Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1896-10-22
THE PLUTOCRATIC GUFFAW.
New York Journal.

If it be said that the stamp of tn.
government and the mandate of the
law make the coin Of greater value than
the bullion, the answer may be made
that the present value Of gold is fixed
by law.
An act of the British parliament
passed in the year 1874, ffty-two years
ago, requires the Bank of England to
purchase all the gold presented to it
at 3 pounds, II shillings and pence per
ounce. That fixes the price all over the
world, less the cost of transportation
to London. So that its price is not
governed by it's intrinsic value. but by
an act of parliament; and this makes
it in that sense fiat money.
Money Is the creature of law. The
material of which it is made is not
money until made so by law, whether
it be gold or silver or paper. The gov
ernment or the banks issue their notes
to circulate as money. These notes
have no intrinsic value. Their being
money arises from the fact that their
issue is authorized by law, the promise
to redeem them in coin, and, in some
cases, the making of them a legal ten
der. So that 1t is the operation of the
law wh!assmaKes money. and NOT the
material Gf which It is composed;
though gold and silver are recognized
as more suitable material out of which
to make money than any thing else.
Iiscld and silver bullion were money,
why the laws of this and other coun-
tries defining the degree of hneness Of
the metal, the amount of alloy in the
coins, their weight, and the value of
each coin, and making them legal
tender?
The falsehood resorted to by the gold
standard advocates has for it's object
to deceive the American people into
voting for a policy by which one-half
Of the standard money of this country
was stricken down, thus reducing the
volume OF the money wnlcn nAed Ine
values of all the other property, from
$500, ooO 900 to s3,25o,o 100000; and max
ing corresponding reduction in prop
rety values; parlyzing industry, arrest
ing enterprise, rendering agriculture,
the controlling industry of this coun-
try. unprofitable; producing an amount
of financial distress and of bankruptcy
such as was never before known in
this country and causing tens of
thousands of men to be denied employ
the want of the necessaries of life, and
causing those who still have work to
work on short time and filing the
country with tramps. All this wrong
and suffering in order to increase the
value of bonds and other credits and
money in the hands Of the rich, while
sinking the great mass of the people,
the working people, the common peo-
pie, the real creators of wealth,
deeper and deeper into poverty and
wretchedness.
Will the people allow themselves to
be deceived by such device into help
ing to perpetuate the gold standard
policy, and to put themselves into
condition of financial slavery to the
money changers and arlstocrats OF
America and Europe?
The man who talks about 50-cent
dollars shows his ignorance on the sub
ject; or, if he is not ignorant, that he
Is attempting by falsehood and fraud
to deceive others to their great injury.
You may inquire what influence I
think the free and unlimited coinage
of silver, at the ratio of 16 to l, Will
have on the purchasing power of gold
and silver money. If such coinage
shall increase the volume of circulat-
ing money the effect will be, to the ex-
tent of that increase, to raise the prices
Of commodities, and in the same pro-
portion to reduce the purchasing power
Of money. Stated in another way, It
will make property dearer and money
cheaper In proportion to the amount
of the increase of the volume Of mon
ey. And this is the reason why the
plutocrats so earnestly oppose free
coinage. 1t is their policy and to their
interest to have dear money and cheap
property and labor. While 1t Is to tho
interest and should be the policy Of
the industrial classes, who make the
wealth of the country, to have q suf-
ficient supply Of money to stimulate
enterprise and industry, and make the
country prosperous and the people con-
tended and happy. And by restoring
silver as q part of the standard money
the demand for gold will be somewhat
reduced, and 1t will. to that extsnt.
be less valuable as compared with the
property Of the country. But the free
coinage of silver will cause no serious
disturbance to the business OF the coun.
try. JOHN H. REAGAN.