The Irish standard., 1896-07-11
l1H nl ACC'lS ABOUT SIIV BE|.
Fallacies and Sophistries of Gold
Men Swept
AZ 5S Away. 9
d FEW PLAIN STUMBLING THINGS.
Reasons Given Why the People Are
Poor In the Midst of
5s Plenty.

Reasons Given Why the People Are
Poor In the Midst Of
@ss Plenty. n
IL am not given to changing 10y opin-
I ions until have to. Only when the props
that support my convictions are knocked
clean from under me will / acknowledge
myself vanduished. This, however, has
happened with regard to my convictions
on the money question, and since am
one Of a large class feel justified in re-
lating how it came about.
.7s / have always been a firm believer IN
the gold standard, and without going
into details will point out the grounds
OF my faith
Gold is the recognized money standard
OF the principal nations OF this world
with whom we as a people have conn
mercial relations In short, gold is THE
money of the civilized world. devia-
ton on Our part from this generally &C.
cepted and recognized standard would
lower our standing among commercial
nations disturb our credit abroad and IN
other ways bring about complications
detrimental to our international ex-
change of commodities, upon which our
prosperity depends.
Being the monetary standard OF the
world, gold money is always intrin-
sically worth its face value; that is, the
bullion contained in the coin is never
worth less than the stamped coin. This
I regarded as the chief desideraturn why
the gold standard ought to prevail.
had a number of other reasons for
my belief in the gold standard, but as
they were all more or less connected
with the TWO cardinal points stated, they
may be omitted here.
Believing my position inv1lnerable l
was satisfied to have the matter rest on
its own merits. I neither considered it
necessary to fortify myself, believing
that to be uncalled for, nor to investigate
the other side, regarding that as waste
of effort. ~
Hard times, however, proved subject
could not ignore. The DEPRESSED situa-
ton of the country was not matter Of
theory difference OF opinion or argu-
ment. 1t was stern reality. What would
remedy the situation? 1t seemed. that
several remedies had been proposed and
tried, and yet times grew harder, indl-
eating plainly that the right key to the
situation had not yet been struck.
What We're the remedies that had been
tried and faileG?a The discomfort of the
people had taken the ruling power from
the Republicans and given it to the
Democrats, but the evils continued. "A
change was made back again to the Re-.
publicans but with sorry results-so.
sorry, in fact, that the people concluded
they mad made q big mistake and in or,
der to rectify it returned once more TO,
Democratic rule, These party changes,
however, brought no relief. Money. grew
Scarcer, values declined and want and
suffering grew apace, Notwithstanding
the fields everywhere teemed with plenty
and the granries Of the land over,
flowed with the necessities Of life. y
Attention was turned to the tariff in.
the hope that it might afford solution
OF the problem. The country was suffer;
ing greatly, why not remedy the trouble
by adjusting the tariff. Mckinley was
secured as a tool with which to force
tariff rates UP to a point, almost pro
hibitory in effect. Wealthy manufacture
ers reaped a golden harvest until in their
blind greed they killed the goose that
laid the golden egg: that is through. the
mastery they had acquired over the sit.
uation they proceeded to raise the price,
Of manufactures and reduce the price of
was impossible to dispose of their wares
because of the lack of money among con-.
sumers. s..
Too much tariff was evidently too
much of a good thing. The rates were re-
duced and manufacturers, who. had
brought about Il state of affairs that
made it improbable for them to contine,
concluded that this was a good time to
close down under a false preteXt. They
did so and the people began to see that,
the whole tariff business was an Internal
farce--a delusion and snare, which
had nothing whatever to do with times,
either good or bad.
1t had long been contended by few
sagitators" that there was something
radically wrong with our money system.
But how could there be, since ours was
the standard system of the world-the gold
basis? No nation under the sun had bet
ter money than ours. Every dollar in Cir
i cu.ation, whether silver or paper, was
good as god because redeemaDle IN gold,
irtrins.cally worth its face value. =.
This last TACT suggested a question. Why
was the amount of bullion contained in
gold dollar worth a dollar? The labor
connected with its production clearly bore
no relation to its market price. The an
swer when found, not only knocked away
several props from under my gold stand
ard theories, but also exposed several other
fallacies in the system. The gold con-
tanned in dollar costs dollar because it
Is worth that much for coming purposes;
and this IN turn is owing wholly to govern
ment decree, which permits specified
quantity of gold to be. minted free of
charge into dollar. The free coinage OF
gold, by the government, is what gives to
that metal its high Intrinsic value.
Would not money be more plentiful If
silver were treated in the same way?
Most emphatically yes.
Then. why is It not so treated? In cast
Ing about for an answer I stumbled upon
the facts which opened my eyes to the real
situation. In brief, found that the obI-
cations Of the country, which were orig
inal,y made payable N "coin" had since
been made payable in gold; interest, Gus
toms duties, bonds and in fact every obi
CATION Of consequence had been made to
call for gold When it was found that the
aggregate Of god called for by these obli-.
cations exceeded the gold products Of the
country, silver was demonetized;; that IS,
tie metal was deprived Of Its standard
co!ning value and could be used as money
Il n,,,yS an Tho strength nf SIS being redeem