The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-11-03

NSUAOOAGSAO0 Al EO&C4 IA III OuGO8
words, prices would be higher.
So although the price of the worlds
silver would be doubled by enactment,
this doubling of price would be effected
by a cOincident fall in the value of gold
and a rise in the value of silver. This
doubling of price Nj. Morton ridicules.
He ls unable or unwilling to see how
such doubling of value would be effect.
ed. He assumes that gold would re-
main fixed and inv6riable and that any
change in the relative values of gold
and silver would be the result of fuc-
tuations in the price Of silver, and he
holds, or at least affects to believe, that
governments are pOwerless to effect
fluctuations in the price Of silver. It
IS the relation of the supply of silver to
the demand that makes the price of
silver and Mr.. Morton confidently tells
US governments cannot affect by enact
ment either the supply of or demand
for silver.
Now as the supply of silver, relative
" to the demand, gives to silver it's
value, it is clear that if governments
can by legislation lead to a disturbance
in the relations between the supply of
and the demand for silver it is in their
power both to detrac5 from and give
value to that metal. OF course no legis
lation will affect the value of silver I'm.
less it aft 9cts in some way either the
supply Of or demand for silver. If by
legislation we can increase the supply
Of silver and thereby make it
plentiful, it is obvious that it is within
our power to cheaper silver. And on
the other hand if by law we can in
crease or decrease the demand for sill
yer it is clear that it is within our
power to enhance the value Of silver
by increasing the demand or cheaper
it by ~Ie9sening the demand.
If governments should see fl to pay
a bounty on the production Of silver, it
is reasonable to suppose that to a GER
tain limit the supply Of silver would be
increased and that as a consequence
silver would be cheapened. That this
limit would be within a narrow range
is quite true, for the accident Of dis
,covely, to say nothing Of the variation
in the richness of the ores met with,
not only IN different mines, but in the
same mines at different times, places
the production of silver to q great de
gree beyond the control OF But
within these narrow limits it is quite
supposable that legislation could affect
the supply and hence the value of silver.
But if we pass on to the demand, we
find the power of government over the
value Of silver much more extended.
Since the discovery of America, more
than one half of all the silver produced
has found q market at the minis. Forty
per cent. of the total production is still
in use as money. Clearly, then, gov
ernments, by minting silver into money,
have made a market for one half and
more of the silver produced. If the
minis had been closed to silver and
open to gold alone, it is obvious that
the market for silver would have been
but half as broad as it was, and it is
clear that by closing those minis to sill
yer which had absorbed over half the
annual production, the demand for sill
yer would be cut in half. Conse quently,
there would be twice as much silver
Cfforo6 to fboco hoUipo 11co for ciIuor in
the arts, and as a result silver would
fall in price, until, from it's very cheap
ness, production was curtailed or new
demands arose sufficient to absorb the
increased quantity available for indus
trial uses. Now if with the demand
thus restricted, governments should
restore the monetary demand for silver
and thereby double the demand for that
metal, it is clear the price Of silver
would rise.
1t is then in the power of govern
ments to affect the demand for silver
by enactment, to depress the price Of
silver by closing the minis and shut
ting eff the demand for silver and to
raise the price by opening the minis
and increasing the demand. But with
the minis open to the free coinage of
gold, there is one other result of closing
the minis to silver. The supply of
money being restricted by the discard
ingiof silver to the coinage of gold alone,
it is quite obvious that the demand for
money falling before the closing of the
minis on both gold and silver would
fall on gold alone with the inevitable
result of making gold dearer. And