The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1896-08-07
SUPPLY AND DEMAND.
Tho Law tho Goldbugs Invoke, but VIII
AidaI hv TufoIItra,,o n. rt..t- m.

WI ~ FNlNO DGNftlNGs
The Law tho GoldbuRs Invoke, but whIoh,
Aided by Intelligence, Is Their Ruin.
1t is queer how the gold standard ad.
vocates lay down proposition and then
seek TO avoid the conclusions to which
1t points In seeking to establish the
assumption that silver has deprecated
because of its increased production they
refer their readers Go what they call the
inexorablo law of supply and de-
mand.
They say that the increased produc-
ZION of silvor has caused it's value to de.
cline--its value now and always being
its purchasing power This would ac-
count for one end only of tho natural
law to which they refer. The supply
has increased, but what about the aboli-
ton of the demand? Is this great natu-
raj law one sided AFFAIR." Do its results
refer only to supply, or are they con-
cerned also with demand?
IL 10 u matter of history that the do
mand for silver as money of final pay
ment i'll Europe and tho United States
was obliteratcd before there had been
any increase in the output of silver
bullion. Did tho law Of supply and de-
mand suspend its operations until after
tho supply" had begun to incroase3 Is
1t true i'll theory or fact that the ccssa-
tion Of demand" has no effect on val
ucs9 This is the position the gold organs
and expounders take. They refer conf
IDENTIFY to the law of supply and demand,
and yet pluce themselves in the attitude
of insisting that it is solely law of
supply. But if one-half the people who
now eat beef should conclude to cat nm
other kind of meat, would that have
any effect on the priccF The gold stand
ard eXpounders would no doubt insist
that thoro had been sudden overpro-
duction in beef.
But, silver being money metal, its
value relates exclusively to its purchas-
ing power. 1t is capable of dcmonstra-
tion, and has been demonstrated timo
and again in these columns by means Of
official figures, that no gold standard ex-
FOUNDER has ever undertaken to set aside,
that the purchasing power Of silver has
not decreased by so much as half cent
in spite Of the closing of the mints and
tho increased output CT tie mines An
ounce of it will buy just as much cot
ton, wheat, iron, calico and all other
staple commodities as it ever would. 1t
is only when We come to buy gold that
we find that "a tremendous dislocatiop
has occurred. This dislccation is made
manifest whether We try to buy gold
-;1, xrt,f 4,
wheat, or with any staple product of
human labor.
Tho inevitable conclusion must be
that gold has doubled III value, and that
is what has occurred, the difficulty in
perceiving this being entirely duo to the
fact that dollar is called 100 cents no
matter how largely its purchasing power
is increased. Measured by itself, gold
appears to have remained stable, while
everything olso has deprecated. AS this
depreciation would be an impossibility,
We know that gold has doubled in pur-
chasing power, which 10 all tho value
that II money metal can rcssoes.
If an Atlanta man roturning homo
after fow months absence should
discover that tho Equitable building
was twice as high, compared with the
surrounding structures, us it had been
when ho went away, what would he
conclude? Ec might fall into the men
tai confusion that has ovcrtnlicn many
men on the money question and so about
wondering why all the buildings i'll At
lanta except tho Equitable had shrunk
to half their height. He might conclude
that the land cn which the city is built
had sunk so as to leave only tho Equi-
table standing cn level ground. But tho
probability is that his mind would seek
tho simpler and moro logical conclusion
that the height of tho Equitable had
been increased by adding IL Ctorics to
tho original building.
Tho reason that tho arguments Ct the
bimotallists arc irresistible in their
force and unanswcrablo in their logic is
because they aro simple ard easily un-
derstood Fundamental truth is always
simple ard is always in accord with
common sense This is why predictions
made by bimctallists l5 aLd 20 years
ago have lo II fulfilled TO tho very let
ter.
"Valuo is tho result of tho natural |
law of supply and demand" cay tho
gold standard cxpoundols, but when BIZ
metallists take them at their word they |
proceed to c1t tho law i'll two. For in
stance, they say that gold has not in
creased in value although the demand
for it has been more than doubled. Tho |
public and private debts Of Europe pre-
vious to 1872 were payable i'll either
silver orgold at the option Of the debtor,
but since that time they have been pay
nblo in gold alone. Does that increase |
tho demand for gold? If rot, why not?
Why. any l2-yearold 10y would know
that tho obligation Ct one metal MS debt
paying money would double tho demand
and therefore tho value Of tho metal
that is retained TO DO duty for both.
Therefore, we say, let the gold stand
ard opponents stand by their proposition
that tho law Of supply and demand is
inevitable in its results, follow it ont to
its iucxorpble end logical conclusion
and abide the consequences. Atlanta
A PueriIe Declaration.