The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-10-03
YELLOW METAL HAS
NOT APPRECIATED
Reiutation Of One OF the Stock Free
Silver Arguments.
THE HIGHEST AUTHORITIES CITED
The Gold Money Of the World shown
to BE -Four Times as Much for Each
Person Now as IL Was Fifty Years
igo.-Enormous Increase in Pro.
duCtion and Coinage.

in an opposite direction, the SILVER nleH
insist that instead of all other prices
iincluding that of silver) having rail-
en. The price of gold has really risen,
and the price of everything else has
stood still. They assert that there mas
been Il steady change in the ratio OF Il
dollar in gold To "a given quantity oi
grain, cotton. clothing, food and Sill
Yer. and argue that since one dollar IN
gold will buy more of all commodities
in the markets of the world today than
il did in 1873. gold has advanced in
value, while the value of other articles
has stood still Hence their constant
assertion that gold has appreciated
Let us see. To appreciate means to
increase i'm value. Anything which IN
creases in value. does so either because
1t has grown relatively scarce. or be-
cause each individual needs more of
it for his daily use.
Now has this happened about gold?
Fifty years ago the world had bill
lion people in round numbers; now 1t
has a billion and a half. The Dopula-
ton has increased fifty per cent. in
fifty years.
Has the gold of the world increased
at the same rate as the population' III
So. have we any right to assume that
gold has appreciated? If it appears
that ii has increased more rapidly than
preciate than appreciate?
GOLD PRODUCTION GREATER.
Let us examine the figures. from the
hest authorities of the world Soetbeer
Nlulhall, Preston and others. Mulhall
indicates that the amount of gold in
the world. coined and uncoined, fifty
years ago amounted to less than s.
$40, 900, 600. Taking his figures for 1880
and adding the production since that
date. the gold in the world today, coined
and uncoined, is shown to be over w.
600 OC0, 900. Thus it will be seen that the
world apparently has about three times
as much gold today as 1t had nifty years
ago.
If there had been no Increase in pop
ulation in the meantime there would
thus he three times as much gold for
each person now as there was half
century ago. But the population has
increased 80 Der cent. so there is ap-
parently twice as much gold in the
world for each Individual as there was
at that time.
GOLD COINAGE GREATER.
But this is not ALL Fifty years ago
only 33 uer cent. of the gold of the
world was coined into money. Now i6
per cent. of it is coined. So it appears
that while the per capita of gold has
been doubled, the proportion of that
sold which is turned into coin has also
doubled.
This means that there is four times
rs much gold coin for each individual
in the world today as there was fifty
years ago.
Does this look as though there was a,
S"ar"ity Of gold? If gold coin is four
times as plentiful for each individual
loday as II was iifly years ago, is 1t
reasonable to assume that the lcsiii-
mat" need for more Of il as Il medium
"l r&rhangc is greater now than IL was
ii,r"? If not, how can il be shown
tiat il has "apprrciatcd?"
There Is another way of looking ut
H. OF the total money Of the world
iiity years ago only 20 per cent. was
""ld. Now nearly 81 per cent. of the
money of the world is gold. Had the
demand for money increased more rap
idly than the gold Increased there
would have been 4 greater proportion
ate growth of the other Kinds of money.
either silver or paper or both. for both
are plentiful and are constantly used
for currency everywhere. But their
proportion has decreased while the
proportion of gold has Increased.
But" say the friends of silver
the mere fact that gold money has i'll
creased does not prove that it is suf-
iicient TO meet the wants of business,
because since the crime of 1873 i'm this
country and similar crimes about the
same date in other countries, the guam
tiy of silver money has decreased
OTHER MONEY GREATER.
Let us see about that. Preston, the
director of the United States mint. es-
Inmates that the worlds silver money
In 1913 was S1,Sl7000,000. He estimates
the worlds silver money today to be
4O'O,5OO.OOO, of which amount s344O.-
100000 is full legal tender Thus the
silver money of the world has appar-
entity more than doubled since 1873.
This shows the utter fallacy of the ar.
gument of the silver people that silver
money has been reduced since 1873 1t
Is interesting in this connection also to
note that the paper money of the world
has trebled in the past half century.
having been in 1S4S. according to Null
hall. $,3O0,0O000O, and in 1890, $3,S75,-
100000.
There is still another light in which
this currency question should be con-
sidered. If the value of house "ap-
preciateS' the rent increases proper
tionately. If 1t depreciates in value.
the rent falls. This rule applies equal
ly to the rent of money, usually termed
interest. This test ought to determine
the actual value of money and show
whether it is scarce Or plentiful In
the past fifty years rates of interest
have fallen from one-fourth to one
half. according to the locality. thus in
dicating that there is less scarcity of
money tc meet business demands than
was the case fifty years ago.
The incrpaS in the po1l of tho world
has been something enormous in the
past half century. Prior to 1S45 the
average production seldom exceeded
ten millions year. Since that time it
has been from 100 to 200 millions
year. Thus the rate of production in
creased ten-fold and in some years
twenty-fold, and had in fifty years
trebled the amount of gold in the world
and quadrupled the amount of gold
coined for each individual.
KEPT PACE WITH BUSINESS.
But" says somebody. ''the business
oi the world has increased enormously
meantime, at a much greater rate than
the gold has increased. and since the
amount of gold has failed to keep pace
with business, gold has naturally ZAP
preciatcd."
Let us examine that subject 1t is
true that the business of the world has
increased enormously. The value of
the industries of the globe is today, ac-
cording to Mulhall, three times what
ii was fifty years ago, and the COM
merce of the world is six times as
rreat as it was at that time. In that
same period gold has only trebled.
This would seem to give color to the
claim that the increase In gold had not
kept pace with the demands of COM
merce.
NEW BUSINESS METHODS.
But another and very important fac
tor comes into the problem just at this
roint That factor is the matter of
banking facilities and the use Of the
lnpdium of exchange which masses he