Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1896-02-28
vised to sap the prosperity OF country


and destroy the liberty OF its people
Aside from any question of mora $.
the effect OF such "A policy cannot be
otherwise than disastrous in the high
est degree. Never in the history of the
world has there been such a destruction
or money values in the same length OF
time as since 1873. Never in the his
tory OF our country have there been
business depression and hard times, so
widely extended and so long continued,
and never since the first glimmer of
civilization lit the horizon OF the east,
has there been such a massing OF colos-
sal wealth in the hands of a few men
in the great money centers of the world,
In our country the weight of debt
has increased through a fan in the
prices OF the products out of which al
debts must be paid, until now the ag-
gregate loss eE@eeds the total wealth
Of the greatest empire OF the earth and
production in all the more important Of
the nations industries has ceased to
yield profit. This has so reduced the
employment of labor that the land is
filled with idle men and despair has
settled upon millions of hearts; and If
much longer continued viii mean the
transfer of all the worlds wealth into
the hands of the few who compose the
creditor class
To the people OF this country these
unnatural and undesirable conditions
have been literally created since 1873
We believe that the prime cause. over
shadowing all others, was the great
monetary revolution. by which every
struggling debtor in the land was com
PEELED to pay his debts by that golden
measure that was all the time in
creasing in purchasing power.
We demand that the monetary sys-
TEN that was born with the republic
itself be restored. Every objection to
this demand comes from the same class
Of men at whose instance the change
was made, and those whom they con-
troll
Every argument employed against il
is either a mere technical bubble or
an absolute misstatement OF facts. In
one breath they say that the effect of
free coinage will be TO enable silver
miners TO get 81 for 30 cents worth of
silver in the next they insist that IL
will flood the country with 80 cent dol
lars-two arguments as directly OPP
posed to each other as are the poles Of
the earth. The only way the miner
can get one dollar with half a dollars
worth of silver is for the metal to rise
to par. The moment that takes place
the dollar must also be at par.
They argue that it is dishonest to
coin a dollar from silver which can be
bought for 80 cents. In this they as
sumo that the market price of bullion
excluded from the mint, and conse-
quently from use, is a fair test of its
value with the mint opened and a prac-
tically unlimited demand for it.
They constantly invoke the law of
supply and demand" but completely
ignore it in dealing with silver and
gold.
They tell us that the value OF gold
is fixed and unchanging, in the face of
the fact that it viii now exchange for
almost twice as much Of everything
else as it would twenty years ago, thus
showing that they do not even know
what the word value" means
They prove that the gold dollar is
honest and that its value never changes,
by pointing to the fact that it is always
worth 100 cents in gold.
The illogical character OF this argu-
ment will appear at glance when We
consider that if all the gold in the
world were to be destroyed, excepting
one dollar. that one lonesome dollar
would still be worth just 100 cents in
gold, but its value to its fortunate pos
SCISSOR would be inestimable.
While stoutly insisting that the low
prices of which we complain are owing
to increased production Of commodi-
ties, they not only fail to account for
this increase beginning Just as silver
was demonetiZed, but they fail to show
any increase at all greater than that in
former years.
We declare that the ratio OF increase
was as great from 1850 to 1873 as it has
been since that time, and we chal,eng
proof TO the contrary. And yet, dur
ing the former period, prices constantly
rose while during the latter they have
gone down twice as rapidly as they for
merly went up. Instead of over-pro-
ductiOn il is clear case of under-con-
sumption. The money supply has not
kept pace with other things; the peo-
pie have been too poor to buy and as a
result a surplus has been left upon the
market No stronger proof could be
required of the correctness OF this view
than IS found in the tremendous falling
off in the consumption of wheat by the
people Of the United States during re-
cent years People do not, as a rule,
stop eating bread unless compelled to
by the direst necessity.
They argue that low prices are
benefit to the poor man because he can
buy so much more with the dollar. But
when, as result of falling prices half
the mills. factories and mines of the
country are closed, and millions OF
I.