The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1896-08-06
"HONEST" MONEY.
efoid Has Doubled In Value WIN. au
Has Remained Aboat tha sA'ol

questlons OF cause, the indisnutahla
iact Is that since 1873 the cola dollar
mas just about doubled in value. that
Is, IN purchasing power. Compared
wiIn the gold dollar of 1s7a the gold
ootfG at 1926 is worth nearly 200 cents
Men do not manufactu. dollars Tor
themselves; they produce other tings.
ana the things thus produced they ex-
change for dollars" In other words
they buy dollars with commodities
ana they now have to give twice as
many commodities in exchange for a
dollar as they did in 1879 On the other
nana, silver has maintained practical
staohity OF purchasing power, and an
ounce OF it will exchange for verv
nearly the same quantity of commodi-
Ties as 1t would in the year last named
Briefiy stated, gold hsy doubled In
Value, while silver has remained verv
nearly the same. And. yet the .'hon-
est" money people, claiming to repre-
sent the financial intelligence and in
tegrity OF the age, stand up in the
broad light of day and in defiance of
every principle of natural Justice. as
well as OF common sense, vociferouslv
| claiming that the 200-cent dollar is the
honest" dollar, and that the silver
dollar is only worth so cents.
How long will the American neonla
permit themselves to be fooled by such
rot2 Ii the gold dollar had quadrupled
In value, or had increased ten-fold. the
champions of that swollen, distorted
and extortiouate dollar could and
would be making the same preposter-
Gus claim.
hc are perfectly familiar with the
go!ditAa answer to this. With endless
Retention he declares that no harm is
donc, t'ecl use if a man must sell for
less ne can also buy for less, and thus
Keep evea. Can hep How much has
Mr. C!eveland's salary been reducedp
or Mr. Carlisle's? Or United States
senator'sP Or the salary of any other
public official? How much less does it
cost to run the United States govern
ment, saying nothing about bond
issues to maintain gold reservep How
much have taxes been reduced? How
much have the notes and bonds of the
country been discounted because of
tne Greater value of the money in
which they must now be paidP
II the man who raises wheat or cot
ton, or produces iron or wool. can
keep even" on his losses by making
his Purchases more cheaply, how about
the man who loaned a dollar worth
100 cents and now collects one worth
twice as much? Does he not a great
deal more than keep even? Does he
not III fact double his money! And if
SO, does he not necessarily do it to the
detrinent of somebody else?
II money grows in value is it not, as
plain as light that the man who owns
or controls a great deal Of it has an
advantage over those who have but
little of it, or none at all? Will it be
seriously claimed that to double the
wealth of man who has 81, 900, 900 in
money, by doubling its purchasing
power, will add anything to the worlds
real wealth? Surely not. Then If a
man wealth be doubled in that way
others must certainly lose by the same
process
The argument of the gold monomet-
allist on this point bears upon its face
tho evidence Of insincerity and even
dishonesty. II to make money "dearer"
does no harm, why are they SO certain
that cheaper" money will ruin the
country? If it be sound argument to
say that dear" money Injuries nobody
because the person who sells for low
price can also buy for low price, why
is not the converse equally true? If
money be made cheaper and as a re-
suit one has to pay higher price for
what he buys, he can also get higher
price for what he sells, and thus ''keep
even" That is the inexorabl logic of
the gold' defenders position, but he
either cannot or will not see it. Dear
money is all right-the dearer the bet
ter But ''cheap" money is dishonest
and ruinous The moment cheap
money is mentioned he begins to paint
pictures of people paying double price
for what they buy, and getting moth
ing for what they have to sell, over
looking what ought to be self-evident.
that when prices rise they go up for
both buyer and seller. The kernel of
the whole question is this: Higher
prices will benefit the producer and
debtor; lower prices will be to the ad-
vantage of the non.producer and cred
itor, and the champion Of ''honest" (Y
money is always for the rich idler and
against the impoverished toiler, for
the millionaire money lender and
against the hard-pressed, struggling
debtor.
But the gold advocate says, neither
will the remonetizing of silver, making
dollars more abundant, add anything
to the worlds real wealth." Right
here his philosophy is at fault. In the
first place, just and equitable cheap
ening of money will deprive the strictly
moneyed classes of the unholy adyan-
tage which they now possess, and di-
vide wealth more equally by giving
the debtors and producers a larger
share of it than they are now getting.
In the second place, by raising prices
and increasing profits it will encour-
age and stimulate production, thus
adding enormously to its aggregate
and making the world, as a whole,
vastly richer. The gold champion in
sists that overproduction is the cause
of the trouble, and all sorts of schemes
are proposed by which production may
be limited. Just how production can
be limited without checking the in
crease of the worlds wealth, no gold
standard economist has ever yet under
taken to explain. And yet it is the
only remedy suggested by the friends
OF that system. National Bimetallist
"Disposed of Them In short order.-
Speaking Of the merits" of the gold
standard arguments, Secretary Smith
disposed of them in short order in Sep
tember, 1894, when he declared the
single gold standard to be ruinous and
dangerous and Calculated to contract