Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1896-09-24
ALL OF Prices.
Net Due to Appreciation of Cod. Fsrt to
Cheaper Cost of Production.

cent ECONOMIC Changes, ard The
greatest American authority on the
cause OF falling prices, has a full ps ge
article on this subject in the New York
! Tribune of September Z. He finds that
there has been a universal tall in prices,
averaging 30 or 10 per cent, since 1879,
but that it is only in this country that
the fall is attributed to the dc l1oneti-
cation of silver. Continuing, he says
in part:
Granting, as every intelligent person
must, that the recent universal decline
in prices cannot be due TO any local
agency, but must be attributed to some
universal influence. it is claimed tina.
such an influence is to be found in an
appreciation ia the value or purchasing
power of gold owing to its limited ana
insufficient supply, and also that this
decline in prices followed the so-called
characterization of silver in some coun-
tries, and the closing of the minis in
other countries to its coinage.
The appreciation of gold, helped by
an alleged enforced scarcity of silver,
and a decline in price seem. therefore,
TO stand to each other in the relation Of
cause and effect. and the cause of the
advocates of silver has accordingly at
the outset much of FEASIBILITY. But
plausibility is not proof. nor assumption
truth, as is strikingly illustrated BIZ the
claim of Rev. Jasper, pastor of the
First colored church in Richmond, Va,
that 1.-THE sun do move.' and the earth
do stand STILL and who has more of
-, II.
than can be adduced by the advocates
of the gold appreciation theory-for
cannot everybody with eyes see the sun
move up every morning in the east and
move down every evening in the west ?
And if the earth moves 10 miles every
second, rs the astronomer bugs tell us.
would not every movable thing iy .
its surface as mud does from a revolv-
ing carriage wheel? And as nothing
does fly off, is If not certain that the
earth stands still?
Investigation in the case of Rev.
Jasper and the advocates of the gold APP
probation theory will. hol ever. lead TO
different conclusions. It is to be noted. |
in the first place. that the advocates of
the latter theory. in stating what they
assert to be the truth. never express
themselves other than generally. in all |
that has been written or spoken in sup
port of the gold theory on either side of |
the Atlantic.
No one has ever been able to name a i
single commodity that has notably de-
clined in price within the last 30 years
and satisfactorily proved. or even at
tempted to prove, that such decline was |
due to the appreciation of gold. And |
the reason for such default is that it
cannot be done.
On the other hand. not single COM
modify that has notably declined in
price within this time can be named in
respect to which clear, abundant and
specific evidence cannot be adduced in |
proof that this decline has been due to |
decreased cost of production or distri-
button or to changes in supply or de-
mand occasioned by wholly fortuitous
Nobody, furthermore, has ever risen
to explain the motive which has i'm
PEELED the honest sellers of merchan-
disc all over the world during the last 25
years to take lower prices for their
goods in the face of an unexampled |
abundance of capital and remarkably |
low rates of interest, except for one or
both of two reasons-excess of supply |
or diminished demand Has anyone
ever attempted to explain how it has
happened that during the recent period
of the fall of prices the worlds stock of
money, and especially of silver. has beer.
constantly increasing.
Is it not plain that a phenomenal de-
cline OF prices in two parts of the world |
with entirely different monetary condi-
tions, must have had other causes than
a decentralization of silver in the United |
States, which took place, if it ever did,
a comparatively short time ago frepeal |
of the Sherman act in 1899, and which |
has not prevented nearly S600,ooo.000 |
of silver credit money from circulating
in the country at its full nominal value? |
That the price of labor measured in
gold has not declined. but increased in
a marked degree everywhere il the civ
ilized world during the last quarter of a |
century, has been already commented
on; bence, if the purchasing power of
gold has increased during this period a
given amountof it would have purchased
more labor and not less, or what is
: he same thing, wages would have fallen,
which they have not done.
Measured by the price of labor, gold
has unquestionably deprecated. and re-
cent careful examinations indicate that
the ratio of its decline has been from 100
in 1873 to SIS in 1898. Measured also by
the decline in the rate of interest on
such established gold-paying securities
as British eonsols, the ratio has been
FROM 100 in 1870 TO rs in in 1906 Can
anybody suggest a better measure for
testing this issue?
Has any one ever endeavored to ex-
plain how an appreciation 81 gold has
reduced the cost of railroad and water
81,