The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-01-16

his report on the establishment OF the
mint, May 5, 1881. he said: There is
scarcely any point IL the economy of
national affairs of greater moment
than the uniform preservation of the
intrinsic value of the money unit.
On this the security and steady value
of property especially depend" 1t was
evidently Hamilton's idea that the
money unit should maintain uni
form measurement of commodities,
that upon the preservation of this
general parity of ratio in values de-
pended the security and steady value
Of property Mark, now, the security
and steady value of property he re-
garded as of the greatest moment in
the economy of national affairs.
In seeking. therefore, to discover
the metallic unit which is honest and
lust. we must ascertain whether the
commodity value of the gold and sill
yer unit has most steadily maintained
this parity of value; which of the two
as an abstract measure of value, as
the yard or the foot is of length, meas
ureS the same in the units of COM
modities now as it did in 1878 before
silver was denied free mintage. On
making this examination we find that
whereas the bullion value of the sill
yer dollar measures one hundred
rnits in commodities, when both met
ais were accorded free mintage in
1873, and still measures the same one
hundred units in commodities row,
havmgmaintaineda uniform parity of
price and exchanges with the volume
of commodities. the bullion in the
gold unit, which Ill 1873 measured
only nlIety-Seven units in conlmodl-
ties, now measures over two hundred.
Tie bullion value Of the silver unit
measured three feet in commodities IN
1873 and measures the same three feet
now. having maintained, as an alb
stract measure of values, the same
regularity and uniformity OF measure
ment that the yard Or foot does IN
length. Tie bullion value OF the gold
unit, however, which measured less
than three feet IN commodities II 1898,
now measures SIX feet.
What would farmer think, who,
having borrowed Of 2 manufacturer
on his prospective crop OF wool nun
dred yards of cloth, when the wool
had heen delivered and turned into
cloth, the manufacturer should come
forward with a rod IL his hand SIX
feet long, declaring that it was the
only honest yardstici1, either here or
in Europe. and that both principal and
premium must be measured by it; the
farmer would think it the most aston
ishing proposition he ever heard-yet
this is a correct picture of the gold
standard: and more than this, the six
feet gold yardstick is still growing
longer; gold is continually anticipating
in value.
It has been well said ''No man has
bought who did not know he would
have to sell to as drunken market. mo
man has planted who did not know
that the standard which measured
the cost of his seed and his labor would
by no means be accepted to measure
the value of his crop. The producers
are all in the condition of the farmer
who borrowed cloth Of the manufact-
urer; they got into debt when the
cold unit measured three feet in pro-
perty and are now called upon to set
tie, when it measured siX.feet in pro-
perity.
Tomen of my avocation the situa-
ton is worse than serious; they bor-
rowed money, most of them when two
bales of cotton would pay 500, now 1t
takes FIVE bales.
Wecan only note the increasing aug
mentation of the value of the gold un-
it, by a corresponding reduction in
the price of property. Our cotton is
only worth half price, and as far as
our land and stock, there is scarcely
any market atall.
The gold standard ever anticipating
in value. is neither reliable or honest,
constantly taking more than we pro-
missed in the contract; it violates the
equity of every bargain, where pay
ment is deferred, robbing the debtor
for the creditor and income classes,
whileit reduces the debtor and produc-
ing classes to adject poverty; it is rap
idly dividing society into two classes
the very rich and the very poor.
rapidly concentrating the wealth of
the country in the hands of the great
masses of the people. condition of
affairs under which republican govern
ment cannot long exist. We have re-
ached that critical situation, which
has marked the decline and downfall
of all the great republics of the past.
The gold standard has given us a
two hundred cents dollar, driven the
white money metal from the civilized
nations of the West to the Pagan ma
tons OF the East; crippling the indus
tries of the former and stimulating
the enterprises of the latter. 1t acts
like bounty on the exports of the
East against which it is most difficult
for Western agriculture to compete;
and acting like tariff on the exports
Of the West, it shuts the Eastern mar
kets to our finished product, stlmulat-
ing Eastern manufacture and curtall-
ING the demand also for our raw mate
rial. 1t has fulfilled the prediction of
British statesmen, thatit would event.
ualIv prove the ruin Of the cotton and
wheat ;ndstries of the States. The Nor
thwest is now feeding its wheat to
horses and hogs, and we are told that
in the Southwest the farmer is thresh-
ing down the cotton IN his fields. The
cotton and wheat belts, bankrupted
andruined, are unable TO pay interest
on the mortgages that cover their
farms and homesteads: they have no
surplus whatever with which to pur-
chase the manufactured articles of the
Northwest: the manufacturer, unable
to sell, has to discharge his operatives,
aud left without wages, they IN turn
are unable to consume, hence we be-
hold glutted markets and no one able
to buy. the invariable concomltant OF
shrinking value of money. Invest
ment and enterprise are about to alb,