, 1896-10-05

price abuSe That OF Io'O and up to that OF ISL.
years preceding the act of 1914. Evidently so
far the 20 cent dollar had not made it's mark
at all. But l will admit the possible plea that,
as they say, the act of 1873 having been passed
in secret, people did not know anything about
1t, and prices remained measurably steady, in
ignorance of what dreadful things had hap
pened. II So, then 1t would appear that, IL the
knowing oaes bad on,y Kept still about it, the
gold dollar would have modestly remained a
lou cent dollar and nobody would have been
hurt. Bat. seriously speaking, it may be said
that when the act of 1873 was passed We were
still using exclusively paper money, that nei-
Their gold nor silver was in circulation, and
that therefore the demonstration would not
he felt. Very well. But, then. in 1879 specie
payments were resumed. Metallic money cir
culated again. And more than that. the cry
about "the crime OF 1873" resounded in con
Grcss and in the country. Then at last the 200
cent gold dollar had its opportunity. Prices
could no longer plead ignorance. What hap
pened? In 1850 wheat rose above tho price of
1873, likewise corn, cotton and oats. In 1881
wheat rose again; also corn, oats and cotton.
In 1882 wheat and cotton declined, while corn
and oats rose. Thu reports here given ara
those of the New York market. They may
vary somewhat from report of farm prices,
but they present the rise and decline of prices
with substantial correctness.
If, however. there be somebody believing
that, in spite OF these facts, the characterization
ol SILVER ny tne acG OF 1913 must III some nlys'
FERROUS way have done something to deprcss
prices, l meet him with the affirmation that
the silver dollar was practically dem0netized
long before 1873. To judge from the speeches
OF our free coinage orators, the American poo
pie must before 1873 have fairly wallowel In
silver dollars. What is the fact? President
Jefferson stopped the coinage of silver dollars
in 1896. From 1888 to 1873, aside from fraction
nj currency-which since 1858 was only limited
legal t~ender-only about son, 900 of silver dol
lars were coined. They were SO scarce that
you would hardly ever see one except in n
curiosity shop AS a rare coin.
There was constant trouble with the legal
ratio between gold and silver, which could
not be so fixed as to keep the two metals to.
gether in circulation. Once one of them would
be driven out of the country and then the
other. Meanwhile over sl,OJO, 0OO, 900 of gold
coin was coined, and since 1853 gold was sub
stantially the only full legal tender money in
actual circulation. And those were excep-
tionally prosperous times. Then the civil war
came and swept ii! our metallic money out Of
sight. Pape. money took its place, and in that
condition we We're in 1873, when the famous
act of 1873 was passed. What, then, was in
reality that law that has since been so fierce
ly denounced ms 'thc crime Of 1887" Why, it
was simply an act revising our coinage laws
and providing among other things that certain
silver coins should be struck to be legal tender
in the payment of debts only to a small amount.
AhV ! ' via tiiit iiht ~ Wv
ly been out Of use since President Jeffcr'
son in lsU6 had stopped its coinage, was simply
not mentioned in the enumeration. That il
all The act of 1879 therefore did not create Il
new state of things, but simply recognized IA
state OF things which had existed for many
and many years. 1t did thereby not only not
destroy half the money OF the country. but
not q single dollar of it.
Why Prices Have Declined.
But what is it, then, that has caused the tie.
rliun ~ priroSY ANIMAL m yn,,r common
sense. Do you think that when one man, aid
cd by machinery, does as much productive
work rs formerly ten or more did, and when
our modern means of transportation carry the
product from the producer to the consumer
with five times the speed at one-fifth the cost,
and when in the transmission of intelligence
time is quite ard cost almost nnnihilated, do
you think that then the product of human
labor should not in due proportion become
cacapcrP II 1t did not, then modern civiliza-
ton would in one of its most important and
beneficent functions be n fiat failure. For
what is the inventive genius Of the age that
devotes itself to practical objects engaged in
what else than in devisiny and developing
means and methods by which the things re.
quired by mankind for tho sustenance and
comfort of life be made better and more easily
attainable-thnt is, cheapcrf
The farmer in the United States welcomed
the agricultural machinery which helps him
in planting, raising and harvesting his crop.
He welcomed the railroad, the steamboat, the
low frciIhts. the telegraph. which shortened
the distance between his farm and the market,
and the banking arrangements required for
moving and selling his product. But as near
ly all our farmers hal the same encourage
ment, 50 1t followed quite naturally that the
wheat crop of this country increased from an
annual average Of 81, 0OO 1000 bushels between
1870 and 1850 to an annual average of 4i5,OOO,.
OO bushels between 1890 and 1895. But also
foreign countries had the encouraging benefit:
new wheatticlds were opened in Russia and
the Argentine Republic and elsewhere, and,
according to Bradstreet's, u very competent
authority, the wheat product Of the world
| grew from 1850 to 1894 no less than 49, O, 900
bushels, while the worlds is es-
| timated to increase only 1850, 900 to lG, 900, 600
bushels annually. When the increase of the
worlds supply thus gains upon the increase
Of the worlds demand, is it Il wonder that in
the worlds market. which rules the price for
all exporting countries, that price should have
declinedP Is not this an infinitely more ra-
tional explanation Of the decline in prices than
to ascribe that decline to the SO called de.
monctization law of 1873, which practically de-
monetized no ming. but was actually followed
by an increase of our currency, nearly trcblipg
its volume and making the per capita far, far
higher than it ever had been before, and high
er than it is IN any other country except oneP
You might rs well ascribe our civil war to the
great comet OF 1911.
Our Recent Silver Laws.
Cowed by the uproarious cutlery which was
started by the silver miners and taken up by
the sscheap money men, congress passed two
laws. one in 1878, the other in 1890. in pursu.
ance Of which over 40, OO, 0U Of silver dollars
were added to our currency. more than 50
times us many dollars rs had ever been coined
before, besides a large addition to our sub,
sidiary silver coins. Our paper money was
largely increased, SO that while in 1873, the
year in which the American people were said
to have been robbed of half their money-while
In 1879, l say, We had STA, 0O, 100 OF money in
the United States. we had 81. eli. O0O, 900 in 1865,
nearly three times as much, and while in
1873 the circulation was $500 per capita, 1t
was s22.9 o. per capita in ~lS95-ffty times rs
many silver dollars and many times more
money of all kinds than this country had ever
had In its most prosperous d~ays-and yet the
price of silver in the market kept on falling,
and the prices OF many commodities, ngricul.
| tural staples included, continued in their dc.
clining tendency. Now analyze this case
| Upon what ground do the silver advocates as
sert that the SO called decentralization OF silver
depressed pricesr According to their own
/ reasoning, because there has not been sufficient
money to sustain prices. Sustain what prices'
| Those prevailing before 1873. But there Is
now three times as much money as there was
in 1873 and a much higher per capita circuln-
ton. Well, what becomes of their argument
| Some Of the silver philosophers have invented
Q more mysterious phrase-that prices have
rome down because by the net Of 1873 the "mon-
| ey Of ultimate redemption" had been curtail-
| cd, only gold being available for this purpose.
| But, according to the treasury statistics, we
had in 1873 only rs, 600 Of coin, including
subsidiary silver. in the country, and now we
have much over e6O0, 900, 900 Of gold alone, or
more than "a times as much money Of "ultimate
redemption as in 1873. And yet prices are
low. The man whom such facts do not CON.
vince that tho decline of prices cannot have
been caused by any effect produced upon our
currency by the act of 1873 must have . skull