The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-07-23


will ensue.
Assuming then that you will pre-
vail upon those patriots calling them
selves the Peoples party TO endorse
the nomination of Bryan and SeWall,
| 1T is advisable to warrant the desir-
ability of the end in view.
1t is among the first principles 10
finance that the value of each dollar,
expressed in prices depends uPon the
total number of dollars in circulation,
The plane of prices is high when the
total number of dollars in circulation
IS great in proportion to the NUMBER OF
things to be exchanged by means of
dollars, and low when the dollars are
Droportionatelv few. The plane OF
prices at present and Tor some tune
past is and has been ruinously low.
The increase of our population at a
bout two millions a year, scattered
over our immense territory, calls Tor
increasing exchanges and thereby de
mands an increasing number of dol
lars in circulation. The increase IN
the number of dollars, when dollars
are confined to gold is not sufficiently
rapid to meet the growth of our eN-
changes. The consequence is grow
ing value of dollars or a diminishing
value of everything elise expressed in
dollars; which is to say, tendency
toward constantly declining prices.
The fountainhead of our prosperity
has run dry. Our farmers all over the
country have endured the depression
in prices until they get about IS or 50
per acre for an expenditure of $40 per
acre. and the like. Their credit is eX-
hausted at their country stores. The
country store ceases to order from the
city merchant, the city merchant re-
duces his demand upon his manufactu-
rer. Manufactures are curtailed. The
consequence is that employees and all
elmemts of labor are being discharged,
and wages are lowered to those who
continue in employment The suffer
ings of the farmers, who constitute
nearly one half of our population, Is
thus enforced upon the city merchant,
the manufacturer and all forms OF Ia
Dor. These combined elements constj-
tute the overwhelming majority of yo-
tiers Their intelligent conclusion Will
be felt when expressed at the polls.
The banker is also without pros
perity unless prosperity is general
throughout the United States. He
must learn To distinguish between
cheap money and money command
ING. low rate of interest. The dollar
worth two bushels of wheat is a dear
dollar and yet it commands interest IN
Wall Street at present Of but two per
cent. per 2nnum on call, # the dollar
can be cheapened by increasing the
number of dollars, SO that each dollar
will buy less wheat. the increasing
price OF wheat Will increase the de
mand for dollars to invest in its pro-
duction. Then the borrower of dol
lars is to invest in the production of
wheat. being reasonably sure of profit
from that employment of the money,
can afford to pay interest for it's uses
as part of his profit. In other words,
interest is a Share of the profit on the
employment Of money. So that album
dant money, readily obtainable, which
is to say really cheap money, is the
money which commands a high rate
of interest. as share of the profit OF
the borrower in using it.
As"we appeal TO the country, IN the
Justice OF our cause. one,0r two points
of common inquiry must be satisfied
as follows:
The; experience Of Mexico II held up
for our alarm. We answer, first, that
Mexico is conspfcuouslY prosperous
at home. Her increase. I'M manufac-
lures, railway earnings and the like
in recent years is pAenominal- Second
Mexico is no criterion for the United
States, for the reason that she has 4
foreign trade indebtedness of about
$4,000 900 annually in excess, of the
value of her exports Of cotton, sugar,
coffee, hides and the like, which must
be paid for in the. surplus product OF
her mines Her silver therefore goes
abroad as merchandise and at a valua-
ton fixed by. the outside world. The
United States on the other hand Is =
nation of seventy miIlios OF people,
g9attered over a territory seventeen
times the area of France. \ Single
one Of our railway systems, the Erie,
exceeds the aggregate railway mileage
of all Mexico, We Offer, an employ
ment for money tp an aggregate gfef..I
er than ting worlds spare silver WIFI
furnish us. Hence, our silver money
at home and abroad will be yalned az
the money Of the United States.
The opposition threatens us with
a flood OF Europe's silver upon our re-
opened mints. We answer, Europe has
no silver but her silver money. Her
silver money values silver at from
three cents to seven cents on the dol
lar higher than ours. Hence the Euro
pean merchant or banker must sacri-
flee from three TO seven per cent OF
his full legal tender money in order
to recon It at our minis. Europe's
silverware, like Americas silyerware,
carries in it the additional value of
labor and the manufacturers profit,
They threaten us with flood of
silver from the far East. We answer
that the course of silver is invariably
Eastward and never toward the West,
British India is a perpetual sink of
silver, absorbing it never to return, by
from thirty to sixty million dollars
worth every year. And midas alb
sorption of silver will be enlarged by
the steadiness of price for silver fixed
by our re-opened mints. They threat
EN- us with Sudden retirement of
5000 00O, 900 gold with the accompany
ing panic, causing contraction and
commercial disaster unparalleled. We
opcv-a,. +baf our total STOCK Of cold