day II Is expended. by diminish
ing it's purchasing power in the markets,
has precisely the same effect upon the
holder as II the amount paid for his
labor were reduced. II, therefore. the
favorite argument Of the advocates OF
free colnage-that the free coinage OK
silver at the ratio OF is TO / would double
the prices OF all products-is correct.
the wages of the laboring man would
purchase under that system only one
half what they purchase now. This
would undoubtedly be the case unless
wages should also be doubled which, ac-
cording TO the uniform experience OF the
pest. IS a most improbable thing. For