The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-10-08

unframed or needless men are carried
The most conspicuous illustration of
this at present Is the insistence upon
the conspiracy of the money power
to defraud the struggling masses. I"
The basis of this quite demagogic ap-
peal is a confusion of thought between
money and wealth. The difference be-
tween the two, when understood, shows
that they are far from synonymous
terms. The possession Of wealth does
not necessarily imply the possession Of
money. A very wealthy man may
scarcely ever carry much money about
him. Wealth and money are different
things. Any salable article is a part
OF wealth. Money is but one form Of
wealth. that form by which articles are
exchanged, and in terms of which their
prices are expressed. Wealth appears
IN thousands Of articles; money in only
TWO or three, such as copper, or silver.
or gold.
When, therefore, in the discussion Of
the silver question, reference is made to
the money power" what is meant in
reality Is the wealth power, or the DOW
er of men of riches. The popular use
or money in the sense of riches ac-
counts for this confusion of thought
and enables some persons to thereby
cloud the money problem. 1t Is not
uncommon to see caricatures of men
representing the money power grinding
the poor laborer. Whatever of truth
there may be in these things concerns
the labor question, and there is no rea-
son whatever for considering them as
factors in the money question. In
fact, they have nothing whatever to
do with it. Whether we have gold or
silver as a standard, the labor problem
will remain just as it is. Therefore,
when men import into the present dis
cussion Of gold and silver the talk
about the money power" 1t is merely
intended to transfer feelings regarding
one question to another.
1t is stated, however that one way
the rich have of getting richer is to
corner" gold, that is, to take gold out
Of circulation in order to make 1t
scarce, to lower prices of articles in
general, and to squeeze the hard
earned money from debtors. 1 have
no hesitation in saying that this is
pure fabrication, and that, even If 1t
were desirable, 1t is impossible of ex-
ecution. 1t would not be undertaken,
in the first place, because it is not de-
sirable. Very rich men engaged in
productive enterprises always have
large sums to pay as well as to re-
ceive; and they would inJure, as much
as they would benefit, themselves by
the proposed scheme. And, in addi-
ton, the chances of loss are great;
while the gains are quite problemati-
cal. In the nature Of gold, just so
long as it is held 1t earns nothing;
while the chance Of affecting prices
fc lic&o ~ ,totx
ond place, even If profitable, gold could
not be cornered, because the quantity
of it in the world is too large and too
widely scattered among different own
ers. The total existing supply of gold
is now about $4,000. 100000, and it is
scattered all over the world. No
group of men could POSSIBILITY corner
eight thousand millions of any prod
uct; it never has been done, and never
will be done Combinations to control
copper for a few hundred millions
failed disastrously. Moreover, In 1890,
the greatest. combination ever made
tried to control the price of silver and
that also came to ruin. This combina-
ton had command Of vast capital in
New York, London, and on the CONT
nent; its operations extended as far
as India; it manipulated the congress
of the United States SO that the Sher-
man act was passed in July, 1890; and
in August it gave silver an artificial
value Of $1.21 an ounce fine. The great
financial magnates Of Europe were
interested in the scheme. But even
then the speculation collapsed; and
silver fell to about so cents in ounce
fine. If such combination could not
keep up the value Of silver, how could
gold be "cornered?"
The total mass Of gold is sometimes
pictured as small, in order to give an
hot ocil he
The bulk, however, has nothing what
ever to do with the question of corner
ing 1t; Its value is the important thing.
One could pile all the diamonds of the
world in a smaller space than all the
gold; but that proves absolutely moth
ing as to whether one could have wealth
enough to buy or control all the
liable thing Is not what determines its
value. On the contrary, an article
like gold is valuable because it Is not
bulky; 1t is a great advantage for gold
that in large payments the money
transferred is not bulky. No one could
pile the silver of the world in the
wheat pit Of q produce exchange. It's
great weight for a given value is
just the reason why it is regarded as
undesirable for payments on a large
scale. And yet the total supply of sill
yer Is Of about the same value as
the total supply Of gold. Silver is
not more available because its size and
weight is more than a corresponding
value of gold. Quite the contrary, the
civilized world is preferring gold be-
cause its bulk is not large.
The 'gold-bug" conspiracy Is, Of
course, a mere fiction devised for the
gullible. It never existed and there
is not the slightest proof as to its ex-
istence. Strangely enough, there is
clear evidence that the Rothschilds of
Europe have been greatly interested
in preserving the value of silver in
stead of gold. There has been much
senseless denunciation of the Roths-
childs because Of their helping the
United States to protect the gold re-
serve when bonds were sold. On these
questions, let us have the whole truth
All the world knows how M. de Roths-
child proposed plan at the Brussels
Monetary conference (held November
%, 1899 for the purchase by European
powers Of $25, 000, 900 worth Of silver an
nually in order to help keep up the
price Of silver. Why do we not hear
anathemas against the Rothschilds for
cornering silver?
At the time of the formation Of the
Latin union, moreover there was a
generally diffused opinion throughout
France in favor OF adopting q gold
standard; and it was urged by other
states in the union. Why was it not
adopted, instead of the double stand
ard, which is now an acknowledged
failure? Simply because the great
bankers and capitalists OF France. to-
gether with the Bank of France-and
this included the acknowledgements
to protect the value Of silver, If posi- |
BILE. They had securities payable In
silver; they had am interest in support
ing silver. To say that the European
money power" is backing gold, and
not silver. Is gross ignorance of the |