The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-09-15
NOT A DISCOVERY.

In a letter which we publish else
where, Mr. George H. Claggett an
nounces that he has made a wonder
full discovery to the effect that the
G o b G has admitted" that value is
determined by mental appreciation and
measured by human desire If Mr.
Claggett had read his Glob as care
fully as he ought to have done in the
past, he would know that this is
neither an admission nor new thing.
1t has formed the subject of more
than one article in our columns in the
past, because 1T is the fundamental
idea from which we must start before
we get at correct notions of value in
any sense. Mr.. Claggett reminds us
of another correspondent who wrote to
us recently in great glee to the effect
that we had admitted" that there is
no such thing as intrinsic value;"
whereas the G o b has urged re-
peatedly, for months past, this con-
clusion of the best economic thought
upon the people.
If our correspondent had studied the
definitions of political economy and its
fundamentals more carefully, also he
would not have confused the terms
value" and prices" as he does. He
mixes these terms up in complete con-
fusion. Supply and demand do not Gre
ate value, nor has anybody versed in
political economy ever dreamed of such
thing. Value Is fixed, first. by the
desire of people to possess certain com
modities. This desire. being a part Of
demand, then operates with supply to
fix prices. Mr.. Claggett should get
the relation of these terms clear In his
mind to begin with. He should next
consider that the mental appreciation
or desire which determines values
must be general and not individual. It
is the mental appreciation of all the
people who have anything to do with
a given commodity. who produce it. or
buy 1T or sell it, or exchange anything
else for 1t, taken as an aggregate that
determines it's value. The opinion of
one man cannot do 1T. Neither can
the opinion Of one nation fix the value
of a commodity dealt in by all the
nations. Furthermore, a law passed
by political body is so far from rep
resenting the actual mental condition
of the community itself that to speak
of it as such Is absurd. For
instance, we have law in
this state forbidding the sale Of in
toxicants OH Sundays, and most of our
cities have local ordinances providing
that the saloons shall be closed. These
are not enforced because the sentiment
of the community does not demand it.
The real mental state of the republic
rises superior in thousands of in
stances to formal statutes.
The passage of q free silver act
would not change in the slightest par
ticular the actual opinion of most peo-
pie as to the relative value of silver
and gold. 1t would express what a
number Of people want to make their
relative value, but it would not affect
~
by one iota the man who actually be-
lieves in the secret recesses of his mind
that one ounce of gold is worth more
than sixteen ounces of silver. and ia
going to continue to be worth more.
The people who believe that are at
least three-fourths. and probably nine
tenths, of the people of the United
States. They want the ounce of gold
more than they want the sixteen
ounces of silver; because they believe
that it is likely to exchange for more
Of other things: that is, they believe
it is more valuable. We say at least
three-fourths of the people, because we
know that a large number of those
who would vote for free coinage do
not themselves believe that this would
restore the old commercial ratio be-
tween the metals. OF course, 1t would
not affect the mental condition. of
other nations at all
We have. therefore. this situation.