The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1896-04-30

in the hope Of frightening their enc.
mics When q gun goes of they throw
down their masks and run away Sim.
ilarly, when Wall street wants to con.
vince the public that business activit,
Is about to begin, the operators get in
the exchange and pretend to fight
over these worthless stocks. Thus far
they have been able to fix the price.
to suit themselves, the prices being a.
much OF sham as the stocks them.
selves But now it seems that even
this pastime has failed them. Even
the worthless stocks refuse to respond
to the efforts of the operators to label
them with sham prices.
More than this, the bond issue. in.
stead of putting an end to the raid on
the gold reserve, has accelerated it
Millions have been drawn out to nav
for bonds, and those who had gold and
paid it into the treasury for bonds are
now making haste todraw it out again.
since the announcement of the bond
issue in January Aei ~ly $50, oOO. 600 OF
1 gold has beea withdrawn from the
treasury, and very little of it has
gone abroad Foreign exchange is not
at the shipping point, and hasnot been
for some time, but the raid on the re-
serve continues
In other words, every bond that has
been sold thus far has been sold for
greenbacks and treasury notes, and
this currency, to the extent of the
bond sales, is now locked up in the
treasury, having been taken out of
the channels of trade and business
The man who expects prosperity to re-
turn or prices to rise while this tire.
mendous contraction is going on, or
after it is complete, is either fool or
is profoundly ignorant of facts that
ought to be as plain as day to every
person of average intelligence. Mon
| ey is as necessary to trade and busi-
ness as blood is to the life of a human
being. As there can be no health nor
energy without plentiful supply of
blood in the body, so there can be no
health, nor energy, nor activity in
trade and business when the volume
of money falls below the amount nee.
essary to stimulate the ever-growinr
demands of the people. These facts
are elemental and automatic. They
need neither argument nor proof to
support or verify them.
II is strange, then, that the propri-
etors Of wholesale jobbing houses in
New York and the east walk up and
down between the goods that are piled
high on their floors and wonder why
the merchants of the south and west
do not crowd their business Offices
with their buying agents? Is it strange
that the manufacturers stand in their
storehouses and wonder why there is
not demand for the products Of their
millsp Is it strange that eastern mills
continue to shut DOWN. Is It queer
that the business failures since the
last bond issue aggregate nearly Slt,-.
000,00 against So, 500, 900 in February,
and only little more than half mil
lion less than the February failures in
1894, the year after the panie2
Why were there so many failures
during the first three weeLs of Febrt,.
ary? The reason is as simple as caa
be. Bad trade, bad business, smallee
profits WhyP Because money g
scarce-because the gold st2ndard pot
ley means the constant contraction of
the currency until the prices are low
enough in this country to prevent the
demand for and export of gold abroad.
Comparatively speaking, it Is as lard
for business men to get money, If they
depend on their present profits, as it
is for the farmers, especially if they
are doing business on borrowed money
or have given their notes. When their
paper falls due and they cannot make
settlement they have to go to the
wall They are compelled to join the
long procession of wrecks that have
been made in this country by currency
contractions since 1873
The Constitution is of the opinion
that, before the people can manage to
apply the right remedy, even the
wholesale dealers and manufac turers
| of the north and east will have clear
idea as to the real cause of the trouble.
During the course of the next 12
months we predict that many Of those
who are now placing their influence
behind the British gold standard and
sustaining it because they have been
deceived by the money power will be
opposing it heartily and enthusiastic-
ally. For the sake of the country let
us hope so, at least Atlanta Consti-
| fior