The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-07-27

concluS1on-then we might ma some
metal in the world that is scarcer than
gold is and dearer than gold, with
which a laboring man could purchase
more than he can at present with the
gold dollar. Mr. Horn, we do not in
tend TO let you, before the American
people, cloak yourself behind the
laboring man. (Applause)
Mr. Horn asks me about prices, why
they did not drop suddenly so per cent
in 1873 when silver was demonetized?
The reply is this: We were not then
on specie basis. We began again in
1873, the demand for gold was not
thrown on it to answer the entire pur-
pose of primary money until 1879, and
then it was cushioned in this country
by the disputed position of silver.
The commercial parity of silver with
gold in 1879 was so near together, not
having fallen but about Is per cent.
that it ceased materially, and for a
number of years silver hung, as it were,
like Mahomet's coffin, between the cell
ing and the floor. 1t was hard to tell
where its true position was, so many
misrepresentation were made in re-
was occupied by silver in the balance
Of the commercial nations. They had
demonetized it until the demand that
had, prior to that time, been on both
gold and silver in Europe and partly
In America was gradually shifted from
both of the metals to gold alone. 1t is
only in the last three or four years that
it has been pronounced, and the treas
urer at Washington, among the stat
utes made for that purpose, has con-
strued them to be that gold alone is our
redemption money. He says my illus
tration about half the gold being de-
stroyed is not like the wheat if one-half
of that were suddenly destroyed. In
this whole argument you can apply one
safe principle, and that is, that supply
and demand regulate values, and if the
supply is cut in two, and the demand
| remains at what it. was before, that it
does affect the rise in the price of
an article the same as it would in the
illustration of wheat, gold or any other
article.
The French Ratio.
Mr.. Horr-I quoted the exact words
II Jill OO1u lndUCld1 0EuOO1. W nat
( Coin" said then I supposed for the
purposes of this debate brother Harvey
would stick to now. You said during
| this struggle to get more silver France
made bid for it by establishing \
ration of 1914 to I, and as our ratio was
/ 16 to 1, this made silver worth more"
I etc. Now, submit that you attempted
| by that book to teach the people of the
! United States that as soon as we, or
! after, we had raised our ratio to 16,
France made bid by putting her ratio,
i and paying one-half more for silver,
! putting it at 1515, and that she got our
| silver away from us by doing that. The
! fact is, that she didn't change her ratio
at all, that her ratio had been changed
thirty-one years previous to our estab-
fishing Is to 1. And now he says
France was blockaded at that time
Well, suppose she was, she didn't
change her coinage in order to under
bid US for silver if it had already been
changed, did she? That is the thing.
1 had just commenced to tell you my
| idea about labor being the real measure
of values. l have little doubt that the
first unit of value, when one was
adopted, was determined by the
amount of human effort required to
produce it. When men came to trade
they did it by barter, an exchange OF
one commodity for another, which was
in reality only an exchange of one
| mans labor for another. For ages nc
other kind of commerce was known tc
the world. I want this audience to I'M
derstand this principle: Money at first
received its entire value from the labor
represented in it, and the reason gold
and silver came to be used was be-
cause each one repr esented a certain
amount of work, and when people
| wanted to make exchanges their only
effort was that they should get in ex-
change as much honest toll as they
gave.
Labor Comes In.
Now any statesman or philosopher
who examines the question and pro
poses any mode of action, and leave.
out of his calculation how his plan vii
affect the pay for labor, ignores the
most important part Of this subject ant
is giving his attention to a mere side
show. My first criticism of this Who'll,
business of brother Harvey, and all tn,
silver advocates, is this: They leav'
out of the question the great human
product, labor, and the manner il
which it will be affected by the legis
lation that they propose. Their Who'll
plan seems to be to enable people VIII
have run into debt to pay their debt
without returning full value for wha
they have received, and nowhere d
they take into account the much large
army of the human family who liv
week in and week out on their dali
earnings. I have received letters, tw
or three of them, asking, What do 20
mean, Mr. Horn, when you say that tn
creditors of the country outnumber tn
debtors, five to one?" What do mean
| I al 4Lc