Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1896-09-21
WOULD BENEFIT THE DEBTOR.

This question directs attention to the
fundamental mistake Of the supporters
of the gold standard. They continual
ly assume that the value Of gold never
changes. And yet they all know bet
ter They all know that If our pres
ent silver and paper dollars were with
drawn from the currency the scarcity
of money would cut prices in two and
raise the rate Of interest to unprece-
denied heights. The most fanatical
advocate of the gold standard dares
not suggest such contraction OF the
currency because he knows that it
would mean immediate and universal
bankruptcy. Yet if the value Of gold
is always the same, instead of being
determined by the supply of money,
then such a contraction Of the cur
rency would injure no one. All our
silver and paper currency now is at
par with gold, and yet by reason Of
their presence business men are able
to get prices, and interest rates which
prevent general ruin. Increase the sup
ply Of such currency and they will
again get prices and interest rates
which will secure general prosperity.
The supporter Of the gold standard
in this discussion has denied that the
value of money is governed by the law
Of supply and demand perhaps the
most fundamental Of all the decisions
of the silverties and bimetallists," he
says, lis that more money means high
er prices and that higher prices are
a blessing to mankind" SO far as we
are aware, no bimetallist demands
higher prices, except as return to the
level upon which the mass of present
debts were first contracted But our
critic is certainly right in saying that
it is our ''fundamentaT' belief that
"more money means higher prices"
II this belief be false, then bimetal-
lism is false; and if this belief be true,
then recommendation is the cause Of
falling prices, rising interest and bust
ness StagnatiOn.
Our critic declares 'that there is no
traceable connection between the vol
ume of currency and prices" The fact
that every economic writer in the world
prior to this silver discussion-held
that the volume of currency determ-
ined prices makes no impression upon
him. He does not attempt to reply
to this argument, that if the supply Of
currency is doubled two dollars must
change hands every time one does
now, and, therefore, double prices
must be paid for everything. He does
not attempt to reply to this theory,
showing that in every country prices
have increased whenever there has
been large increase in the supply of
currency, and have proportionately
diminished whenever there has been
diminution in the supply. He merely
presents table for different countries
showing that the "per capita" circu-
latiOn is four times as great in En-
gland and France as in Russia and
Austria, though prices are on the same
level. The fact that there is four
times as much wealth to be exchanged
for money in the former countries as
in the latter does not seem to occur to
him. Our critics table, instead Of
refuting the law Of supply and de-
mand, exemplifies it.
Having rejected the principle that
the value of money is governed by the
law of supply and demand, the defend
Ell of the gold standard goes to the fur
Their extreme Of declaring that the sup
ply Of money in the United States
would not be increased by the free
coinage Of silver. If we had free
coinage he says, a dollar would only
buy half as much as now, and yet we
would transact all our business with
the same number of dollars. In other
words, each dollar separately would
transact just half as much business
as now, but all Of them together would
transact the same amount. The sup
position is absurd. Prices could not
increase faster than the amount of
money in circulation increased.
The free coinage Of silver would in
crease the amount of money in circu-
lation by about $1OO,OOO,OOO a year.
This would mean that our currency
would increase rapidly enough to re-
store and maintain the level Of prices
of five years ago There would be no
difference in value between silver mon
ey and gold money, for the supply OF
gold money throughout the world
would be increasing as rapidly as the
supply Of silver money. But the sup
ply Of both would increase faster than
population, and fast enough to restore
to debtors normal prices and normal
rate of interest.
The Chicago Tribune in 1878.
The purchasing power of legal tender
silver coin furnishes the only proper
test. The values Of gold or silver as
bullion are not pertinent to the issue,
whether the two metals, as legal tender,
can be maintained.-Chi Tribune,
Jan. 8, 1873.
The prime object in remonetizing sill
yer is to add to the solid substantial,
intrinsic money stock of the country.
There can't be too much hard money
ready money-in circulation. Such an
imitation is stimulating and inyigorat-
+ so OF rip