Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1896-01-30

on this subject. Gold is a commodity,
and like all other commodities, is sub
j9ct to the laws of supply and demand.
The greater the demand and the less
the supply, The higher Will he its price,
and the greater the supply and the less
the demand the lower will be its price
Does the Star mean to say that there
is anything so sacred about gold that
it does not come under this law? or
does the Star mean to say that the sup
ply of gold is, and always has been
uniform and that the demand is also
uniform? surely the editor of the
Sar ought to know that the supply of
gold is not uniform. 1t is probably not
any more Uniform than the supply Of
wheat or corn. Occasionally new gold
fields are discovered, and new and bet
ter methods of working old fields.
Suppose that a mountain of pure gold
should be discovered, does the Star
claim that the price of gold would not
be affected Dy it? Then, it would t
very curious il the demand for god
should always be the same. Why
should the demand Tor gold be any
more uniform than that of other com.
modites? Much more gold is used .ow
by dentists than was used even fifty
years ago. This must increase the de-
mand for gold. Who knows what new
use for it may be discovered?
In view Of these facts, then, why
does the Star, and a majority of the
people think that the price of gold is,
ard always has been, uniform?
A short time ago a newspaper re-
ported went up in balloon in order to
that he might write up an account of
ii for his paper. lie said that as they
were shooting up among the clouds he
looked over the side Of the basket and
imagined the earth was falling away
from them. To him the balloon seem
ed to be standing stock still, but the
earth seemed to be moving rapidly
. way from them. Bat the reporter
re Isoned that this was an illusion of
the senses, and that it was the balloon
that was moving and not the earth.
Now, the editor of the Star Is up a
gold balloon, and as he looks over the
side of his basket he sees the prices OF
everything going down, but he imag.
ines gold This balloOn) is stationary.
If he were as wise as the other reporter
he would reason that this was an iEu
sion of the senses and that it was
more probable that the apparent fall
in : in the prices of everything else but
gold was to be accounted for the rise
OF the gold balloon and not by the fall
ing of everything else.
Governments have tried to fix the
price of gold by making so many grains
of the metal one dollar. But this does
not fix the price of gold any more than
ship to Ogln stream fixes
the ship; for the ship and the log both
move. Governments can no more fix
the price of gold than they can fix the
earth in its orbit. The price of gold
IS fixed by a higher law than an act Of
congress. 1t is fixed by the law of sup
ply and demand. So when congress
says so many grains of gold shall be
called a dollar, it means nothing, for
that does not Tx the value of the dol
lar any more than naming a horse fixes
his value.
The law is, the greater the number
Of dollars of any kind there are in the
coun ry, and fewer things things there
are to buy with these dollars, the less
will any one dollar buy; and the less
the number OF dollars, and the greater
The wealth of other things in the
the more will any enc dollar
buy. This law will hold good without
reference TO wnat The dollars are mad
Of. This law will Apply equally Ln I'LL
kinds OF paper moaey and To ali kinds