The Penn's Grove record., 1895-07-05
AN OLD SUPERSTITION.
A Few Facts That Refute . Volume d
Statistics,

A Few Facts That Refute . Voluns ~
Statistics,
Puck contains, besides lots Of cartoo4e
Rnd jokes, many nuggets OF ound sense
Here Is one Of them;
Unlimited wealth has always been the
dream Of man since he learned the wv
dom Of working and saving. At first he
wanted real wealth-iye stock, farW
produce, wool. wine, oil and msnufac-
tured articles. Then money was invent
ed, and, as its use grew, be began 10
worship that instead Of the real thing,
Later he came to regard money % the
actual embodiment Of all wealth, ~.
stead Of a mere symbol 70 make trades
with. And so the old alchemists Sought
10 hwork'' nature for the secEet Qf gold
in the childHke belief that Unlimited
gold would bring them unlimited
wealth. They forgot tbst gold Itself
wealth only ii 90 for as scarcity and de'
STABILITY combine to put Q price upon
lt-tbat wealthis oil fba} aud only that
which Is produced BY Labor They did
not see that u gold were % plentiful Is
air 1t would DO 9sL worthless as cir 70
generally admitted to bS, for . oirculat.
Ing medium. Had heyfopnd the magic
formula, gold would haye been cheap,
ened, but the necessaries Of life would
not have been cheapened, for the same
labor would still have been required TO
fell q tree. to produce q bushel OF wheat.
o pound Of wool or 0 cask Of wine. y
gold grew rank on every bush, pap
would still have TO work as hard to fiji
his stomach and to warm his back.
They were a simple minded, supersti.
tious lot, were they not, and they would
Be sadly out Of place IN this age Of en-
lightenment? And yet, today, dear
reader, q considerable faction In this
country really believes that the wealth
Of the country can be doubled BY dqu-
bling It's stock Of money, The ~siiyerate
Of today differs not one whit from the
silverite Of the dark ages, &c Is the IN
doubted descendant Of the old tiWe pl-
chemist and inherits his legacy OF delu-
sions. ''It is hard work to raise wheat"
says the silverite, land hard work to
produce wool and hard work to grow fat
cattle. Gold will buy all these, but gold
Is likewise hard to get. Silver is more
plentiful. Therefore, let us declare that
silver is a good al gold, and then we
shall have abundant means to buy wheat
and wool and beef. It's a simple mat
ter, increasing the wealth Of the coun.
try" It Is o snowy argument, but it
would be just as snowy il the ~silyerite,
instead Of choosing silver, would say
''iron" or copper" or "cobble stones"
and 1t should not deceive any intelligent
~10-year-old boy. II all the silver in the
earth were coined into dollars tomorrow
1t would not lessen the labor required to
sustain life in the people. The farmer
would get more pieces Of silver for his
produce, but 80 would the grocer and
the dry goods merchant with whom he
trades. The amount Of provisions or
clothing that a days work or a bushel
Of wheat will buy is fixed by the law Of
supply and demand, a law as old as life
itself. If one commodity equals another
In value, that equality is not affected
by the value Of a third, and If this third
commodity is used as a medium Of ex-
change, any artificial change in its value
cannot affect the relative values Of the
two first. Two sums Of four each remain
equal, even though we should choose to
call eight twelve" These are all the
facts necessary to refute the silverites
with their volumes Of statistics. II they
do not suffice, II what is called ''free
silver" should prevail In this country,
we need brain specialists more than
Statesmen.