The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1896-09-23
THE MONEY QUESTION.
,somsihing About cold and silver and
~. Their Relative Value ms Money. y ,fii

oiiN-7lT fit olic iuDsoEplIls tuptu utnVHb
the people, IL money and Its relative
value, gold or silver, yet In nearly all
discussions, whether on the platform
or the street corner the renl vital ques.
ton. how 10 get II. seldom ever comes
up. and mt no time has Il been ahswer-
ed by the free silver az advocates.
What Is money! This NqucstIon has
been asked by, q vast number OF people
during the past three months. N Many
answers can be found by looking up
authorities. but when you do attempt q
research on the, subject, you are set
back, almost In the start, BY finding
long. articlcs,quotntlons and references,
which the ordinary mind feels at once
that "llfc Is too short" 10 wade through
the many details. and therefore falls
back on one plain definition, money Is
money" and from that standpoint un.
dertake to explain Its uses and quality.
What Is 1t In the ordinary, common
sense point OF view?
First, II Is q commodity OF value and
medium OF exchange or barter. by the
use OF which the party In possession Is
enabled to make a trade for some arti.
Gle held by another party.
Second, It is that by. means OF which
ablcd to hand out to the clerk or labor
er,at the end Of the week, In pa ymentf for
services rendered. &, ,5 q
This gives us about the only logical
definition, that Is needed for practical
use among the people, and until within
the past few months. that was all tho
majority of the people cared for.
Now, however, 50 much has been
brought up about the parity OF gold
and silver and the ..crlme OF 1897 that
the people have all taken an active part
In trying to, solve n problem heretofore
seldom thought of, and the desire. to
Know has become almost a mania. fii
!. In the Golden. Tine the unit OF val
ue was expressed In trading, solely by
the supply and demand; so much of
grain, for n like value of some other
article, but as the population grew.
larger and the occupied area OF the
world Increased, commerce Increased
and the necessity arose for more con-,
venlent means of exchange. that could
be easily. carried, as well as quickly,
computed :, q
This resulted in the taking up OF the
metals, iron, copper, ETC., These, how
ever. decreasing invalue as production,
increased We're superseded by the
adoption 81 gold and silver, two metals,
that for many qualities, have been and
are still looked upon as OF finer ma
-terlal and less liable to loss than any
other. 1t did not take very long, how
ever; for these two to find aSplace In
the eye of commerce and gold as a
standard, became. by the laws Of COM
.merce, the standard or base from
which the ratio OF prices for all. other
productions. whether from nature. or
the hand OF man. was fixed.
The commercial price of gold, count
ed In American money, has been for
several hundred years ut the figures of
to-day, s20.67 per ounce; and on that
price the coinage laws Of nearly all ma
tons have been based.
THIS Is q plain statement OF fact,
which can be verified by any one, who
will take the time to look up history.
Many nations. including our own,
have tried by legislation. 10 keep silver
on a parity with gold. but In no case
has 1t met With success, as all history
shows that the cheaper money drives
out the dearer, and always. eventually,
at the expense Of the holder of the
cheaper money.
) Now, some one asks, why we are do
ing 1t now? Our silver money is as
good as our gold? Granted, but how
long will II remain so II free and UNI
limited coinage is substituted for the
present law. In one way we are on
double standard, but strictly speaking,
We are not. That. we are so at all, Is
due to the fact that all our obligations
are backed mot payable in) by the gold
reserve, which n wise and far-seeing
;tinancier saw that to keep our credit
good with the world at large It was
a necessity to have.
SO long as the administration aims
to keep that reserve in good shape, just
SO long Will the silver dollar pass as a
one hundred cent dollar, but let that
reserve melt away like snow on sun
ny day, and the value OF that silver
dollar Will drop to commercial value
only, governed entirely by the market
price of the day. which may be fifty
three cents to-day and only fifty-two
cents Tomorrow.
r Do You want 1t that way? l think
not.
81 So much for money In the abstract,
now what IS our money. and how
much of it do you handle In the course
OF day, week or year? Jefferson In
his report says, Just principles lead
JUS to disregard legal proportions al
together to inquire into the market
price OF gold in the various nations
with whom we shall be closely con-
.nected In commerce and take an aver
age from them <
This shows that in the effort to make
stable money medium for our coun-
try that gold was the recognized
standard from which to reckon values.
ha ,a ~ "a, L. Il,
was fixed, and the market value 81 sill
Yer. being determined also therefrom,
both gold and silver coins were author
lied by law. From that as our country
increased In population, there arose the
necessity OF the credit system, which
was brought about by the organization
OF banks,for an exchange and collection
of bills Of exchange.
To-day we have ten different kinds
OF money, In many sizes on denomina-
lions. Gold In 81 so, 50, S., $40 and $50
dollar pieces. Silver In 81, soc, 25c and
10c pieces. NIckles 5 cent and bronze
l cent pieces. In paper we have notes
for $1,000. $1,000. $500. 500, so, $40, $40,
S., 81 and 81. In legal tender, United
States treasury notes. gold certificates,
silver certificates and national bank
notes. A greater variety than any 9TH
or nation In the world, and every doll
lar OF 1t Of a full equal purchasing pow
er for all the wants we have. "a,
: One dollar Is just as good as another
and will go just as far. Do y0u want 10
change Il? No. Can you make 1t bet,
ter? II so, how? Can you depreciate
1t? You can and without much OF an
effort. Throw away your privilege at
the polls by voting for the free silver
party, destroy confidence, break. down
the gold reserve. and the rest win fol-
low, like u wklrlwind Bankruptcy will
come to one and all, the nation, the
state. county. city, manufacturer and
to the individual. The strong barrier
that Keeps our ship OF state" alloat
Will be gone, and all the great good
that has followed the patriotic action