The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-05-21


win be It's operation just as we know that On
deadliest poison will kin because II always ha
killed
We Now Have 10 To I Bimetallisna.
The gold standard advocates believe In eol'
as a standard with the largest possible saf
use Of silver among the people. The 10 to
| dreamers believe I'm the 80 called double stand
ard, and we are driven by this law 20 the US
OF silver alone. All gold standard eoun
| tries use large amounts OF silver and m
silver standard country uses any gold what
| ever. As the practical question IL the u.s.
OF the metals. 10 follows that we are tn
| hinetallst and the 10 20 | people are th'
monometallist. Hence the battle that Is q
| be fought TO finish next year Is whether W.
| will remain under n gold standard. with actua
| bimetallism In use among the people--goit
and silver circulating freely without discrim
| ination against either-or shall we have -
| called double standard at the minis and no
| where else, with silver recommendation In ac
| tual usei The battle Is between substance and
| shadow, between those who want bimetailisn
| In fact and those who want 10 in name only.
| We are the friends OF silver money, who would
| bring 20 lite aid the power OF the government
| 10 keep 10 good, and they are its enemies.
| who, by unlimited coinage. would take from
| Il the guarantee Of parity by the government,
and thereby degrade IL 10 its market value.
| Our government has been and Is now coin.
ing silver ut the ratio Of 10 TO l. IL Is enabled
L 10 do this. because unUoF tnt iAW ~ taii
strct the amount coined, and, being vested
/ with this control. IL undertakes TO make every
dollar good money. The moment the govern
| ment loses control Of the coinage, confidence
| In its ability 70 protect the money issued Is
| gone. and silver dollar then rests ON its mer-
| IL and is worth 80 cents. To illustrate:
merchant could very well guarantee the ex'
penses Of his clerk IL he were allowed 20 con-
/ troll the expenses. but IL the clerk demanded
/ free and unlimited expenses then the mer-
| chant would have to "stand from under" and
| let the expenses take care of themselves.
We hear a great deal OF indignant declama-
tion because the government does not pay its
i "coin" obligations in silver. To maintain the
parity between gold and silver ii is essential
that the government in receiving its dues and
paying its debts must ignore the inferiority Of
silver just as mother pretends not To See the
limp of her lame child This gives the option
OF metals TO the person dealing with the gov
eminent, whether as debtor or creditor. IL the
government should discriminate against silver
by refusing TO receive IL for dues. or by insist
ing ON paying IL instead of gold, that moment
the parity would be gone and the silver In
every man pocket would would be Mt "A dis
count. Its coinage being under the control Of
the government, the government makes II
good at its counter. and this makes il good at
every counter i'm the world.
IL there Is anything in the double standard
stability idea we ought to work for IL for all
10 is worth. II two metals will fix value better
than one, then three metals will beat two. and
four beat three and by having eight or ten
metals In the standard we can anchor IL so
that IL will not crawl an inch in Loco years.
The second proposition Is that gold has APP
preciated and thereby depressed prices. The
same cause operating upon IA number OF mr.
ticles will produce the same effect in all those
not affected by contravening cause. When
we contemplate prices, we find that since the |
gold standard was adopted, Feb. r. 1873, some |
articles have declined in value, some have |
remained stationary, while some risen in |
price. and no contravening causes will ac- |
count for the failure Of gold TO depress all |
alike. We find that no two articles have de- |
clined at the same time or in the same de- /
gree, nor has any one article remained uni |
formly depressed This demonstrates that. rs |
TO those Articles that have declined no one |
controlling cause can be assigned as having /
produced these results
The stock argument Of the 10 to people IN /
that wheat and cotton have declined, and they /
seem to gloat over the fact l knew an old /
negro who. when asked how he was getting /
along. always replied, Poorly. thank Godi"
and they are thankful when tho country Is i
poorly on wheat and cotton. Since 1873 the /
vast fertile prairies OF the northwest have /
been turned into wheatfields, that the pro- /
duction of wheat in the United States has been /
doubled since then. The same thing has been /
going on in Russia and South America. The /
improvements In machinery for L
harvesting wheat and the extension of rail |
roads for transporting IL to market gave an
immense impetus to the production of il. A |
farmer can make more money raising IL ut 81 |
cents per bushel today than he could at 81 per
bushel - years ago. The result has been that |
the overproduction of wheat has reduced its /
price, and the gold standard had nothing to do /
with the reduction. Its price is regulated by |
supply and demand.
Chinch Bugs, Caterpillars and BolIworms.
Last May little bug settled down on the
wheatfelds Of the northwest, and in one or /
two weeks eat up one-half of the 10 70 argu.
ment on prices and sent the prices back into
the neighborhood Of those Of 1873. The old hay.
seeds, who knew the habits of the chinch bug
and the kind of n multiplication table he used
In regulating the increase in his family, took
the trains for Chicago commenced buying /
wheat and broke all the "smart Alecls' in |
the city. They may have talked gold standard
depression at home, but they put their money
IN the chinch bug in the city and won. The cat
srpillar and bollworm can do the same thing for |
cotton only know the chinch bug by reputa-
hon, but j am personally acquainted with |
these worms. They are composed of appetite |
and skin. They do not care "A tinker's blessing |
Tor anybody's standard, and when they invade
the cotton fields Of the south they send the
price OF cotton up In every mart OF the world, |
gold standard or no gold standard. They have |
been doing business with this summer and |
nave moved the price Of cotton up % per cent |
This bug and these worms haven't many |
friends, but sluggers In an argument with |
! 10 to crank they are entitled to the belt |
Cotton brought 81 "a pound in New York dur |
ng the war, and 10 to ~ cents a pound the
irst year after the war ON account Of the four |
years cotton famine from 1861 to 1885, and IL |
was several years getting down to its normal
price. The price declined when we made too |
much of IL. The largest cotton crop made with |
lave labor was 4669, 40 bales, and remember |
was confidently predicted that no such crop
would ever be made with free labor The crop |
Il 1872 was less than 100000 bales. and we |
gradually increased 1T to little less than TO- |
10000 bales in 1894. India. Egypt and Brazil
ire also raising larger crops of cotton. The |
crop of 1894 was thrown upon n |
market lily prepared TO receive it. For three
ears there had been less cotton goods CON |
umed than usual. owing to the worldwide
,anic and depression of business following the |
Barring failure, and these two conditions meet
and underconsumption-
brought cotton down to very low price. |
some Of the Populists tell US there cannot be |
until every man, woman and |
hid in the world has rotund stomach and "a |
ull suit Of clothes. This IL based upon the
ommunistic idea that IL is tho duty Of gov
rnment to take care of every loafer who is
90 lazy to work for living, and is too con.
'emptible to waste an answer ON.
Prices Of Corn, Hogs. Butter. Potatoes. Etc, |
Have Risen Since 1873.
II the gold standard depressed wheat and
otton, IL was surely loaded mt both ends, for
has oct some things up In price. The corn
rop OF the United States is more valuable |
han both the wheat and cotton crops COM
lined The crop Of corn made just preceding
he gold standard, in 1852. sold for "a cents at |
old figures. and the crop Of 1894 was worth IS |
ents In gold, and II has generally been above
he 1877 price. The oat crop Is about equal to
he wheat crop. Oats were worth 20 cents I'm |