The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-09-02
THE NEW YORK PRESS.
IT'S SEVERELY CRITICISED BY PROF.
R. MEANS DAVIS
For Its Manner of Treating MIR. Bryan's
Great New York Speech-Mr. Davis Real-
Iv RsIieyes That BRYAN Is Right.

Iy yBslieves That Bryan Is Right.
To the Editor of The News and Cou-
rier: The comments Of the New York
dailies on Bryan's speech, published
in Saturdays issue OF the News and
Courier, display an amount OF lnso-
lent ignorance, arrogant assumption
and fallacious statement not TO be eX
pected from intelligent sources, how:
ever biased. With your permission L
shall point out a few ylaring instances.
The Times, usually able and unpreju-
diced, heads the list by calling Bryan
a railing demagogue. No one who
has read that speech OF his will fail to
be struck with the lofty key in which
it was pitched and the remarkable alb
sence of vituperation, which would
not, indeed, have been wholly unwar-
ranted. The deliberation with which
he threw away the opportunity Of
making an impassioned harangue and
stirring up the masses by invective
marks him as q man full of earnest
ness and self.denial.
The Times next denounces as false
and Infinitely mischievous" the as
sertion that the gold dollar has appre-
ciated, thus causing low prices. The
very alphabet of economics and fl
nance, as given by every economic
writer, teaches that money is mere
contrivance, and that commodities
themselves are the true measure OF
value. The average Of prices from
time TO time shows whether money
has become too scarce or too plentiful
1t has never been denied by any self
respecting person that the average OF
prices at this time is lower than it has
been in many years. Whatever rea-
soning may be given as to the cause
of this condition there is no doubt of
the fact. 1t is not mischievous to as
sert that gold has appreciated in COM
parison with the average Of all other
commodities. 1t is folly or falsehood
to DENY it. When a dollar will buy
on an average twice as many things
at one time as at another its value has
appreciated.
Some claim, however, that gold has
not appreciated, but that other things
have deprecated. This is the same as
saying that when the sun does not
cross the meridian as St. Michaels
clock strikes IL it is the fault OF the
sun and not of the clock. When Pope
Gregory was smart enough to realize
that the Julian calendar was ten days
too slow and changed the calendar in
stead of issuing bull against the sun
there were some benighted people in
England who denounced the Grego-
rian calendar as a Popish plot and in.
sisted on sticking to the old standard
for almost two hundred years. The
Car of all the Russias, like the New
York Times, still profoundly uncon-
scious of the fact that his old standard
calendar has gotten out of repair.
sticks blindly to it while all the rest of
civilization have moved on. The
Times should be made astronomer
royal of Russia. Its views about the
gold dollar are just advanced enough
to enable it TO date its issue twelve
days behind time with great satisfac-
ton to itself and its benighted sub
scribers.
A word here as to whether the gold
dollar has appreciated or commodities
have fallen. 1t is claimed that because
things on All average are produced
twice as easily as formerly they should
be worth only half as much. Is this
true? l appeal to common sense. If a
country today finds itself possessed of
twice as many horses, cattle, sheep,
yards of cloth, bales of cotton, steam
engines and everything else as it own
ed ten years ago, and if it can produce
them twice as easily as before, is it not
twice as we'll OFF, Undoubtedly. Then
if it is twice as rich, its money values
must show the fact. That is the whole
thing in q nutshell. To show this in
crease in money values the amount of
money must be increased. If free
banking is prohibited the alternative is
free silver. Calhoun, in one of his
profound speeches, showed that if the
money of the country, other things
being equal, is doubled, the aggregate
money values of the country are dou-
bled, and vice Versa, and he added
that when 81 in money represents $50
in property the increase of million
dollars of money makes an increase
of thirty millions in property, while
the contraction of q million in money
makes a shrinkage in values of thirty
millions. When credit is used it must
be counted with money as purchasing
power.
Furthermore, if the volume of mon.
ey in the United States had never in
creased dollar since 1889, and credit
had not been increased, the aggregate
money values of the United States
would be no greater today than they
we're then, despite the fact that the
comforts of life have increased hun
dred fold. This is one of the simplest
propositions in economics, and | for
bear to elaborate it, The New York
Times has simply written itself down
Dogberry in this matter.
The Times adds: "5ut Mr.. Bryan
SAYS: Wage earners know that while
a gold standard raises the purchasing
power of dollar it also makes it more
difficult to obtain possession Of that
dollar This is false, and if Mr.. Bry-
an does not know that it is false he is
too ignorant for the great business in
which he aspires to engage. The fig
ures of the Aldrich report show that
wages have advanced more than 20
per cent. since 1860"
The smallest boy who rohs an apple
orchard knows that if the apples are
large he cannot get as many as if they
are small. Every child knows that If
there is one big stick of candy instead
or Lnlf O aoxen small nitceS he will