The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-09-09

and commission and other expenses
added to that cost Of getting it there?
II any man can by shipping his grain
to Liverpool get higher price than
he can in the United States, then ten
thousand commission men would at
once take to shipping grain to Liver
pool to get that price, and under the
force Of competition, the difference
would at once disappear. We are sur
prised that Professor is so thick
headed as not to recognize these plain
facts.
Some one will say, there is another
class that you have not touched. l
am poor: / am in debt. Under free
coinage | can repay him in dollars
worth but 90 cents, or half the present
value. Would your conscience allow
you to take 81 from man that is
worth 100 cents and repay him in a
dollar worth 80 cents? Let me refer
you to that great law which has not
been written 10y the hand of man, but
which has bee n laid down by Him who
rules the world. "Thou shalt not
steal" But let us now presume there
is man who does not observe this
law. Do you suppose that the man
provisions for his own safety? He
will loan only on condition that he is
paid back in money Of today'S value.
MY friend, what you want is a better
price for grain, and you will find that
in sound money. Daniel Webster said:
When man has work for the hand. he
will have work for the teeth.
Is there any less wrong in paying a
man 80 cents for dollar borrowed
than there is in compelling him to
pay 100 cents for so cents borrowed?
If one is robbery, is not the other? If
the market price Of productions con-
tinues practically the same, changed
only by those minor fluctuations
which come from the abundance or
failure Of crops, then the man who
borrows $1,000, will in three, four, five
or ten years pay back 81, 900. But if
in this matter knave can, (by law
obtained by corruption,) set the world
on the down grade, with a constantly
falling market, then the man who
borrOwS money when wheat is worth
dollar a bushel, will have to repay it
when wheat is worth 80 cents a
bushel. In other words, he will pay
twice as much as he borrowed. If
this is not robbery what is robbery?
Tue Peoples Party is sim ply asking to
put prices back to where they we're
before they were changed by opera
tion of law. The Professor says mo,
We have broken down prices, now let
Us keep them there"
The Professor says that the man
who lends money makes provisions for
the payment Of it in money Of the
same value. That is to say the price of
commodities may vary to the injury
Of the producer, but the prices of
money can only vary upward. But
what was 1t that enabled the money
lender to specify the kind of money,
tO-wit: gold, in which his debts should
be repaid, even when he lends silver?
1t was an act Of Congress which
created distinction in the moneys Of
exact such contract from the debtor.
The creditors probably paid Congress
handsomely to pass such BILL 1t
was an act against the interest Of the
producer and in favor Of idle capital.
1t is another Illustration OF the way
in which affairs are established by
law.
The Professors next and last point
Is as follows:
zone of the errors in the arguments
Of free silver men is that prices are
governed by the amount OF primary
money in circulation. The circula-
tion FER capita in France is about $23
and the primary money in Greece on
ly 23 cents per capita. Yet will any
one believe that prices in France are a
hundred times greater in than Greece?
The fact is they are about the same.
The working power of making money
depends upon its true value and the
rapidly with which it moves"
We do not like to use harsh words,
but this is more ''bosh.' Everyone
knows that the price of commodities
in Greece cannot vary subs TALLY
from those in France, because if they
90. commerce would carry the cheaper
goods to the dearer markets and thus
equalize things. No Populist was
ever fool enough to pretend that the
prices of commodities in country
WCIC u uC w viz dluOuuU VI CuliCHCJ
in circulation in that country, with
out relation to the prices in neighbor-
ing countries. What we claim is that
prices of commodities IN the uorld are
controlled by the amount of primary
money IN the ,rortd. There is no prop
oSition more clearly established than
that which declares that abun6an
money is cheap money; and cheap
money means high priced products
On the contrary, scarce money is
necessarily dear money and dear
money will buy SO much more of
everything man has for sale. Hence.
as the supply Of money increases, the
prices Of commodities rise. AS it de-
creases the prices of commodities fall.
In Queen Elizabeth's time an ounce
of silver would buy twelve times as
much property as it will today. 1t is
claimed that there was a time, at a
still earlier date, in Germany, when a
silver shilling would build a castle.
But the gold and silver Of America
of Peru, and Mexico-were poured in
to Europe and ''watered" the existing
currency; and this was acc ompanied
by rise in prices of commodities, by
increased commercial and mental