Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1895-07-23

ture through mechanical devices are com.
PEELED to do the work formerly done by
human hands. three results should fol.
low: The product should be cheapened
for the consumers Of the world, the wages
If the men who still labor in that pro1uc,
ton should be increased. and the profits
OF the promoter Of the enterprise, or the
inventor of tho improvement, should b.
come greater"
Harvey rejoined: "Mr. Horn, we do not
Intend to let you before the American
people cloak yourself behind the laboring
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 demonetiLe ed.
The reply to that is this: We were not
then on specie basis. We began again
in 1879; the demand for gold was not
thrown on 1t to answer the entire purpose
OF primary money until 1873. 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 If 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, OF
words to that effect. How are you going
to stop me from standing where have q
mind to? say l oppose this whole
scheme because 1t will injure every man
who lives upon wages in the Uujto!.
States"
Horr then went into u dissertation on
the origin OF value. his conclusion being
that when gold and silver were first used
to elect exchanges the cost in human la.
Dor OF producing them measured their
values The men who advocated free sill
Yer left "ous OF the question the great hui
man product of labor and the manner in
which 1t 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 oItnumbered the debtors five
to one. Every man who had worked one
hour of his days work was q creditor.
Harvey would not take up this subject
yet, but would prove when he got to it, he
said, that Horr was wrong about the cred.
itors outnumbering the debtors. He
proceeded to show when Germany and
France demonetizsd silver, in 1873 and
1874 he said, and called attention to the
table Of ratios to show that 1t was just
then that the price Of silver began to fall,
his conclusions being that for 200 years
under bimetallism there was parity and
In - years under che gold standard total
destruction of parity.
Another table was here produced show.
ing the annual price ut London of silver
from 1898 to 1894 and the period from 1873
to 1864 when silver fell so greatly was
marked on the table characterization"
1--WE have relatively now only half as
much primary money in existence as
Iii 1873 and of course silver is only worth
half as much" Hc then asked: Has
silver declined since 1873 by reason OF
overproductionr and presented table
giving tho production OF both metals each
year or period OF years from 1915 to 1891
in kilos, the ratio Of gold to silver in
weight and in value. From this he ar.
gued that: The varying supply of the
two metals prior to 1873 never had any Of =
feet in changing their commercial parity
from the legal ratio fixed.''
Horr said: Brother Harvey omits
this one important thing. You may
make two standards by law, but the PEG
pie will discard one and use the other
We necessavi = are compelled to do bust.
ness with one or the other unless the
value happens to be precisely the same
so that ehc measure becomes ono and
Identical"
Harvey referred to tho table of produc.
ton OF gold and silver to prove that in
the time It covers, BIS years, the ratio
between the quantity or the two metals
produced hictuatcd from sc to to to L
while the commercial ratio hung tcnaci.
ously to the legal ratio
Horr declared that gold had deprecated
in valuo-5j-per cent in less than 100
years. How do l know that gold is
cheaper than it was in 1872 Twill tell
you. The rate Of wages, the amount Of
gold that man can get for u certain
number of hours work, tells me whether
gold has decreased in price or not. can
get today twice as much gold for a days
work following tho pillow rs did in 1919?
Wages are ~ per cent higher, paid in
gold, for the game amount Of work than
In 1850. Has not gold deprecated then
when You III assure it with the great com.
modify Of human toii3'
Harvey replied: Mr.. Horr says that
every thing mas been cheapcned, includ.
ing gold. To say That gold ana prod ucts
cheaper simultaneously IS tinancia!
contradiction. You buy gold by exchang.
ing other property for 1t. When it takes
more property to buy gold than for.
merry, gold has risen.
with US now the price Of services or
property means the gold dollar or its
equivalent. Price has definite mean.
ing. 1t is gold that property and labor
Is being priced In, IL is not priced in labor,
and the average human intellect will
have TO be reduced little lower than It is
now, before MIR. Horr can toll the people
out on limb and chop the limb Of and
mangie them any more than they are
now mangied. He is trying to lead you
of on n theory that has no practical ap
plication as monetary unit"
Here the debate ended for the day.
At either pole the intensity of the So
lar heat is one-fourth greater than at
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