Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-08-13

ed the presidency of the bank, was
chairman Of the silver convention al
St. Louis, and the following is his in.
teresting address on taking the chair:
alt Is among the first principles in
fnsnce that the value Of each dollar
Expressed II prices, depends upon the
total number Of dollars in circulation.
The plane Of prices is high when the
number Of dollars in circulation is
GREAT IN PROPORTION
To the number Of things 10 be ex-
changed by means Of dollars, and low
when the dollars are proportionately
few. The plane of prices at present
and for some time past is and has
been ruinously low. The increase Of
our population, sbout two millions a
year, scattered over our immense ter
ritory, calls for increasing exchanges
and thereby demands an increasing
number of dollars in circulation. The
increase in the number OF dollars
when dollars are confined to gold is
no. sufficiently rapid to meet the
growth Of our exchanges. The con-
sequence is a growing value Of dollars
or diminishing value of everything
else expressed in dollars which is to
say a tendency toward constantly de-
clining prices.
"The fountain head of our prosper
llty has run dry. Our farmers all
over the country have endured the
depression in prices until they get
about S8 or SO per acre for an ex-
penditure Of $40 per acre, and tie
like. Their credit Is exhausted
at their county store. The
country store ceases to order from
the city merchant. The city merch-
ant reduces his demand upon the
manufacturer. Manufacturers are
curtailed. The consequence is that
employees and al! elements of labor
are being discharged, and
WAGES ARE LOWERED
To those who continue in employment.
The sutferings of the farmers who
constitute nearly one-half of our
population are thus enforced upon
the city merchant, the manufacturer
and all forms of labor. These com.
bined elements constitute the over
whelming majority of voters. Their
intelligent conclusion will be felt
when expressed at the polls.
"The banker also is without pros
perity unless prosperity is general
throughout the United States. He
must learn to distinguish between
cheap money and money commanding
a low rate of interest. The dollar
worth two bushels of wheat is q dear
dollar, and yet it commands interest
in Wall street at present of but 2 per
cent per annum on call. If the dol
lar can be cheapened by increasing
the number of dollars, so that each
dollar will buy less wheat, being reas-
onably sure Of a profit, it will increase
the demand for dollars to invest in
its production, TLen the borrower
Of dollars to invest in the production
Of wheat, being reasonably sure of O
profit from that employment of the
money, can afford to pay interest for
its use as part Of his profit. In otn-
er words, interest is share of the
profit on the employment of money.
So that
ABUNDANT MONEY,
Money readily obtainsble, which is
to say really cheap money, is the
money which commands high rate
of interest as share of the profit of
borrower in using it.
"As we appeal to the country in
the justice of our causes, one or two
points of common inquiry must be
satisfied, as follows:
THE experience of Mexico is held
up for our alarm. We answer, first,
that Mexico ID conspiciously prosper
GUS at home. Her increase in manu-
features, railway earnings and the
like in recent years Is phenomenal.
Second, Mexico ls no criterion for the
United States, for the reason that
she has a foreign trade Indebtedness
of about $20,000,000 annually in ex-
cess of the value of her exports of
cotton, sugar, coffee, hides and the
like, which must be paid for IN the
surplus product of her mines. Her
silver, therefore, goes abroad as mer-
chandise, and at valuation fixed by
the outside world. The United States
on the other hand, is nation of sew.
enty mlllins of people, scattered over
territory seventeen times the area
Of France. A single one of our rail-
way systems, the Erie, exceeds the
aggregate railway mileage of all Mex
leo. We offer an employment for
money to an aggregate greater than
the worlds spare silver will furnish
US. Hence, our silver money, at home
aud abroad, will be valued as the
money of the United States.
uTha onpocitiop fhrootona no NTH