Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-07-21
THE WOES OF a CONTEMPORARY.

gencer, is wasting a great deal Of more
or less valuable space in a frantic en-
deayor TO prove that the Register used
TO be in favor Of the single gold stand
ard. 1t has filled several of its columns
lately with excellent Democratic read
.ng from the Registers files, which it
relig.ously preserves, to show that this
is so. lit has done more than to show
that the coinage ratio has been ques-
ton Of dispute and will remain an open
question as long as silver and gold shall
continue 20 be used as money and con-
tinue to have differing values in the
bullion market, we have yet to recog-
nize the fact, since the Register has
never favored the single gold standard
of money and would favor The free coin
age of silver and gold at any ratio in
preference 70 the present arrangement,
which has increased our public debt
hundreds of millions in a few years and
has brought us to a state of financial de-
preston bordering on panic. This is
no eXaggeradon.
The laborer gets little beyond his liv-
ing expenses. while the farmer is lucky
if he does not have 10 so in debt for
them.
And vet these are the two factors in
the world who produce all there is pro-
duced by man in the world
And what is the why and wherefore
of tits remarkable situation in which
the producers get nothing and the nom
producers everything? 1t would not be
so if the Iowa farmer could take his
cheap grain to the east and exchange
it fof coal and cheap clothing. And
the PENNSYLVANIA coal miner would not
be starving if he could buy this remark
ably cheap wheat and corn and pork.
What's wrong? Something, surely.
The simple exchange of products could
be made upon an even and equal basis,
but the farmer and the miner have to
get money before they can buy any
thing. Money is so remarkably hard to
get that the farmer cannot afford to buy
any of The laborer's products. while the
laborer cannotaff tobuy ofthe farmer,
although the latter is forced to sell his
products at a price less than the cost
of production. In the Chicago markets
today wheat is as low as 80 cents a
bushel. corn is about %, oats Is, while
pork IS nearing $500 q barrel. And yet
at these unpreceden,ly low prices of food
products thousands of workingmen and
their families are Starving. This is
not exaggeration.
Why is il? These products are inter-
caaneeable at par one with the other
and so much of them is produced that
the absence of export demand for both
kinds OF products usually causes de-
preston Of prices. Why is it, therefore,
that the laborer and the farmer, who
produce all there is of real wealth in
the world can get but barely enough
10 live on and in thousands of instances
NO. even tlat? With the existence Of
such a condition the explanation offered
by our gold friends of "overproduciion"
is absurd. There would be barely
enough to so around if al the hungry
were fed.
The Iaborer could exchange his labor
for the farmers product at par all the
time. Why cannot he do it now? And
why cannot the farmer buy the products
of the laborer without mortgaging his
farm?
We might answer this question by
asking why a syndicate Of gold owners
in Europe. whose agents are in Wall
Street. have been able to increase the
public deb, Of the United States hun
dreds of millions in q few years by the
simple process Of taking to The treas
urv the governments promises to pay
and getting the gold for them and then
doing the same trick over again until
the DaItry amour, of gold held by the
treasury was exhausted below the
danger line" and the government
forced 10 issue gold bonds to maintain
this lawful farce Of a gold reserve, while
all the time the government had at its
disposal plenty Of silver with which to
nav all lis obligations to these gold
sharks? Why? Because silver has
been demonet.zed for twenty-three'
years. And that IS why the farmer has
10 90 in debt 10 buy the laborer's pro-
due. and the laborer in turn staryes be-
cause ne can't buy the farmers cheap
wheat and corn and pork. 1t is not
the faul. of the farmer or Of the labor
err. CT because their products and labor
are no. worth as much as they ever
were. 1t is the fault Of our circulating
medium-our money on the present sim
Gle sold s,andard-which is worth
twice as much as the products for which
it is exchanged. and hence really buys
twice as much in the hand OF ]. P.