Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1896-05-08
TELLS WORKlNGMEN PLAINLY HOW
FREE COINAGE WOULD lNJURE THEM.

tine blessings OF lDO cent COLLARS. lut
secretary's argument as to the effects Of
cheap money on wages was most con-
vincing and effected n notable change in
the attitude Of his auditors. We quote
a part Of his speech on this point:
Labor cannot be boarded The idle
day is gone forever. Lost wages are new
er reimbursed, and therefore steady en-
ployment and good pay in good money
are essential TO the comfort and happi-
ness Of the American laborer and his
wife and children, and be will be un-
faithful to himself and to them if he
does not insist upon the adoption and
maintenance Of such a policy as will
most certainly preserve the value and
stability Of all our currency and promote
the regular and profitable conduct Of all
our industrial enterprises. He cannot
prosper when the country is in distress,
when its industries are Frustrated, its
commerce paralyzed, its credit broken
down, or its social order disturbed. Nor
can he prosper when the fluctuations Of
the currency are such that he cannot
certainly know the value Of the dollar
in which his wages are paid.
Money received for wages, like money
received on every other account, is val
liable only to the extent that it can be
exchanged for other commodities, and
it is scarcely necessary to suggest that a
dollar worth 80 cents will not purchase
as much in the markets as a dollar
worth 100 cents. To call a dime a dol
lar would add nothing whatever to its
intrinsic value or to its purchasing pow
er If these propositions are correct, it
is clear that when wages are paid IL a
deprecated currency the rates Of wages
must be increased in proportion to the
depreciation Ct the money and in pro
portion to the increase in the prices Of
other things or the laborer will suffer a
loss
But l affirm that it is the universal
rule that the rates Of wages do not in
crease III proportion to the depreciation
in the value Of the money in which
they are paid, and that when the cur
rency is deprecated the rates Of wages
do not increase in proportion to the in
crease IN the prices Of the commodities
the laborcr is compelled to purchase.
Our Experience with Cheap Money.
Congress, early IN the year 1862, in
auguratod the policy Of issuing legal
tender paper, gold was driven out Of
circulation, specie payments were sus-
pended, the currency began at once TO
deprcciate and before the close of the
year the paper dollar was worth less
than 7G cents in gold.
In 1862 the wages Of labor, paid in
deprecated paper, were less than per
cent higher in paper than when paid in
gold, but the prices Of the 223 articles
used by the laborers and other people
in the maintenance Of their families
were nearly IS per cent higher than
they were when paid in gold. In 1868
the wages Of labor paid in deprecated
paper worth about 90 cents on the dol
lar were l01s per cent higher than
when paid in gold, but the prices Of the
articles the laborcr had TO buy with his
wages were nearly 40 per cent higher
In 1864 the wages Of labor paid in de
preciatod paper dollars worth 40 cents
each had advanced PSI per cent but
the prices # the necessaries Of life had
advanced 9Ois per cent. In 1868 wages
paid in paper currency worth 63 cents
on the dollar had advanced 43 per cent
above the rates previously paid in gold,
or its equivalent, but the prices Of COM
modities had advanced nearly III per
cent-that is to say, had more than dou-
blcd, and in 1866 wages paid in cur
rency worth II cents on the dollar had
advanced a fraction more than % pr
cent from the previous rates in gold, or
its equivalent, but the prices Of com
modities had advanced 80 per cent The
rise in the rates of wages never CORE
sponded with the rise in the prices Of 9th
er things until the year 1869, four years
after the close Of the war, when the
value Of our currency was II cents on
the dollar and it was quite certain that
no further depreciation would occur.
The wages Of labor, measured by gold
as they were in 1860, when we had a
sound currency, had fallen about p per
cent in 1868, more than 10 per cent in
1864, and nearly A per cent in 1868,
when we had a deprecated currency,
and. gentlemen, the force Of this illus
tration is greatly augmented by the facts
that these reductions in the rates Of
wages occurred at a time when several
hundred thousand laborers had been
withdrawn from the field Of competi-
ton, when the government was engaged
in the prosecution Of a great war and
was expanding money lavishly for all
kinds Of supplies fer the army and navy
and when the prices of all the products
of labor had largely increased.
Experience of Chile.
The recent experience Of the republic
Of Chile furnishes another impressive
warning to the wage Garner against the
evils of deprecated currency In 1870
the peso. or dollar Of Chile, was worth
about SS15 cents in our money, but II
1885, ten years after gold went out and
silver came in, the peso was worth less
than 90 cents in our money Silver con-
tinued to depreciate, and besides large
amounts Of paper currency We're issued
by the government and the banks, and
in 1895, 20 years after the change from
the gold basis to the silver basis, the
peso was worth only about 3419 cents
in our money. Let us see now what ef-
feet this cheap money, or, in other words
this system Of silver monometallism
which you are asked to adopt here, had
upon the wages Of labor in that country.
ml675, when the peso was worth oo1s
cents, q mechanic, a boiler maker
blacksmith, carpenter, n fireman ana
an ordinary laborer received together for
a day 3 work 1919 pesos, or $l6.Sf III our
money. In 1888 the same persons re-
ceived for the same work 2O34 pesos;
but, owing to the depreciation Of the
currency, this was equal to only $40. 80