Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1896-09-10
LEW1sBUR WEST VIRGINIA. EVENING" SEPTEMBER
WIN. p. ST. JOHNS SPEECH
UPON TAKING THE CHAIR AS PER
MANENT CHAIRMAN OF THE ST.
LOUIS SILVER CONVENTION.

1t is among the first principles ir
finance that the value of each dollar
expressed in prices, depends upor
tho total number of dollars in circu
lation. The plane of prices is higf
when the number of dollars in cir.
culation Is great in proportion to the
number of things to be exchanged
by means of dollars, and for some
time past Is and has been ruinously
low. The increase of our popula
tion at about 100000 a year, scat
tered owe our immense territory.
calls Tor increasing exchanges and
thereby demands an increasing
number OF dollars in circulation.
The increase in the number OF
dollars, when dollars are confined ia
gold, is not sufficiently rapid to
meet the growth of our exchanges.
The consequence is growing value
OF dollars or diminishing value of
everything else expressed in dollars,
which is to say tendency toward
constantly declining prices.
The fountain head of our prosper.
ity has run dry. The farmers all
over the country have endured the
depression in prices until they get
about So or 50 per acre for an ex.
penditure of $40 and the like
Their credit is exhausted at their
country stores. The country store
ceases to iorder from the city mer-
chant, the city merchant reduces
his demand upon the manufacturer.
manufactures are curtailed. The
consequence is that employees and
all elements of labor are being dis
charged, and wages are lower to
those who continue i'm EMPLOYMENT.
The sufferings of the farmers, who
constitute nearly one-half of our
population, is thus enforced upon
the city merchant, the manufacturer
and all forms of labor. Those COM
blned elements constitute the over
Whelming majority of voters.
Their intelligent conclusion will he
teit when expressed at the polls.
Iho banker, also, is 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 vet il
commands interest in Wall Street af
present Of but two per cent per
annum on call. If the dollar can he
cheapened by increasing the num-
Der OF dollars, so that each dollar
will buy less wheat, the increasing
price of wheat Will increase the de,
70
auction. Then the borrower of
dollars to invest in the production
Of wheat being reasonably sure OF a
profit from that employment of the
money, can afford to pay interest
for its use as part ofhis profit. In.
other words, interest is a share of
the profit on the employment OF
money. So that abundant money.
money readily obtainable, which is
to say really cheap money, is the
money which commands 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 or two
points or common inquiry must be
satisfied as follows: The experience
OF Mexico is held up for our alarm.
we answer first, that Mexico il
conspicuonsly prosperous at home,
Her increase in manufactures, rail-
way earnings and the like in recent
years is phenomenal. Second.
Mexico is no criterion for the
United States, for the reason that
she has foreign trade Indebtedness
OF about $50, ,O00,0 900 annually in ex.
cess 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 valuation
fixed by the outside world. The
United States, on the other hand, js
nation of 70,00O,O00 of people,
scattered over territory seventeen
times the area of France. A single
one of our railway systems, the
Erie, exceeds the aggregate mileage
OF all Mexico. We offer an employ-
ment Tor money to an aggregate
greater than the worlds spare silver
Will furnish us. Hence, our silver
money, at home and abroad, will be
valued as the money Of the United
States.
The opposition threatens us with
Hood of European silver upon our
reopened mints. We answer,
Europe has no silver but her silver
money. Her silver money values
silver at from three to seven cents
on the dollar higher than ours.
Hence the European merchant or
banker must sacrefice from three to
seven per cent of his full legal ten
der money in order to recoin IL at
our mints. Europe's silverware,
like Americas silverware, carries
In 1t the additional value of labor
and the manufacturers profit.
They threaten us with flood of
silver from the far East. We an
sWer that the course Of silver is in
variably Eastward and never to-
ward the West. British India is a
perpetual sink of silver, absorbing
1t, never to return, by from $40, ,OOO.-
600 to $50, 900, 900 worth every wear.
And India's absorption of silver
Will be enlarged by the steadiness of
the price Of silver fixed by our re-
opened mints.
They threaten us with a sudden
retirement of $500, ZOO, 900 gold with
the accompanying panic, causing
contraction and commercial disaster
unparalleled" We answer that our
total stock of gold, other than about
SIC, 900, 900 or Sic, ,000, 900 circulating
on the Pacific coast, is already In
retirement. Practically all on,
gold Is in the United States treasury
or held by banks. The gold In the