St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-02-11
SOME CRITICISMS ANSWERED..

date future in the Sandwich islands.
SOME CRITICISMS ANSWERED.
There appears in another column
communication by Mr.. George H. Clag-
gett, Of Montevideo referring to an
article in the G. o b e in reply to a
communication from Mr.. ]. L. Mac
donald. The body Of it is temperate
and pertinent, and calls for some COM
| ment. His preliminary assertion that
reply to Mr.. Macdonald will cost the
| Democratic party some votes is rather
curious. Perhaps he is not aware that
| this gentleman, who is, as he states,
Hon. J. L. Macdonald, formerly of
! Shakopee, was, during the last state
campaign, the chairman Of the state
committee Of the Peoples party in Min
nesota. If there are any Democrats
in this state who will cease to be Dem
| ocrats because the G. o b e criticizes
high functionary Of Populism, or be-
cause it objects to his statement that
the speech of Senator TfIlman was
made by Senator Butler, and that Sen.
ator Butler is now a representative of
the state Of South Carolina, then the
| q o b e would have to bid them sor-
| rowful farewell. No one has been
more outspoken than we in condemn
Ing the Endorsement in the last con-
gress by Democrats Of a protection pol
| Icy. This however was the crime Of five
men in the United States senate, calling
themselves Democrats, but really the
representatives Of protected interests.
NO just man should hold the party re-
sponsible for that. Our skirts are GER
| tainly clear Of reproach, since our de-
nunciation Of it has been open and
vigorous
Coming now to the question Of money
volume, which cannot be covered in one
article or many, we will present a
few facts for the consideration Of our
correspondent The prices of most COM
modities are fixed today in the mar
kets Of the world This is most of all
true Of the commodities which the
farmer produces. Nothing that this
country could do in the way of free
coinage or any other form of currency
imitation would change the Liverpool
quotation Of wheat. The price paid
there, which is the price fixed by the
competition of the wheat growers of the
whole world, including Russia. India
and the Argentine Republic, as well
as the United States, would determine
! the price Maid in Minnecoto ond +ba No
kotas. That price is measured by the
gold standard. 1t will continue to be
| so, because the commercial exchanges
OF the world use that standard. That
an act Of congress in this country could
make the price go up Or down in the
worlds market, is an idea that we do
not comprehend. In the last resort,
through the medium Of supply and de-
mand, the prices of all other commo-
dities are fixed in the same way, Trade
is worldwide. If an article commands
higher prices in one country than else
where, cost Of carriage included. then
international trade, where it is free.
by exporting and importing soon brings
these prices to q common level.
It Is doubtless true that the volume
OF money in the whole world has some
thing to do with fixing prices of COM
modities in the whole world To change
one factor in this ratio, you must also
change the other. An increase in the
money supply in the United States
alone affects only slightly the total
/ oP
therefore, be operative to any con-
siderable extent on prices, because Of
the existence Of trade exchanges be-
tween one country and another. The
argument is just the same as in the
case Of those farmers who contend that
to bring more people into the North
west thus increasing the production
of wheat, would be to still further lower
| Its price. The addition that such farm
ers would make to the worlds wheat
supply is so inconsiderab le that 1t could
| hot AFFECT prices by so much as the
! fraction Of cent. The increase in
the worlds money supply, made by an
act Of congress authorizing free coinage.
would not only be equally inconsid-
cradle, but it would amount practical
ly to nothing at all; for the other ma
lions basing their money volume on the
| gold standard would scale ours down
in the same proportion.
There is another fact that is equally
decisive. We call our correspondence
attention again to the often-reiterated
truth that actual cash has long ceased
to be the controlling element in con-
Quoting exchanges and determining
prices. The clearing house transactions
Of sixty cities In the United States for
last year amounted to total Of about
s53, 900, 000,000 Adding smaller places.
not reported, we would have an amount
equal to at least $3.50 per capita This
vast amount represents business trans
actions: the exchange of all kinds Of
| commodities that las taken place with