The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1896-10-01

| 80. 80 ny. l.,-oo,ooo, paper cuIItHcs
$3i2, l39, 129; fractional currency, 81 ,023,-
~; and cash not classified, $12i,-
S3o. 10. The reports for sew
eral prior years were practically the
same. AT about that time there was in
the United States treasury, all told, 1929,
5li.Il3 available for circulation. Adding
this sum to what there was then in all the
banks of the United States it makes $780,
629,00O. This constituted all of the
money in sight in this country except
what there was then in the pockets of the
people.
There is no way of ascertaining def
lnitely just what this would amount to-.
Good judges have asserted that when you
take into consideration all of the poor
laboring classes of this country and of the
colored people of the South, and the fact
that the farmers had very little money.
that an average of 50 per household
would be Il full average, and as there
were then about 100000 families that
would make S1O,0O0,00O. If you say we
| have underestimated the amount in the
pockets of the people then add another So
for each household and it will make only
SO,oU,O0O more, and still be only half
the sum named by Mr.. Schurz.
Not Enough Money to Do Business.
The fact is, there is not enough money
in this country at present to do its busi-
|
the South, the Mississippi valley and the
West, there is the greatest scarcity of
| money. The banks are unable to furnish
what is needed, and even in the money
centers very little disturbance renders
the banks helpless. Mr.. Schurz says there
are oceans of money lying idle, and then
in another sentence he says that gold is
now leaving our country and going to
| Europe because it finds profitable en-
| nlOVnpDt Nnt Ir-
there are oceans of money lying idle in
those money centers, then how can money
going there from here find profitable en-
ployment there
I'm passing, call your attention again
to the fact that, on the 11th day of July,
1879, all of the banks in the United
States together held only S121, ,629 ,O99 of
gold, and that sum. added to the S10OOOO,-
Ooo OF gold that is supposed to be constant
ly the treasury, constituted all the gold
there was in sight in the United States
No sensible man now claims the poor peo-
pie are boarding gold; the fact is that even
rich people rarely get to see it. In de-
picting the horrors which will come upon
our country in the event of the election of
Mr: Bryan. Mr.. Schurz points out in n
thrilling manner how $500, 900 900 of gold
would instantly take wings and vanish.
1t is one of the stock arguments met ev-
erywhere, and it is iterated and reiter-
ated by the bankers themselves Now,
in view of the facts published by the treas
ury department itself. and which will not
be challenged by gold standard people, l
am warranted in asserting that these
bankers know that there is scarcely $780,
100000 of gold in the entire country. in
Guiding what there is in the United States
treasury.
No OverproductiOn of Silver.
p,,t tbn ,l,,,n s H.
speech of Mr.. Schurz is based upon the
theory of overprOduction. He insists that
there is Il fall in the price of silver and
that this is due to overproductiOn. You
will readily see that if there was the same
increase in the production of both metals,
then there was no reason why the rela-
tions which they bore to each other, or the
market ratio which they bore to each
other, should change. Mr.. Schurz knew
this. Why didn't he state it that way?
Because he knew the facts were against
him. He wanted to make an impression
which he could not make without a sup
preston of part of the case.
According to the tables issued by the
treasury department Aug. IT, 1893, show
ing the total production of gold and silver
in the world at coinage value, it appears
that from the year 1892, when our none
tary system was founded, to the year
1852, the time of the great gold discov-
cries, the total production of silver in the
world. rating it ut coinage value, was
81. 769, 1871, 900. and the total production
of gold in the world during that time was
$500, ,236, 900; that is, on the average there
was just about twice as much silver pro-
duced as gold during that time. The pro-
duction of each metal varied. of course,
during the different years, and yet the
market ratio between the two metals re-
mained practically the same during all
that time. The tables giving the market
prices show that during those sixty years
there was a variance of only seven-tenths
of one point, or just about the cost of ex-
change.
1.-The same table shows that from 1852
to 1878 the total gold production of the
world was $2,516,515 900, while the total
silver production was only S9S9, ,22o, 900;
that is. there was two and a half times as
much gold produced as silver. yet the
market ratio remained unchanged during
these twenty-One years Just as it had dur
ing the period of sixty years when there
was twice as much silver as gold pro-
duced. Again, the same tables show that
from 1873 to 1892. inclusive the total gold
production of the world was 50, JIG, $685.
900, while the total silver production was
S2,341 ,OSI 600; that is, the production of
gold was nearly equal to that of silver.
During the first two periods silver was
money metal. During the last period it
was not. 1nasmuch as silver did not fall
in value, as measured in gold, during the |
sixty years in which there was twice as
much silver produced as there was gold, |
it is clear that. had silver not been de- |
monetized. it would not have fallen when |
the gold production was nearly equal to |
that of silver. after 1873.
again, silver has not fallen in comparison |
with other property. BY taking the average |
price Of all commodities known to the market |
1t Is found that pound of silver will buy |
as gr,at an amount of commodities as ever. |
Silver occupies the same relation to the pro-
ducts of the earth and to labor to-day that |
1t did before. 1t is gold that has gone up. |
The law by striking down the competition |
has given gold monopoly. Practically the |
gold dollar is a 200-cent dollar. Nominally it |
still has only 100 cents in it, but 1t takes 200 |
cents worth of commodities to get one, when
measured by bimetallic prices.
MIR. Schurz' Wage Figures.
"AIr Schurz next tried to convey the i'm
preston that wages have not fallen, and |
were, therefore, not affected by the demon |
etization of silver; and he says that wages |
have risen more than GO per cent. since 1860. |
See the ingenuity of this and ask yourselves |
whether this is fair way of representing |
that question. All the world knows that |
wages have nearly doubled since 1860. The |
question is, how have wages been affected |
by the fact that this country and Europe de-
monetiZed silver and reduced the volume of
money in the world between 1913 and 1873? |
This subject of wages was carefully in
quired into In the year 1891 by committee
appointed by the United States Senate. John
G.. Carlisle was member of that committee.
1t made long and full report. and 1t showed
that between 1910 and 1873 wages had just
about doubled. and then the report says:
After 1873 there was marked falling off,
The report goes on and shows that toward
1850 there was slight rise in wages above
the point they had recently fallen to- but
never reached the point they had occupied
before, and that soon thereafter q decline
set in, which continued.
MIR. SchurZ tells us that if the demonetiZa-
ton of silver had anything to do with the
fall In prices, then the fall should have
come instantly. | ask you to consider tina.
statement moment and then tell Inc wheth-
ed it is not contrary to the universal expert
ance of mankind Owners of property do
not accept lower prices until they are obliged
to.
Further, silver was not demOnetiZed by |
all of the countries at once. Germany set
her face toward decentralization in 1871, bu.
lid not enact her law until 1873: our gov
ernment acted in 1873, the other nations fol-
lowed later; Holland acted in 1919, Russia
in 1876, and Austria did not adopt the gold
standard until 1879. 1t is true that owing
to the fact that Germany, Italy and some
,ther countries drew heavily upon the prin-
.Ipai gold market of the world. which Is Lon
lon, there were serious monetary distur-
)ances in London and some portions of Eu-
'ope almost every year after 1873, and prices
md consequently business We're seriously af-
'ected in Europe during the year.
prnJucficu aud PRICE of Wheat