The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1896-08-22
"A Deprecated Dollar for the
Laborer"
BY 4. j. WARNER.

BY \. j. WARNER.
II has somewhere been said that fools
utter what knaves conceive. At any rae,
it is certain enough that many things that
are repeated in parrot-like way about
money have been artfully shaped to give
surface appearance of truth and then set
agoing for the purpose Of binding and
misleading those who are not well enough
versed in monetary science to at once pen
citrate the veil of error that disguiises the
real truth. And it is surprising to find
how many, even among intelligent business
men. are blinded and misled by mere catch
phrases. One of these is the declaration
often put out with an air of superior solicit
tude for the laborer, namely, "a depreci
ated dollar paid into the hand of toll.
Mr.. Cleveland in his letter prior to his first
inauguration as President, said:
Labor, already depressed, would suffer
still further depression by scaling down
of the purchasing power of every so-called
dollar paid into the hands of toll.
y L.
casions. has made use of similar expires
sions. Do Mr.. Cleveland and Mr.. Har-
risou. or does anybody else, suppose for
moment that the wages of labor, any more
than the prices of the products of labor,
can be kept the same very long while money
is either approaching or depreciating?
With majority of those who earn liv-
ing by toll, wages or earnings are deter
mined directly by the prices of their pro
ducts. This is true of all farmers who
work their own farms, and Of all Others
who sell directly what they produce, and
sooner or later the price Of products in
general must determine the wages Of labor.
1t is true that in organized indu tries the
effect of fall is felt first by capital, but
the moment the margin Of profit is gone
the effect of decline in prices, if not be-
fore, must fall on labor 1t may first be
made manifest by reducing the number of
laborers employed, and thus of the total
earnings of labor Eventually, however,
fall in the prices of the products of labor
must result in fall in the wages of labor.
The number of laborers forced into idleness
will increase as long as prices continue to
fall. Idle labor produces nothing to ex
change, and hence cannot buy what
Others produce. Markets are thus re-
stricted, and this reacts on prices and
ultimately again on wages. Wages in the
long run is the share labor gets of what
labor and capital together produce. For
instance, if in the United States labor and
capital combined produce in year, as
it ought to, SIG, 600, 900, 900 worth of
commodities, and labor gets three-fourths
of this sum, then the total earnings of la
Dor alone, that is, the aggregate of all
wages, will be s12, 600, 900, 900; while if
only sl2, 900, 900, 900 worth is produced,
then the proportion of labor being the same,
there would be but 50, 900, 900, 900 to
divide as wages or as the earning of labor.
In this division 1t is manifest that if some
got the same wages as before, others must
take less or 90 without any. 1t is, there.
fore, the interest of labor to have at all
times conditions maintained that favor the
largest possible reduction of wealth. Such
conditions never attend upon shrinking
volume of money or rise in the value of
money. 1t is, therefore, the highest in
terest of labor to have the money supply
keep pace at all times with the increase of
population and wealth
Nor is it true generally that prices go
up before wages advance. This is doubt
less true when the price of thing rises
from its scarcity; but it is not true when
prices rise as the result of depletion Of
money. In that case, as Prof. Cairnes
has shown, the tendency would be tC
abundance, and not to scarcity, which
would operate to keep the price from ris-
ing and rise would not take place till
the demand increased, which would only
come, for the things consumed by labor,
by more money being offered for them.
This could not take place till laborers had
more to spend, which would only be when
they earned more; that is, get better
wages
The solicitude, therefore, of those who
advocate making money scarce in the in
terest of labor is like that of railroad
company which opposed reducing the fare
from 10 to cents for the reason that a
laborer by walking, as many of them did,
could save 10 cents, while if the fare was
reduced to 5 cents he would only save s..
The fallacy, then, that it is the interest
of labor that the dollar shall be made dear
by being made scarce, or that the free
coinage of silver would provide depreei-
ated dollar for labor, is as easily exploded
as all other fallacies brought forward to
support the gold standard.
What labor wants is money plenty
enough to keep labor employed at good
wages.