The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-21

ton upon which the argument is based IS
Numerically opposed TO the historical and
official fact. The only metallic or redemp-
ton money in use here At that time was
geld, which amounted to only $l55. 100000.
including what the government was us
ing, whereas we now have about S625,0l0.
900 in gold, and $685., 6j2 S73 in fun legal ten
der silver. besides about U.C9J-
600 in subsidiary silver coin. If. therefore.
prices have fallen since 1873 the decline
has taken place in spite of the fact that
our fun legal-tender metallic money has
been increased until it row amounts TO
more than seven times as much as il did
at that date, and consequently the alleged
decline in prices must be attributed to
some other cause than the demonetfration
of silver. These facts prove, not only
that the demonstration of silver did not
reduce the amount Of redemption money
In this country. but they prove also that
the fundamental proposition Of the advo-
Gates OF free coinage is erroneous and
that prices are not fixed or regulated by
the amount of redemption money alone,
for, If so, prices should have increased
since 1873.
Substantially. the whole argument for
free coinage, so far as it is addressed to
the honest people of the country. is
based upon this 1imsy foundation. up-
on an erroneous principle and a false as
sumption of facts. That the amount or
money in circulation, or available for
circulation, has more or less influence
upon the prices VI commodities is not dis
puted by anybody, but IL is not the amount
of metallic or redemption money alone
that eXerts this influence. II all other
conditions remain the same, If the rela-
tons between supply and demand are un~
changed, If the cost of production, trans
portation and financial exchanges are sta
BILE an increase or decrease Of the cur
rency in circula ton, or available for CIR
culation, will, to a certain extent in
crease or decrease prices, as the case may
be; but by the terms money and eur
rency' in this competition l mean every
element that enters into and is utilized
in the complicated processes of buying
and selling in the markets 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 clement of far
greater Importance in fixing or unfolding
prices than the mere amount of actual
money in use or available for use; and
in fact, about % 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 to
metallic money itself, whether gold or
silver, 1t is not used to the extent of
more than l per cent in our business
transactions. In view of these facts
which are as well established as any other
facts relating to our commercial and finaE~
cial operations, how absurd Ii is to con-
tend that prices are fixed by the amount
of that particular kind of currency which
does not constitute more than one hun
dredth part of the whole. In the broad
est and most comprehensive sense the
business capacity and personal integrity
of each individual constitute a part Of
the effective currency of the community
in which he lives, because these charac-
teristics enable him to become a pur-
chaser of the commodities 1t has to SELL
although. at the time, he may have neitn-
er money nor property. Credit is a pur-
chasing power, and the man who possesses
it completes in the markets with the men
who possess actual money, and contrib
utes as much as they do to the main
tenance of prices. To assert that prices
are fixed by the amount of redemption
money alone is equivalent to the asser-
ton that if all the silver dollars. sub
sidiary silver coin, silver certificates
United States notes, treasury notes, ma
tional bank 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
preposterous upon its face that ] presume
no man with any regard for his reputa-
ton would venture to make it except in
a disguised form.
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 in most cases they are com
PEELED to pay rent for the use of a 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 Tabor and their skill,
and as a general rule, all or subs tantially
all, the wages they receive must be used
in procuring commodities for the personal
use of themselves and those dependent
upon them. They cannot eat, drink, or
wear the money paid them for their labor,
and 1t is valuable TO them only because
they can exchange 1t for the necessaries
and comforts of life; and there never was
a time in the history of the world when
the worlxingmans dollar would buy as
much of the necessaries and comforts Of
life as it will buy now. and there never
was a time in the history Of the world
when the workingman received more
gold dollars for the same amount of la
Dor than he receives now in this coun-
try. Any policy which reduces the value
of this dollar on the day it is earned,
or on the day it is expended,
by diminishing its purchasing power in
the markets, has precisely the same eff
feet upon the holder as if the amount
paid for his labor was reduced. If, there
fore, the favorite argument of the adj
vocates of free coinage-that the free
coinage of silver at the ratio of is to
would double the price of all products
is correct, the wages of the laboring man
would purchase under that system only
one-haf what they purchase now. This
would undoubtedly be the case unless
wages should be doubled, which. accord
ing to the uniform experience OF the past
is a most improbable thing. For more
than a quarter of century the people
of the United States have struggled
earnestly and persistently. through their
labor organizations and otherwise. to in
crease their wages to point which would
enable them to live decently and COM
fortably by expending their earnings for
commodities at their present prices, and
how long do you think they would have
to struggle in the future to raise their
wages to a point which would enable
them to purchase the same articles when
their prices have been doubled? No man
in this audience will live TO see such
result accomplished, and the laborine
man who supports the free coinage OF de
rrcciated silver dollars must be content
10 live and support his family upon what