The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-10-10
MORTON HAS SPOKEN
The Secretary Is Really Funny al
Frequent Intervals.
BROAD ASSERTIONS MADE
Sarcastic References to Pryan and
the Chicago Platform and every
body In sympathy with it
Ills Money history.

Chicago, Oct. 9.-In his speech here
tonight. Secretary Morton began with
the assertion that Chicago is the great
est wholesale market for farm prod
rcts In the world and that for this
reason here the financial question as
applied 70 the farmer ought 10 be con-
sldered. Money. he said. is only
measure OF values and mediator OF
exchange. Farm products. he said.
would buy money only when they
were wanted. Continuing, he said:
THE farmer is. however, compelled by
the unwritten law of markets to fur
nish food products of such a high
srade that they will sell in or buy
money In any market. at home or
abroad. Musty or tainted meal Is re-
teeted and not economist, banker or
oven plain man of the people has ever
attempted to establish parity or
equality between tainted food and
toothsome edibles or to maintain a
ratio between the rotten and the
wholesome dietary affairs. Experience
has taught the farmer that only the
best products have ever the specific
purchasing power to buy money. The
farmer demands money for his staples
because real. honest money has n gen.
eral purchasing power In all the mar
kets Of the civilized globe. And that
money Is real and honest that money
Is best. which has the least fluctuat-
ing purchasing power at all times and
in all countries.
Farmers who think know that
money Is the only thing In this world
OF sweating acquisitlveness which men
compete for, which never confers any
benefit upon Its owner until II leaves
him. Unused money, unloaned money
bestows no more value upon Its owner
than an uneaten meal can give OF
pleasure or nutrition. and as there has
rot been any complaint about too good
wheat, too good beef. too good pork
or to productive a farm, SO there never
can be. from correctly reasoning men,
any complaint about too good dol
lar. too good currency or money. A
dollar with too much purchasing
power Is as impossible as a square meal
with to much nutritive power. an
acre Of land with too much productive
capacity, or an advocate Of popullstIc
schemes of finance with too much log
iral ability"
The secretary then took up the his
tory of money from the early day
when sheep were the current medium
of exchange. adding: "Gold bullion.
II we can believe history. was no doubt
the best thing man ever placed In a
balance and weighed. From weights
measures were evolved until now gov
ernments fix the weight and measure
by which cereals. fruit, vegetables and
many other products may be bought
end sold In all parts OF the civilized
world. But nowhere do governments
ott nj 20 hn nrteaa Af thnQ0
things. Everybody knows how many
pounds of corn and how many pounds
CT wheat make a bushel. because the
law defines the quantity In weight.
And so the law tells how many grains
OF gold make a United States dollar
or an English pound. And the sta
tute can no more fix the purchasing
power Of either coin than II can fix
the price of corn and wheat. II an
alleged statesman should propose to
establish by statute a permanent value
for all farm products, or to institute
en- inflexible ratio between corn meal
and wheat -four, without regard to
any other appetite. stomach or brain
on earth but his own, even populists
would doubt his sanity. And yet
legislation to make constant the price
OF all earthly products the whole
world over would be as effective as
trat which proposes to fix permanent
ly the value of that one earth product
known as silver In all markets. Strip
gold of the legal tender quality. Who
would not then take for his dues de-
monetized gold, when the chance Of
fered. instead Of legal tender sllver7
IL the United States can double the
price of the worlds silver by enact
ment, why can IL not also double the
price OF garments or wheat or pork,
or any other exchangable thing by the
same necromancyY
why labor. why toll, II wealth.
value and the substance Of things can
be legislated into being? Why not
plow fields by preamble. harvest crops
by joint resolution, garner them by
enactment and subsist mankind at
large by that creative power which
populism vests In law-makers7 And
how can an international conference
fix in gold the price Of silver? And II
agreement between nations can main
tain stable prices for silver. why not
for other commodltiesT"
Secretary Morton then spoke Of a
number OF Chicago's citizens who have
In the past 40 years risen from trade
the benefit of their wealth by means
OF gold nations But we are told that
the farmers are dlscontented and
distressed We are told that the money
Of the gold standard has too potent n
purchasing power and buys too much
Of the products OF these farms. Why.
then. do the farms themselves con-
stantly enhance In value? And II, as
has been stated by the highest author
ity Of populism candidature. the dol
lar which rises In purchasing power Is
a dishonest dollar why Is not an acre
of farm land with which one can to-
day buy for $50. and with which one
could 30 years ago buy only s., also
dishonest?
"As To the law OF lower prices 10
commodities, II Is natural and constant
and not harmful. owing to the supe-
rioF facilities of production, through
invention. cheaper transportation, a
better knowledge of agriculture and
more skill all the time TO make avail
able in production all the free forces
~ nature. Nature works for nothing.
The price Of products goes down In
consequence. But natures forces can
Do nothing unless combined with mans
efrorts. Thirty-four years ago a De
facto government called the confeder-
ate states Of America existed, II had
financial system based upon the pop
ulIstic idea that the government can.
by merely stamping on paper or metal.
create value. The confederate gov