The advocate., 1895-07-31

PROBABLY IOuF ClLQb3~BuCu II AS Gub oSbAAndJo
of po litical economists; but wheat is an
article that people eat to live, it Is all con-
sumed from year to year, or after a short
time. Gold has been accommodating for
ages, and If you should destroy the pri-
mary money quality Of half the gold. in
the world you would not change the price
OF the metal one.half AS soon as the
price would go up there is an enormous
store laid away all over the entire world
that is not being used for money purposes
that would at once seek the channels and
be coined into money and take the place
OF the money that had been destroyed.
What Coin is really after Is a cheap
dollar. He would reduce at one stroke If
need be, the value of the money unit of
this country one-half. If that is not
adopting a 5O-cent dollar what is it9
Now l am here to protest against the
whole scheme because it is an effort to
oheapen labor. care not in what part of
the world you seek for examp pies you will
find that civilization is the highest whore
the best wages are paid for human effort,
both mental and physical. The real meas.
ure of values Is human toll. To decide
whether any system Of finances is best
you must inquire into its effect upon the
toiling millions. The greatest commodity
ever placed on the markets of the world
is labor. To know whether gold has ap-
preolated or deprecated in real value the
price paid for any human effort must
never be omitted. When the laws Of ma
ture through mechanical devices are com.
pelled to do the work formerly done by
lkp oh R0A
low: The product should be cheapened
for the consumers of the world, the wages
of the men who still labor in that produc.
tiOn should be increased, and the profits
of the promoter Of the enterprise, or the
inventor Of the improvement, should be-
come greater"
Harvey rejoined: "Mr. Horr, we do not
intend to let you before the American
people cloak yourself behind the lsboring
man. There have been free schools in
this country for many years, and you are
not going to fool the laboring men Of this
country. Mr. Horr asks me about prices,
why they did not drop suddenly 80 per
cent. in 1873 when silver was demonstized.
The reply to that is this: We were not
then on a specie basis. We began again
thrown on it to answer the entire purpose
of primary money until 1879 and then it
was cushioned in this country by the dis
puted position of silver
HE says my illustration about halt
the gold being destroyed is not like the
wheat II 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 val
ues." Referring to the table of ratios
again Harvey said that for 200 years
there was practical parity between the
two metals.
Said Horr, when Harvey sat down:
"My friend Harvey says that he is not
going to permit me to stand behind the
laboring men, or hide behind them, or
words to that effect How are you going
to stop me from standing where have a
mind tor say 1 oppose this whole
scheme because it will injure every man
who lives upon wages in the United
States.
Horr then went into u dissertation on
the origin Of value, his conclusion being
that when gold and silver were first used
to effect exchanges the cost in human la.
Dor or producing them measured their
values The men who advocated free sill
yer left 'out Of the question the great hu.
man product of labor and the manner in
which it will be affected by the legislation
that they propose. Their whole plan
seems to be to enable people who have run
into debt to pay their debts:without re-
turning full value for what they have re-
ceiVed." But, said Horr, the creditors of
the country outnumbered the debtors five
to one. Every man who had worked one
hour of his days work was a creditor.
Harvey would not take up this subject
yet, but would prove when he got to it, hS