Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-08-13
SUPPLY AND DEMAND.
The Law the Goldbugs Invoke. but Which.
Aided by intelligence, Is Theb Ruin.

/ oUPFLI ANU DEmAND.
The Law the Goldbugs Invoke, but Which
Aided by Intelligence, Is Theb Ruin.
1t Is queer how the gold standard ad
vocates lay down proposition and thel
seek to avoid the conclusions to whicl
it points. In seeking to establish th
assumption that silver has depreciatet
because of its increased production the,
refer their readers to what they call tn
inexorable law Of supply and de
mand."
They say that the increased produc
tion Of silver has caused its value to de
cline-its value now and always being
its purchasing power. This would &C
count for one end only of the natura
law to which they refer. The suppl,
has increased, but what about the aboli
tion Of the demand? Is this great natu
raj law one sided affair? Do its results
refer only to supply. or are they con
cerned also with demand?
II Is a matter Of history thas the dc
mand for silver as money of final pay
ment In Europe and the United State,
was oblfterated before there had beer
any increase in the output Of silvel
bullion. Did the law Of supply and de
mand suspend its operations until aftel
the supply" had begun to increase9 Il
! il true in theory or fact that the cessa
tion Of demand" has no effect on val
ues? This is the position the gold organs
and expounders take. They refer conf
IDENTIFY to the law Of supply and demand.
and yet place themselves In the attitude
of insisting that it Is solely law Of
supply. But if one-hah the people who
now eat beef should conclude to eas an.
other kind of meat, would that have
any effect on the prices The gold stand
ard expounders would no doubt insist
that there had been sudden overpro-
duction in beef
But, silver being q money metal. its
value relates exclusively to its purchas-
ing power. It is capable Of de1nonstra-
tion, and has been demonstrated time
and again in these columns by means Of
official figures, that no gold standard ex-
pounder has ever undertaken to set aside.
that the purchasing power Of silver has
not decreased by so much as half cent
in spite Of the closing of the mints and
the increased output Of the mines Al
ounce Of 1t will buy just as much cot
ton, wheat, iron, calico and all other
staple commodities as IT ever would. 1t
is only when we come to buy gold that
we find that tremendous dislocatioD
has occurred. This dislocation is made
manifest whether we try to buy gold
with silver, or with cotton, on with
wheat, or with any staple product of
human labor.
The inevitable conclusion must be
that gold has doubled in value, and that
is what has occurred, the difficulty in
perceiving this being entirely due to the
fact that dollar Is called 100 cents no
matter how largely its purchasing power
is increased. Measured by itself, gold
appears to have remained stable, while
everything else has deprecated. AS this
hSDISS4at1O1L WOuAlA DG clll liDNSSlDlAIt1
we know that gold has doubled in pur-
chasing power, which is all the value
that money metal can possess.
If an Atlanta man returning home
after few months absence should
discover that the Equitable building
was twice as high, compared with the
surrounding structures, as it had been
when he went away, what would he
conclude? Tie might fall into the men
tai confusion that has overtaken many
men on the money question and go about
wondering why all the buildings in At
Ianta except the Equitable had shrpnk
to half their height. He might conclude
that the land on which the city is built
had sunk so as to leave only the Equi-
table standing on level ground. But the
probability is that his mind would seek
the simpler and more logical conclusion
that the height of the Equitable had
been increased by adding IL stories to
the original building.
The reason that the arguments>of the
bimetallists are irresistible in their
force and unanswerable in their logic is
because they are simple and easily un-
derstood. Fundamental truth is always
simple and is always in accord with
common sense. This is why predictions
made by bimetallists 10 and 20 years
ago have been fulfilled to the very let
ter
"Value is the result of the natural
law Of supply and demand, " say the
gold standard expounders, but when bi-
rnetallists take them at their word they
proceed to cut the law in two. For in.
stance, they say that gold has not in
creased in value, although the demand
for it has been more than doubled The
public and private debts of Europe pre-
| vious to 1872 were payable in eithel
silver or gold at the option Of the debtor
but since that time they have been pay
able in gold alone. Does that increase
the demand for gold? If not, why not
Why, any 12-year-old boy would know
that the obligation of one metal as deb
paying money would double the demand
and therefore the value of the meta
that is retained to do duty for both.
Therefore, we say, let the gold stand
ard exponents stand by their proposition
that the law Of supply and demand i
inevitable in its results, follow it out II
its inexorable and logical conclusion
and abide the consequences. ---Atlant
Constitution.
| A Puerile Declaration.