Birmingham age-herald., 1895-05-24
THAT BANNER IS RAISED.
tcontinued From Fourth Page.)

Tn InlS country 1n 1SfZ was Z4J59i, ,lOV bushels and in 1894 460, 267 ,416 bushels, or nearly twice as much, and there has also been an enormous increase Of produc- tion in competing countries. But, gem tlemen, notwithstanding the great in- crease in the production of cotton and wheat here and in other countries, and the consequent decline in their prices, given quantity of either of them will now purchase in our own markets and in the markets abroad larger share of many other useful commodities than 1t would have purchased in 1872 or 1873, so that, in fact, as compared with many other things, the values of cotton and wheat have appreciated.
 As to Labor
 The one thing which has been less affected by the changes in the relation between supply and demand, by in1 provements in the methods of production and distribution and by the other in- huences which produce fluctuations in prices of commodities generally, is labor, and it is by far the most important single source of income possessed by our pso- pie, much larger amount being eX- pened every year in the payment of wages than for any other one purpose. The cost of labor in the manufacturing and mechanical industries alone during the census year 1889 was S2,2s3, ,216,52Y, which was nearly two and one-half times the value of all the wheat and cotton pro- duced in this country: and if we add to this the amounts paid for farm labor, for clerical and other work in mercan tile establishments, for domestic service and for work on railways of all kinds, on water craft, on streets and other im proYements in the cities, and in the many other occupations which give em- ployment to our people, We would have a sum almost, if not quite, equal to the value of all our agricultural products. c evident a ha q depreciation of gold alone has caused a reduction of prices, the wages of labor, the greatest commodity in the market, should have fallen since 1873; but exactly the reverse is true. The investigations of this subject by the subcommittee covered a period of fifty-two years an1 embraced all the occupations in which our people were engaged, and the fact. unanimously found, was that. although eighteen years had elapsed since the sil- yer legislation, the wages of labor were higher than in 1872 or 1873. Wages were found to be nearly 61 per cent higher than in 1860, which was thirteen years before the silver legislation, and more than per cent higher than in 1873, when that legislation was adopted
 The argument that the reduction of prices is due to the appreciation of gold is necessarily based upon the further assumptions that the Legislation In re- gard to silver has produced a scarcity ot redemption or metallic money in the world, and that prices are fixed and reg ulated by the amount of such money in circulation, or available for circulation. Neither of these assumptions is justified by the facts The most exhaustive efforts have been made from time to time by the treasury department, through the dlrec- tor of the mint, by careful examinations of the monetary statistics of other coun, ries, by correspondence with our diplo- matic and consular representatives abroad and with foreign financial author ities and otherwise, to ascertain the ac- tual amount of gold and silver used as money in the world, and the result showa that there is now more gold and silver in the aggregate, and more of each one of them, in use as full legal-tender money than there ever was at any other time in the history of the world. The gold In use as money amounts to $3965, 5000 the full legal-tender silver amounts to $3,435- 800, 900, and the limited legal-tender silver amounts to $619, 900, 900. The policy of maintaining, or rather attempting to maintain, the so-called double standard never succeeded in keeping so large an amount of full legal-tender silver in cir culation in the world as there is at this time, and one of the principal reasons for this Is that the effect of the policy was to drive first the coins of one metal and then the coins of the other into the coffers
 
 because they were under valued in the coinage laws and would not remain in use as money.
 There's Little in the Per Capita Argument.
 l attach very little importance to the per capita argument because the amount of currency required in a country de- bends mainly upon the volume of bus mess to be transacted and the customs of the people in conducting their ex- changes, and not at all upon the number of men, women and children residing in it, but as there are a great many who believe that the circulation should be regulated by the census returns, 1t may be worth while to state that the pro- duction of gold alone in 1S90-and it is much larger now-was nearly two and q half times greater than the average an ual production of gold and silver both during the decade which closed with the year 1900. In 1900 the population of all the countries in Europe and Amer ica was 197,505,S95, and the production of both gold and silver amounted to $2449 for every 100 inhabitants while in 1890 the population of the same coun- tries was 466,7S9,341, and the production of gold alone was SIS, S,849 000, which amounted to $25.46 for every 100 inhab- itants, or 95 cents more for each 100 peoa pie than was furnished by both metals during each year in the former decade. In 1894 the population of these countries was 4S5, 1S0 S41, and the production of gold alone was $157, ,22S, ,000 being $32 fl for each 100 inhabitants, or $792 more for each 100 people than the total of botk metals during the last decade of the lass century. If. therefore, the people of Flu rope and America had used as money all the gold and all the silver annually pro- duced in the world 100 years ago they would not have received as large per capita addition to their stock of money as they would receive now by adding the gold alone. In view of these facts sub init that the silver legislation of 1871, 1873 and 1876 has not diminished the worlds supply of metallic money as compared with former times and pre- vented the single gold standard coun- tries from making as great an annual