Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1896-09-26

tho trehtNfS weft Ia thu itteresu OF the
money pUtef aid ~ conformity with the
laws having fur their object tho deprecIa-
tion OF silver az money aud tho npprecis-
tiou OF gold. Theso laws, and these rul
ings, relegste silver to a credit money. aud,
therefore, effectunlly domone,ize IL. la or
der 10 remonetize silver we must restore II
TO equal rights with gold We must re-
store II TO the position II held from lI92 TO
1878. We must accord IL free and un-
limited Q image at a ratio OF 10 70 ].
We must clothe It with full legal tender
power.
HOW 1T WORKS.
Let us consider further and more In de-
tail how this gold monometallism has OPP
Grated. IL gave us q new aud skillful sys-
tenn to rob thu people for the benefit OF ag-
gregated capital. Let us consider facts
aud II cures in the light Of history to prove
this broad assertion.
Our total money In this country is about
81 1900, 000, 900; about 5000 900 900 is in gold,
$500, 900, 900 is in paper as we have over
10000, 900 population, we therefore have
about $23 per capita. But for Ubiquitous
laws, 81 400, 900, 900 OF this money would
be redemption money and but $500 900 900
credit money By demooetizipg silver we
have contracted our redemption. money
just 5000, 600, 900. and doing SO We lessened
the demand. By the same act we Increased
the demand for gold aud thereby greatly
enhanced its vaiue, aud, gentlemen. this
was the object of the crime OF 1879. 1t was
we'll understood, by those concerned, that
u contraction OF the redemption money
over half, by the decentralization OF silver,
would increase, til purchasing power Of
gold and oil credit money based upon II.
The result has been to make the gold dol
lar equal In purchasing and debt paying
power to nearly 200 cents. IL has, there
fore, In the brief space of twenty years,
doubled all debts contracted twenty years
ago and has added nearly 20 per cent. to
all debts Q intracted tpree years ago, as 20
per cent. is abontRthes appreciation of gold
In three years The adoption Of the gold
standard has brought this country to the
brink of ruin. As q debter nation we were
not prepared for such a monetary system.
How can we keep gold in the country,
MAINTAIN the gold reserve, mainta n our
credit money on a par with gold, when we
nave but 500, 900, 900, and about this
amount Is shipped abroad yearly to pay
the interest on our debts and to meet other
obligations? How can we hold thlsg gold
when there is such a scarcity as compared
to the demand for 1t by all the gold stan
dard nations? Russia, although on a silver
basis, boards $500, 000, 900 in g Id for war
emergencies. Other European countries
likewise hoard it with the same purpose.
All these gold standard countries live in
fear that their gold supply should get so low
as to endanger their credit and are driven
to a mad scramble for this precious metal.
IL we were a creditor nation, like England,
we could arbitrarily regulate the rate OF
exchange and retain our gold; being large
ly Indebted to Europe, we have no such
recourse we are helpless aud cannot re-
sist their raids upon our gold supply. This
Il an absolute condition and not a theory
that c1nfronts us. How shall we, under
gold monometallism, maintain the value OF
our money at the present hign exchange
value of gold? There is but one way |
maintain the gold reserve. Blu how shall
we maintain the gold reserve? There is no
way but TO issue government bonds. Who
would be benefited by this continual issu-
ance of bonds, the people of this great ma |
tion, or the ~bondholdersl Hasn't this per-
nicious system already cost the people
enough? Let us see:
THE PRICE OF A GOLD STANDARD.
In 1856, when our national debt reached
its high-water mark our government owed
in round numbers $2,S28, 900, 900. "On
January 1st, 1896, our national debt
paid on that debt the sGupsn-
dous sum of 81, 635, 900, 900. We have
have apparently reduced the debt by
zoo, 900 900, aud its extinction at an
early date would seem certain. The AMER
lean people have paid in principal and In
tne enormous sum OIL 9f,ooo VUU,UOU.
The number of dollars have been reduced,
when the people reflect that the re-
81, 235 600. 900 that they owe will
buy as much wheat, corn, cotton, farm and
factory products as the entire s. ,828. 900, 900
would buy in 1865, they will perceive that
practically they have not reduced their
debt one single cant; that they
have paid nothing. but have paid the bond
holders 81, 635 900, 900, shall l say as a rec
ompense for forging upon them gold
monometallism y "Because Of the high
price of gold, it now takes twice as much
of our products to pay our debts, there
fore We are to-day in relation to our debts
where we were at the close of the war,
Notwithstanding the stupendous amounts
have paid and the heroic sacrifices we
made to reduce that debt. After pay
ing thrSa-ffths Of that debt, the American
people would be compelled to give GAG, 000,-
BOO bushels more wheat, 90,780, more
barrels of -four, 1878, 400. 900 pounds of cot
1000 900 more barrels of pork, 49, |
300. 900 more pounds of wool to pay the re-
S1,237 600, 900 than they would
rave bsen obliged to give in 1856, just after
the war. to pay the whole national debt OF
q, S27, G6S, $3.50. American people, under the |
gold STANDARD system, are pay
ing the national debt to the bondholders at
The rate OF 81 for every dollar promised"
again ask you in whose interest is this z
'ystem maintained? viii not this gold !
iollar, under this system, continue to in !
,rease in value until worth 300 cents, or
wen 400 cents, and as it increases, drive {
the price of commodities, until wheat
will sell for fifteen cents per bushel, cotton {
two cents per pound, wool two cents per
pound and labor twenty-five cents per !
lay? !
Shall we continue a monetary system !
hat has a tendency to increase our debts l
.kree and four times without rendering !
therefore, value received? Shall we con- ;
inue a monetary system that will reduce |
he price of our product until nothing is T
eft US but the bare subsistence: until \
rom the force of hard conditions we are Z
made from freemen into an abject I
easantry, wearing a hickory overshirt y
nd wooden shoes-the livery Of serfdom? \
BOUNTY FOR RUIN. y
In the house of this single gold standard, O
q this chamber of horrors, there are still't b
ther frightfui objects on exhibition. We q
Yill observe them under the penetrating t.
Ight of facts. On account of the high ex- b
hange value of our money, our export b
rade with all silver nations is threatened .
annihllation, but worse, it has devel- 81
ped dangerous competitors in manufacture ii
az, and we look forward, with dismay, to tt
he time near at hand, when China and
apan, and even Mexico, shall supplant us in ii
European markets.. The degradation Of tl
liver and the appreciation Of goli nave had il
ne opposite effect in countries on silver n
asis from what was anticipated. In all n
liver countries exports have increased n
and imports rave been reduced, a
hereby improving their balances and IL
realty stimulating industrial advance d
lent. These nations can no longer afford ia
!, pay ~ for $l worth of commodities, and b,
have gone to manufactur.
lg for themselves, and in a few years, if &C
le gold standard prevails, will be manu- b.
for gold STANDARD countries. SC
,Janan. that vounp and lusfv giant hao a