Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1896-08-28
THE MONEY QUESTION SIMPLE.
[WrItten for Tun Orrro.l

Does II require extraordinary intelli
gence TO comprehend that II the cur
rency Of the world be contracted, tina
all other commodities must as q con
sequence be chenpP Money Is tn
medium that measures the value OF al
other things. II anything Is scarce, /
is high II the measur IL shortened
the producer must give more OF hi
produce to get the same amount O
money. Does 1t require unusual men
tai powers to understand that If pro
ducts be cheap, that the producers 0
such must suffer as a natural conse
quenceP The farmers, cattle ant
sheep raisers and all laporing peopl,
of the world, are the producers. Blu
producers Of whatP Why of wealth
What they raise and make Is really tn,
wealth Of the land. Though this is al
apparent paradox, it is not. They are
not the holders OF wealth. Tt,
wealthy families of the worlG
are the true holders of wealth
The producer must dispose OF his pro
duct to live. He does not and canuo'
hold it. And II money is scarce, 1t is .
natural sequence, that he must give {
great deal of his labor to get il. Then
It is surely clear who suffers and who
benefits by a contraction OF the Gu
rency. Ii the currency is controlled,
its purchasing power is naturally in.
creased. And who benefits most by
that factp Why, he who holds mos o.
1t, OF course! He Is a genuine con.
sumner. He buys everything he uses,
but money being scarce and conse.
qaently high, everything else is cor
respondingly cheap, so he can live with
a much less expenditure.
On the other hand, the producers,
generally speaking at least, produce
the greater portion of what they con.
sumo, and since they live on less, any
aow, than does the wealthy, it is, there
fore, easy to see that they are much
benefited by products being high.
priced; which can never be unless
here Is a full volume of money circu-
ating in the veins of trade.
The bi metalllsm Of some, is to max.
gold the base, or %redeeming money, oil
all other kinds of money, which ma,
)e put into circulation for every dol
Jar OF silver, paper and other kinds OF
money In circulation, there must be a
iollar OF gold in the treasury, or minis,
n store houses Of q government, 10
oack or represent such dollar. In that
case, there can be no more money IN
circulation than there is Of gold in that
country. Because for every dollar OF
other money than gold issued, there
must be a dollar of gold behind it
Such is practically a gold standard.
The Di-metallIsm of others, is to
make silver the redeeming money
and make all others represen
to ito make a certain number OF
grains OF silver the unit of value, allow.
ing it to back al. other money put into
circulation. Since there is much more
silver than gold, that policy would
certainly fill much fuller the channels
Of trade. All gold could be put In cir
culalion, and still there would be more
s liver which could be put out or paper
and fractional currency might be put
o IL, instead.
While it is apparently clear that a
c )~ntracted currency is in favor of the
wealth-holding classes, it is really not
so In the truest sense. In other words,
it Is so only for a time. While the
golden wave of wealth is rushing their
way, there is really a counter-curren
~ action which, when it turns, will
5e more destructive to them than t.
he producers. 1t IS as though a great
wave of water had been sent by a force
up a mountain side with in
efficient force to send it over. The
wave naturally must turn, which, on
its downward flow, must be much more
But here is our analogy which we
believe will illustrate clearly: May we
not say that all producers are
ike a great COW, and
that all tradesmen and financiers are
out the little gnats, flies and ticks that
cling to the back and belly of the COW
and live off of herP Then is it not easy
o understand that il the COW be poor,
that she has little and thin blood and
that the parasites must suffer as a con-
sequenceP Again, if the GOV be poor,
she gives little and thin milk. Her
,wn offspring must degenerate. Broad
an and deepen the environment of the
SOW and increase her vacillancy for cor
responding with that environment by
her more and better food n
potter shelter, and you fatten and make
sleek the flies and ticks, and her off
pripg goes forward, instead of back
ward.
Since gnats, flies and ticks are es-
things in nature, else they
would not be, it is best that The COW be
veil cared for, that they may flourish,
IS well as for other and better results
hat would follow. In other words, if
he producers prosper, the merchant
Ind financiers prosper. Ii the pro.
iucer must struggle for a bare exist
,nse, he cannot produce good articles.
Che consumers suffer. The wave star
,ack further, if he must struggle all
he time to live, he has no time for the
,etterment of his or his offspring'S con-
The great wave gathers force.
the producing classco are by
az the greater number. and since
10 body of people car stand
till; II they a not improve, they
must Acknowledgements. The mon
ter wave now goes rushing back down
he mountain side, carrying with it, as
hough they were splinters, the glisten.
ng walls of wealth, tearing out by the
cots, as though they were weeds, The
reat tree. like Trusts. Do not the |