The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1896-09-26


those who desire us immediate use,
anu 1t Is kept In active circulation
meantime, ThV owner OF the gold tnlSea
III its stead n slip NJ paper, draft
or Dill OF exchange, good wherever he
may present Il, and II liz wants more,
u ~ transferred half way rIuhd tlR
world on his demand by telegraph, In
ihn tWlnkllng OF an eye. The banking
facilities OF tho world have Increased
tcn-fold In tho past hfty years, and In
stead OF most OF the business being
done by hand-tO-hand exchange NJ
money for property, 10 per cent ot the
business Is performed with that COM
parauvcly now medium OF exchange.
banking papers, whose elasticity, con-
yenlencc, and power VI Instant trans
TYR. has revoluilonized business and
,tAuced enormously tho pr0pOrtionate
demand for gold or other metallic mo-
iley In the great business transac tions
" the world
The use " this new medium OF eS-
chanEe grows nenrer'to thu masses sv-
cry day, \ recent Investigation by the
comptroller OF tho currency showed
that nearly sixty per cent OF the pay
lnents made 10 retullcrs,such as butch
trs. groccrs, cluthers, and general
dealers, are now made In checks ln-
stead OF the use ot money Itself. The
money which these checks represented
mad hen deposited In the banks by thN
owners, but only given proportion Of
!t vas Kept IN stock by the bankers.
who know by experience that only u
certain percentage Hf their deposits
VIII he called Tor ut one time, and ARE
thus able Ia loan out large share Ot
the money deposited. and 80 keep II IN
active cIrculaIi0n.
Thus the stock Of money. which has
Itself enormously Increased. II multi
piled many times by the fact that IL Is
used over and over again. with ten or
twenty times the frequency that 1t Was
a half century ago.
y This system which has grown up dur
Ing tEe period In which business has
80 greatly Increased. changes radically
the relations W ready Gosh Ia tn. vol
umG " business, II was premDunIon
" this chang In busIrrss customs.
which led Mil IN his "Prirclplrs Of Po-,
Nticni Economy" Val H., Book ILL.,. to
say:
The proposition respecting the de-
penlencc VI general prices upon the
quantity ot money In circulation must,
Tor III. present, hc understood as APP
plylGg t. state OF things In which
money. that In Suld or silver, Is the ex-
elusive Instrument; OF exchange and
actually passes from band to hand at
every purchase. credit In any If its
shapes ccinc unknown. When credit
comes Into PLAY as means OF pur-
chase, distinct from money In hand tho
connection between prices and the
amount Ot circulating medium is much
less hirectrnnd Intimate, and such con-
cect!on as does eyist. NJ longer admits
Of 50 simple mod2 W expression
Under this system. the commodities
Whose value Is expressed In terms W
the standard Of value are exchanged
fJt other commodities WAOsn values
while actual money. apart from Its use
us a COMMON dtnomIra;oe Of value.
does not enter Into the transaction. As
this great medium OF exchange In
creases the need Ot coin decreases.
Labor she True 3l~nsnrr OF Value.
But there is one more test % the ac-
tual value OF the gold, test whlch
does not depend upon theories or te-
dious inquiry as 70 quantities Of money
or methods OF business transaction.
This test Is simple one. hut the most
important. the most accurate and far
reaching OF all those which have been
applied.
This most important az all tests Is.
the amount Of gold which given
quantity OF labor will buy.
The real standard Of value in the
world Is labor. l; Is this which pro-
duces nil commodities. the necessities
as well as the comforts and luxuEies OF
IN Ia T. ~ al,
wear. the houses In which W.. live, the
necessities which h1!t century agu
were considered IuxurleS, are al! the
result OF labor and the money which
Is paid Tor them measures the hours OF
labor whlch produces them. Labor Is.
then. the real standard by which ~
measure gold. II :, day or an hour Of
labor Will bug less gold to-day than Il
did fifty years aET. then II may be
properly said that gold has 'AppreCia-
ted II II Will buy more gold to-day
than II did My years ago then gold
has deprecated, and v each grain Of
gold which an hour Of labor buys Will
alsOp urchAye NOR. -. manufactured
commodities than 1t did fifty years ago.
then the labOrrr has again multiplied
the value OF his time and skill
Let W. see about that. 4 committee.
of the United States senate. known as
the .tldrich committee made thor
ough Investigation 4 few year. ago in
10 III: question OF wages and prices.
and after n long and thorough research
made report, the accuracy OF which
is everywhere accepted This !nvestI-
CATION showed that days labor in
nearly al the trade. would. In 1890.
buy about double the amOuAt " gold
that Il did NIFTY years earlier, and do II
with less hours ~ work In a day. For
instance. plISterers " hJ In tile good
old free silver days OF 1870, gOt 81 ~ per
day were paid 81 10 In 1880: black
smiths who received 81 30 per dag il:
1910, got S" % In 1890: painters who's.
wages In 1910 We're 81 -. IN 1890 were
paid 81 50: wherlwrlghtS who earned
81 Is IN 1870 g'H 81 30 In 1880: engineers
who received s. 90 per day In 1910. we're
paid 81 o5 In 1890 and So m Taking
eIeyeu representative classes OF work.
iDgmen. engaged in the particular In
dustrles as basis. It was found that
the average rate az wages advanced
from 81 70 per day In 1870. to s. 81 In
1880. Or that an hour of labor would
earn nearly twice az much gold In 1890
as 4; did In 1870
How then can II be asserted that gold
has ''appreclalcd?" Il has deprecated.
and that highest and nubl"st uf. all
standards. human labor. will to-day
buy more OF 1t ttla It did nfty years
ago. while ihc deprecated gold thus
purchased can In turn he exchanged
for more Of other commodities which
have still further deprecated by che
improved methods Of production. man
ufacturr and transportation which the
Ingenuity Of the human mird have pro-
duccd IN the wonderful age in which
~e are living.
4 HACKING cough Is not only an