The Monticellonian., 1895-09-13

: frceSt possible use and circulation of silver
 maintained al a parity with gold as it is at pres cnt." Iii etAet words, that thry are unaitemhly
 committed To the blessed 3j=HHnzaHan of the ! John Sherman act of js7}, and as we ale main
 t3iniHg the parity at present by Fzfas d gold
 syndicate more than SS.oOo0lo to acf dS guardian
 of our national treasury for about six months ! they are "uHslterably in favor of tbat too!
 Hdt dues it profit to have silver in circulation | without the functions of a Standard uf Valua i but based on gold, or maintained upon parity
 with lis swollen value, hy mnrtgaging allthe pro
 dHeltte eHerPies of our people by the repeated
 issuance of boud>a If a silver dollar is 10 be 1 nothing more than q gold note written on sycE ! and d matr mailer If circulation is the thing de-
 sired, ii would be cheaper to have gold notes . printed on paper l. is very evident that our
 "sound elmoney' club have "an eye single" to i The gold standard and that so far as silver Is ] concerned. they are moving in the same cddy
 maze af circulation that can never reael b-
 metallic standard. They forget that nothing IS
 real money, or primary money, except standard
 r9aey, and that the plank Of the democratic platform they refer 10, says: "We hold to the
 use of both gold and silver as the standard
 iaoHrf of the country.
 The sherman aet of ls7}, having deprived sii
 yer of is function of q standard of yaue tHe l whole burden of the functions of primary money 1 WIS thereby deyoNed on gold alone. thereby lFaelF enhancing it's purchasing power with re- ! -peet 10 all commodities including silver. This
 is elrarly shown in the article titled ..slver, in i Vol 2, Encyclopedia Britaniea. D. 81
 Now, as t is only the real, or primary money
 whose free coinage Is provided fer by law that constitutes the measure of values 2 by which is
 determined the price. of labor and all is
 products, and as the amount of the precious ! metals in the whole world available for use as
 money, is, ia round numeefs, eieht billions of 1 dollars, about equally divided between gold and
 silver, q 'G RaHaas of silver It. pound of gud,
 the natural effect af the characterization of silver
 would he 10 lower the leye of general prices
 about 5o per cent=
 Gold baIas fhe standard and sole unit of 1 yaluc,' whatever increases the value of gold, necessarily increases fhe 9alHe of 2l s grains of gold. which constitutes the unit of
 value, and whatever enhances the purchasing
 power of gold dollar necessarily enhances the purchasing power of every deiIaf Of represeuta-
 tive maEex haSFd on gold. or silver dollar arti-
 heialiY held up to gold hy mortgages upon tAe
 people in the shape of government bonds.
 !. Il, therefore, follows that no plan that looks
 to an increase Of circulation hy means of state
 bank, Of national bank, notes. of by an "en-
 lareed use, or the "freest possible uSe" of siI-
 yer, without restoring is ancient functions as >taudafdmoney and a unit of value can be of
 any real and permanent benefit to the people.
 If yaa want to benefit the people you must
 increase the volume of real money, or broaden
 the base of your money efuitimate redemption.
 and thaI can only be done hY lhe free coinage If
 silver, of restoring it's ancient function ds unit
 of vaiur .
 Money s bought and sold, the same as com
 modilie- ant itS yaluc or purchasing power, is 1 determined hy the law of supply and demand.
 with thr difference, however. that money. being 1 the universal medium of exchange and standard 1 of F56t, without which men cannot procure whaF They want nor pay their dahGs, money Is | aluass ia I state of constant aaIHaHd, such as nothing else is. Consequently, tBe smaller tHz l ~aPaS et Peal, or primary meieE. tH proportion i tethe amount of debts 10 be paid aH1 labor and commodities to be exchanged for it. the greater heeplaeS ttte purchasing power of every dollar
 and the lower the price of labor and of all com maiitles
 Ii is some times 7sid that the increase
 in lAe ea}ee. or purchasing power of
 dollars, can only iaHue men n debt, i but tfat is q great mistake. for, as tha y5uF If dollars tnereases,1l}e prices of commodities
 naturally fail md as the profits of all business 1 enterprises depend upon lIe prices received for i their products, or output, prudent men hesitate
 to embark in business enterprises on market of falling prices. Therefore, whatever duniu-
 ishes the volume of real money. orpreyents it eS- l paHliHg to keep pace with Iae growth of the country and the demands of trade, tends lo stop i investments and induce the heaadiug of money and plethora of il in the money eenters, to i seek investments in government bonds or stock | gambling, rather than in the channels of legiti 1 mate enterprise Land worth s2 GOO today might i be good security for a Sl0oa loan, but with dol | lars constantly increasing in yafue. and land 1 likely 10 fall, five years hence the land might not sell for enough to pay hack the principal, 10 | say nothing of the interest, and the money owner might better afford 10 oeK up his sl,ao0 and real l ila the h,nehl of their increase in value, than to take the risk of losing any Of his "fattening | dollars
 l With not enough gold in the whole world to 1 pay the interest on the amount of debts owed and most Of the great nations all grabbing for | what there is, the value of gold is constantly en- 1 haneine.andthereforethe snglegold standlrdnot | only wrongs every debtor, but innietS injury upon 1 every productive enterprise, and cuts down the ] demald for labor Eanings, and not wages. 1 are tHe test of the prosperity of lahor and as i earnings are wages multiplied by days of employ meHt. plus number If those employed, there may be all increase in wages to those employed and ! yet a deerease in earnings. on account of re- | duced hours and number of those employed, and 1 such has been one of the results of gold mono ! metallism.
 The same thing is true of the products Of labor, 1 the test of prosperous condition being the price obtained multiplied by the amount of products i sold.
 4 financial system, therefore, which forces decrease in output or acreage, in order to obtain an increase in price for articles of general ueces-
 Sity, Is heth d hlHnder and a crime, and such is 1 another one of the actual results of gold mono- i metaHsm.
 1 There is no such thing as oyerproduction of ! cotton when millions of human beings are ragged i oraaut of sufficient clothes; and there is no oyerproduetion of grain when thousands are l starving in sight of the elevators
 1 Let the farmers and producers have reasonable profit upon all they can raise, and produce. and there will be plenty of ! bread in the mouths of the hungry, and the ragged will have decent clothes.
 The old staek-in-trade argument that the 1 movement in favor of the free coinage of silver is "in the interest of western mine-owners, t" is the same as if men, interested in the undue high | price of bread were t0 denouuce q movement to i open the mills to corn as simply "in the interest l of corn-growegs."
 Suppose t Was proposed to repeal wicked ] law that closed the mills against corn, and made ! wheat the single standard, or staple, fol food, i what would be said of the men interested in , keeping Hp the unnatural price If wheat. who ' E.