The herald., 1896-10-25
the very subject which you are expressly
appointed to inquire into?'
% IT could get no further answer than

I could get no further answer than
this"
History repeats itself. We have in the
United States today a repetition Of the
investigation made in England in 1871.
Our witnesses, and their name is legion,
are the sufferers from the evils or the
gold standard. The committee by Wnom
we are forbidden to touch upon the 1ilon-
ey question is composed, as it was then,
of the money powers. We ask, in turn,
what is the cause of the universal de-
preston, is it not the low price we re-
ceive for our products? and they are
obliged to admit that 1t Is. we ask, Is
there any other cause except the low
price we receive for our products! ana
still they are compelled to answer NO.
But they hasten to add. fne low prttes aotivs
are caused by the lack OF a protectl.e
tariff" There must have been,a SINH
lar reason given in England at the time
referred to, for history tells us tney put
on corn laws" to stop the going IN Oh
wheat from abroad when wheat was pc
low los per bushel but we also read thas
notwithstanding the enforcefHeN Oh
these laws. wheat went down 5s per
bushel, plainly showing that the faiiing
prices were due to an underlying 1orce
over which protection was poWeriess'
though it may have ameliorated the re-
suits. / shall refer to this period later
on.
I'm
French economist, after predicting tnat
The result of the adoption of the gold
standard by other countries Desldes
England would cause the most grleVouS
decline Of prosperity all over the World
used the following remarkable WORDS:
1.-THE strong doctrinarism exlstlng WI
England is so blind that, when the time
of depression sets in, there will be this
special feature The economical au-
thorities of the country Will re1use 10
listen to the cause here foreshaooWeu.
Every possible attempt will De mace 10
prove that the decline of commerce Is
Cue to all sorts of causes and irrecon-
cilable matters the workman and his
strikes will be the first convenient tar
get, the speculating and over-trading
will have their turn, many other aile-
cations will be made totally irrelevant
to the real issue, but satisfactory to the
moralizing tendency OF rieas maanc1al wa
have an unerring clue to the general de-
preston, because the phenomena Of
rising and falling prices are the result
of all established law of economics
which is most clearly and concisely
stated by Ricardo: THAT commodities
rise or fall in price in proportion to the
increase or diminution of money, l as
sumo as fact that is incontrovertible'
Assuming that the economists who
have established these laws, as the re-
suit of generations of careful inquiry,
investigation and comparison of data
are correct in their deduction (and do
not think any of US are prepared to con-
test that point) and that a diminution
in the supply of money will cause fall
in prices, let us next consider what eff
feet such a diminution of money will
have upon money itself. John Stewart
Mill says: The value of money, other
things being the same, varies inversely
re- mt Nto yo Ina rt1Nv
prededicated of commodities is called
price. When predicated Of money it
means the purchasing power of money.
There is money crop just as there are
commodity crops, and 1t Is subject to
the same inexorable law of supply and
demand, being dear when it is scarce
and cheap when 1t is plenty, and it's
quantity may be approXimated by it's
purchasing power. The monometallists
refuse to admit a change in the value of
gold, declaring the value of gold dol
lar to be Interchangeable, but Mr.. Giffen,
probably the most uncompromising
monometallist in England, In statis-
tical paper read before the Royal Sta
/ tistic society in London in 1888 not merely
accepted but proclaimed with marked
emphasis the proposition that gold had
notably gone up in purchasing power;
that the increase was continuing and
that the increase in the purchasing
of the fall in the price of commodities
generally. Quoting from paper read in
1879 he said he had pointed out the
likelihood that rise in the purchasing
| power of gold would soon become evil
dent, and he said that if this were to oc-
cur there were sufficient facts in the
diminished supply of gold and in the in
creased demand upon gold to account
| for the increase in it's purchasing pow-
er." Continuing he says: "If the test
of prophecy be the event there was never
| better forecast. The fall Of prices in
such general way as to amount to
| what Is known as rise in the purchas-
ing power of gold. is generally, might
| almost say, universally admitted"
When we say we need more money
| the monometallists tell US we have plen-
| ty of money, only we can't get it into
| circulation. Now Is not this continued
rise in the value of gold itself suffi-
cient reason for it's withdrawal from cir
culation? 1t is scarcely reasonable to
| suppose that capital will be invested
in ordinary business enterprises and
subjected to the chances of loss that all
such investments must take, not to
mention the attendant hard work and
mental worry thereby entailed, when,
stored in some safe deposit, it will of
| itself steadily increase in value. When
| In the downward course of events inev-
| liable under the gold standard, people
are compelled to borrow money on their
homes or farms to secure the necessa
ries of life, If the securities are gilt
edged capital energies from it's seclu-
| sion because it can earn even more on
well secured deferred payments than
| in repose, but that is the only way capt.
tai will come into circulation while
prices are falling.
Mr. Charles A. Norcorss in his Twen-
tieth Century Republic. on page 113,
gives a graphic and forcible illustration
of the disastrous effects of falling prices
upon deferred payments and the con-
current rise in the value of gold under
the form of a parable.
Let US look back carefully over our
own history and see for ourselves what
effect the gold standard has had upon
us as a nation.
Fifty years ago, when we were under
the bimetallic system, Charles Dickens
wrots from Boston to friend in Lon
done. There is not man in this town,
nor in this state, who has not a blazing
fire and meat for dinner every day nor
would flaming sword in the air attract
more attention than beggar in the
street."
Thirty-one years ago Secretary NC
Cullough in his report for the year 1886
raid: The people are comparatively
free from debt. It is undoubtedly true
that trade is now carried on much