Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1896-09-04
CARLISLE REVIEWED.

in lengthy review of Secretary Car
isles speech to laboriug men at Chi
cago the Memphis Commercial Appenl
refers to it asa ''curious mass of eco
nomic fallncy, misapplied and pervert-
ed history, erratic deduction, eccentric
logic and bald, dogmatic propositions
IN conflict with the most elementary
principles of economic science"
Let us take Mr. Carlisle's initial
proposition, the foundation stone OF
his whole argument, says the CONNER.
cial Appeal. He says that tho first
effect of the free coiuage of silver
would be tho expulsion from tho coun-
try OF all its gold, thereby diminishing
the volume of money by one-third
The purchasing power of the remain.
der, he snys, would be reduced 50 per
cent; that Is, commodities would com.
mand twice ns much money as before,
ana we should have ah immense inNa
tion OF prices caused by nn immense
contraction of the currencyi
Ihero would be, says Mr.. Carlisle,
only two-thirds tho amount of money
now In circulation, and It would bo so
deprecated that IL would require twice
as muoh money to transact tho busl-
ness OF the country. Let MS follow
MIR. Carlisle's fantastic logic 10 tina
end The amount OF money every In
dividunl can obtain for tho transaction
OF his business willy depend on the
prices he can get for what he has to
sell. Mr.. Carlislo's proposition is that
by expelling one-third OF our money
prices would DO doubled; or, In other
words, every man in the country could
command twice rs much money as be.
fore, though all combined would have
lessl
Again, II II would require twice Ms
much money as tho then existing vol
ume to transact tho country's business
the demand for money would DO 100
per cont greater than the supply. Per-
sons familiar with the law of demand
and supply would be npt to sny thnt
the value of the money would certain
ly increase under the tremendous lift
ing power of such demand. Not So
MIR. Carlisle. To him contemporanc-
ous decrease of 33M per cont. In the
supply and increase of 100 por cent. I'm
demand is perfectly consistent with n
fall of so per cent in vnluel Must we
oolitcrate NIL the laws of supply and
demand when we come to reason about
money? Is IL possible 10 make money
scarccr, mako the demand twice rs
grent, and at the same time make IL
twice as easy to get money? Such Is
the case II Mr. Carlisle's proposition In
correct-if you can ut the same timo
contract the volume of money and in
crease prices; that is, the money-get-
ting power of commodities
Again: All tho gold would leave the
country, says MIR. Carlisle, because IL
would no longor be In demand for
monetary purposes All the monetary
demand of 10000, 900 Of the most nctive
money-seekors in the world, for pay
Ing many hundred million dollnrs of
debt, for carrying on the vant industry.
trade and commerce of this great
country, would be withdrawn from
gold and concentrated on silver Yet.
according to Mr.. Carlisle this stupen-
dous influence would not affect the
value of either metal by the fraction
OF cent. And this Is monetary
science as expounded by one of it's
most famous savnnts. Mr.. Carlisle
rcfers to the operation of the mint
laws of iT0a and 1884 establishing the
ratio of coinage In this country to
prove that Legislation cnnnot affect
HE value OF money metals II nny-
thing Is demonstrated by the operation
of these laws 1t Is that the value OF
the metals was fixed and controlled by
coinage laws. The most learned and
the most candid gold monometallists
admit that the coinage ratio of the
French mints dominated the relative
values of gold and silver for three
quarters of q century. Throughout
the most extreme huctuations in their
relative production the vnlues of gold
and silver kept substantially steady at
the French legal ratio OF I5X TO 1.
When two countries open their mints
Ing ratios tho result will be that the
country whose law places the higher
value on gold will get the gold
and the country packing the high
er vnlue on silver will get the
silver. But both countries will
have the full benefit of both
In regulating the volume of their cur
rency. This was what happened un-
der the laws referred to- II gold or
silver dollar went out Of the country
1t put another and as good dollar In
lite place That was substantial BIZ
metallism. Now. when n gold dollar
goea out, as they have boon steadily
going for several years, there IS no
way TO I'LL Its place, except by mort
gaging tho country to buy back the
gold There Is the difference between
morcuetaliism and bimetallism. An.
other difference Mr.. Carlisle ignored Is
that prior to the characterization of
silver the debtor always had the OPP
tion to pay his debt in the cheaper
money IL one became cheaper than the
other. Now he Is compelled TO pay in
the dearer money.
MIR. Carlisle undertook to show that
the wage-earners would suffer because
the rise in prices would not be accom-
panied by a corresponding rise in
wages-in other words, that stocks
and stones would command increased
prices, but that human energy, intel
liRenco and will could not keep the
pace. His illustration to prove this
was taken from the period when war
was fragrant. Mr.. Carlisle thinks that
"a time of war xUhau b,tcipaae xuas