The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-24

UWWT-
Tor there are fearful days even IN the
country. Re-invigOrate your sluggish body
with thlS prince of stimulants and in the
sense OF strength and well-being that fol-
lows you VIII be glad that In making up
your list Of absolutely needful things you
did not overlook Duffys Malt Whiskey.
value, or purchasing power of the English
pound sterling, the French franc or Ger
man mark IN the least. The only effect
would be that the exchange would be dou-
pied, and the pound sterling instead of
being worth 81 $50 in our currency as il
IS now, would be worth 81 1872. and when
our people wanted to make a remittance
10 pay q debt abroad they would have to
pay twice as much in our money for the
same number OF pounds as they pay now,
while the foreigner who wanted to make
a remittance TO pay debt here would pay
only half as much in his money for the
same number Of dollars as he pays now
But the exchange would be in a constant
state OF huctuatiOn, just as 1t has been
between Great Britain and India on ac-
count OF the changes in the prices of sill
Yer from day to day; and the American
producer would be compelled to pay for
the risk taken on account of the fiuctua-
tions by receiving a less price for his cot
ton, wheat, beef and other articles The
farmers and planters do not export their
own products, but they sell them at home
to somebody else who sends them abroad,
and If the exchange is steady and the
money in which he is to pay for the prod
uct has a fixed value relatively to the
money in use in the country where he ex-
poets to sell them, the purchaser here
can afford TO pay the highest price that
would leave him reasonable margin OF
profit in view of the conditions existing
in the market abroad. In other words. ne
has to incur but one riSk-the possible fan
in the price of the products abroad; but II
the currency here is deprecated and fiuc-
tuating, If our money has no fixed and
certain value relatively to the money in
use abroad where he expects TO sell the
products, there is an additional risk to be
incurred which will have great influence
in determining the price he can afford to
pay the producer. In addition to the risk
OF fall in the price of the products
abroad. he must incur the risk of a rise
IN the price of silver between the time Of
his purchase and the time when he re-
ceiVeS the proceeds of his sale. for If silver
rises in the meantime he may not get back
as many dollars as he paid out The pro-
Queer must pay for both of these risks by
receiving a smaller price for his commod-
tiles, and hence his prices will never in
crease in proportion to the actual depre-
citation of the money in which they are
paid. To illustrate my meaning, when sill
yer is worth 50 cents per ounce. the bull
lion contained in a silver dollar is worth
IS. 4 cents, but If the price of silver should
advance TO 81 cents per ounce. the value of
the bullion contained in a silver dollar
would be As cents-an increase of over 3
per cent. Now, the price of cotton or
wheat will not rise In proportion to the de-
probation Of the dollar in which 1t is to
be paid; that is. the purchaser for export
will not pay for IL at the rate of aga cents
Tor eacn QOllaF Wnen SILVER is worth 60
cents an ounce, because he knows that sill
yer may rise to 81 or 60 cents per ounce be-
fore he can sell the product abroad and get
his money for It, and he knows that If this
happens the gold he receives abroad can
not be exchanged for as many silver dol
lars as he paid the producer here He will
not take all this risk upon himself, but will
compel the producer to bear ii by receiving
a less price for his cotton or wheat; and
this argument applies with equal force to
all other articles. 1t is impossible to esti-
ta1x bn Of ,g,4.
this would infiict upon the American pro-
ducers of eXpOrtable products, but 1t would
undoubtedly be very great, as the value of
our exports of domestic merchandise is
nearly $780, 10000 per annum, and a small
percentage upon this large sum would
very materially affect the incomes of our
1t is argued that the existing standard of
value ought to be abandoned because since
1873 prices of commodities have fallen, and
VIII continue to fall, If the standard is
maintained, so that it has been, and will
continue to be, more and more difficult
each succeeding year TO pay debts; that
this fall in the prices of all commodities is
attributable to the appreciation of gold,
and that the appreciation in the value of
gold has been caused by the alleged demon
etiZation of silver in Germany in 1871 and
1873, the omission of the standard silver
dollar from the coinage of the United
States in 1873, and the suspension of the
coinage of silver by France in 1876 It as
true that the prices of many things have
fallen since 1873 but it is true, also, that
the prices of many things had fallen long
before that date. The assertion that the fall
in prices since 1873 is due to appreciation
of gold alone is based upon the assumption
that the relations between supply and de-
mand have not changed, that there has
been no diminution of the cost of produc-
ton and distribution, that the facilities
for effecting financial exchanges have not
been improved, and, in brief, that the
world has made no progress in the con-
duct of its industrial and commercial oper-
atious for more than twenty years. This
assumption is so inconsistent with WELL
known economic and historical facts that
it seems scarcely worth while to give ii a
serious consideration.
In 1891, 1892, and part of 1893 l had the
honor to serve on a subcommittee charged
by the Senate of the United States with
the duty of ascertaining the course of
prices and wages of labor for as long a
period, as authenic records would enable
us to embrace in our Investigation and
after a most thorough and impartial ex-
animation of the subject, a report was
made which fills four large volumes and
embodies a mass of information upon these
subjects which cannot be found in any
other official form.
The first fact established is that the
prices of articles of food which are the
products of the farms, gardens, orchards
and diaries of the country, were about 4
per cent. higher than they were in the year
1850, long before the silver legislation now
complained of; the second is, that the fall
in the prices of these farm products since
the year 1878 has been much less than the
fall in the prices of the commodities of the
farmers have to buy; and the third is,
that the reductions in prices have not been
uniform, either as to particular articles or
groups of articles, and therefore cannot
be attributed to one and the same cause
to the appreciation of gold for instance.
The conclusion is inevitable that various
influences have opera ted to produce these
changes in prices, some affecting one group