Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1896-09-17
GOLD AND THE FALL OF PRICES.
Philadelphia RECORD.

ZULU ANU lHt FALL Uf PhlUto.
Philadelphia Record.
In q thoroughly exhaustive article con-
| tributed to the New Yory Tribune ON
Monday last Mr.. David A. Wells shows
the causes of the general decline in prices
in the last twenty-five years. This de-
cline In prices has been worldwide, and
is the same in countries having the sill
yer standard as In countries that are
| favored with the sound and accurate
standard of gold. But, in spite of all the
evidence to the contrary, Mr.. Bryan aud
his Acknowledgements still insists that the
! phenomenon has been wholly due to the
gold standard, and that free coinage of
silver would effect u beneficcnt revolu-
ton in ut once raising the market values
of all commodities. To put the Popo-
cratic argument in the briefest form, il
IL asserted that by reason of the in
| creased demand for gold the most prec-
ious metal has become greatly enhanced
| In value, and that the producer must
therefore give much more of his commodi-
ties than formerly in order to obtain a
dollar In gold.
But Mr.. David A. Wells, following the
track of the late Professor Cairnes in
England, Brentano in Germany and
other investigators, has shown by in
contestible facts that the general de-
cline In the prices of commodities
has been due, not to this or that
standard of money. or to the greater or
less volume of currency per capita, but
to the introduction of newer and better
methods of production, whether in manu-
features, mining or agriculture, and to
the eheapening of freghts by land and
water, Many more examples of this eco
monte truth might be presented than
those given by Mr.. Wells. In 1916 Il
workman in u shoe factory in Massa-
chusetts could make pair and half of
boots in a day. In 1885 he made more than
four pairs in day; and to-day, in Lynn,
and Haverhill, every shoemaker can fin
ish seyen,pairs in a day. The shoemaker
earns more, hut the boots are cheaper be-
cause the cost of producing each pair of
boots is much less. Would free silver
coinage, by initiating prices, change this
condition of the shoe trade for the better !
While the consumer would pay more for
his boots in deprecated silver, the shoe
maker would be defrauded by the pay
Inent Of his wages in the same buse cur
rencg.
: / There has been a great decline in the
, prices of cotton goods of every tlescrip-
ton: but the cause of this decline, which
the Popocrats would ascribe to the de-
: monetization of silver and the dearness
of gold. is to be found in the introduction
, | OF looms driven by steam, and in Other
i improvements of machinery In 1910 q
/ weaver worked from thirteen to fourteen
! hours day to produce 5000 yards of cot
: ton cloth in a year; and he can now pro
duce 10000 yards in year with tn,
: labor of ten hours n day. One hundred
, workmen in New England factory car
4 weave in year enough cotton clotf
q to completely clothe II Chinese army o.
i 260OOO soldiers. While production ha,
= enormously increased, the wages of labo
have increased with il from S1T5 to $2S.
= a year. The workingmen earn more, bu
!. the labor cost of every yard of cottol
!, cloth has become less. What advantag,
!, would it be to the weavers or the pro
I ducers of cotton goods to debase the cur
!. rency TO cheap silver standard Woul,
the masses of consumers be benefited b,
:, paying twice as much for their cottol
= stuffs in deprecated currency, or woul,
= the weayers be benefited by receiyin,
their earnings in the same currency ?
A little more than twenty-five year
= ago all printing paper was made out o
N cotton or linen rags. With the increase,
: demand the prices of rags and paper rose
:. One. after another various processes wer
introduced for making paper OUT of straw
. manilln and wood pulp. AS result goo
printing paper has declined fully 80 DC
:, cent within twenty-five years. and tn
!, decline in the cost of material for news
|, pnpers has been still greater. But 70
the great decline in the price of printin
=. paper and the vast improvements in print
=, ing machinery it woud be impossible t
D sell 1.-The Record for one cent. No
u without this great revolution in price
n would the POp0crats he able to print an
=, scatter abroad multitudinolIs copies a
n pamphlets containing their cheap silvc
., fallacies and humbugs. Who are to h
= the gamers by enhancing the cost of print
:, ing paper? Will readers get their new.
=. papers for less, or will printers obtai
~ better wages in dcbased currency? |
"a dearness so desirable a thing that til
"a whole system of money. and with il tn
al country's credit, is to he oyerthrown i
r. order to- attain the Popocratic boon?
ly The above are Il few only of the il
ii Vulnerable examples which demonstrat
y that the cheapcnns of commodities ha
~. been due to natural causes, and tina
=, prices can neither he enhanced by tn
m volume OF money nor permanently il
al duenced by the price of silver Instea
No of being arrested by legislative device
70 TO inflate the currency, this cheapenin
n process will 90 on long as the gent,
st of man shall make new inventions an
ms discover new improvements in the pr,
duction and distribution of commodities
,r. Even if this cheapness he the ours
,s. which haunts the Popocratic mind. it
ro not to be removed by so silly deviC
he as the free coinage of fifty-cent dollar
ii. But. so far from being an evi, to be d,
ir- plored, the general decline in prices b
IS. the application of inventive methods
Is an ipcstimable blessing in bringing con
N. forts and luXuries of an advanced civil
Nv zation within the reach of the masst
"a. of mankind. The extent to which it HI
Inv sweetened the lives of the poor thorough
In out the world is beyond all calculation.
ny -
vii Word for the Unfortunates.