Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1896-04-19


 gained by the change from the old to the new conditions2 Money received Tor wages, like money received on every otneI account is valuable only to the extent that it can be exchanged for other com modities, and it is scarcely necessary to suggest that a dollar worth 50 cents Wls not purchase as much in the markets a s dollar worth 100 cents To call dime q dollar would add nothing whatever to It's intrinsic value, or to it's purchasing power. If these propositions are correct, It IS cicaT that when wages are paid in deprecfatet currency the rates of wages must De n- creased in proportion to the depreclation of the money and in proportion to the ln- crease in the prices of other things, or the laborer will suffer loss. But, afrrm that it is the universal rule that the rates of wages do not increase in proportion to the depreciation in the value ot the money in which they are paid and that when the currency is Appreciated the rates of wages do not increase in proportion to the in- creases in the prices of the commodities the laborer is compelled to purchase. to this rule in this or in any otkef country, my Investigations have not en- abled me to find it, and do not believe one can be found
 1t is not my purpose to weary you by the presentation of voluninous statistics or by tedious recital of facts, but the particular proposition now under consiI- eration is of such great importance in the discussion of this subject that you must permit me to call your especial attention to the experience of the laboring people in our own country during the years imme diately following the introduction of de- preciated paper currency in l862 and also to the very low rates of wages which now prevail in countries having the silver standard of value, or the so-called double standard of value with coinage of silver at legal ratio not corresponding with the commercial value of the metal and in doing this, I will make no statement that cannot be fully sustained by reliable evi- dence.
 History of Wages in This Country.
 nr nf subcommittee of the committee OH finance in the United States sen ate made, a report on the course of prices and wages in this country for $ period of 52 years, embracing the prices of almost every article of consumption in common use among the people and the rates of wages in almost every industry carried on during that time, and. in order that you may learn from this official and impartial investigation what effect de- prec1ated currency has on wages and prices, will briefly state some of the most material facts and conclusions embodied in that document. The subcommittee con sisted of five senators, representing both political parties and both sides of the cur fency question:, and the investigation, thoroughly and impartially made, with no purpose in view except to ascertain and report the actual facts; and, so far as it relates to questions of fact, the report congress early in the year 1862 nauguratea the policy of issuing legal tender pape-,
 
 payments were suspended. the currency began at once to depreciate, and before the elsse Of the year the paper dollar was worth less than 76 cents in gold. From the time the depreciation began the price ot commodities and the wages of labor were paid in paper currency, and the in- furious effect upon the interests of the la boring man is clearly shown in the re port referred to- In 1862 the wages of la- Dor, paid in depreeiated paper, were less than per cent. higher in paper than when fi- eles used by the laborers and other peo- pie in the maintenance of their families were nearly IS per cent. higher than they were when paid in gold; in 1863 the wages of labor paid in Appreciated paper worth about 69 cents on the dollar, were 10l2 per cent. higher than when paid in gold, hut the prices of the articles the laborer lad to buy with his wages were nearly 49 per cent. higher; in 1664 the wages of Ia bor paid in Appreciated paper dollars worth 49 cents each, had advanced 25s2 per cent, but the prices of the necessaries of life had advanced 9012 per cent; in 1865 wages paid in paper currency worth 62 cents on the dollar had advanced 43 per cent. above the rates previously paid ih gold, or it's equivalent but the prices of commodities had advanced nearly IT per cent.-that is to say, had more than doubled; and in 1866 wages paid in a cut lcncy worth Il cents on the dollar had advanced q fraction more than 52 per cent. from the previous rates in gold, or its equivalent, but the prices of commodities had advanced e0 per cent.
 Cheap Money Does Not Increase Wages.
 The rise in the rates Of wages never cor responded with the rise in the prices of other things until the year 1869, four years after the close of the war, when the value ot our currency was Il cents on the dol lar, and 1t as quite certain that no further depression would occur. In 1860 this country was Oil a gold basis and had been on that basis for many years, under the operation of the acts of 1884 and 1887. Wages were then paid in gold or it's equivalent, and by reducing the wages paid in deprecated currency to q gold basis, and comparing them with the rates paid in gold m lSb0, we shall have another demonstration of the injurious effects of cheap money on the interests of the laborer. On this basis the Iaborer received 76 cents and mills in 1863, instead of the gold dollar he received in 1860; in 1864 he received 80 cents and mills instead of a gold dollar, and in 1885 he received b6 cents and mills instead ot gold dollar In other words, the wages of the laborer, measured by gold as they were in 1860, when we had a sound currency, had fallen about A per cent. in 1868, more than 19 per cent. in 1864, and nearly Al per cent. in 1865, when we had a depreciated currency; and, gentlemen, the force of this illustration is greatly augmented by the facts that these reductions in the rates of wages occurred at a time when several hundred thousand laborers had been with drawn from the field of competition, when the government was engaged in the prose- cution of a great war, and was expendlng money lavishly for all kinds of supplies for the army and navy, and when the prices of all the products of labor had largely increased. Surely, if there ever can be a time when an abundance of cheap money will increase the wages and improve the condition of laboring men, these results ought to have been accomplished under the combination of favorable eircum- stances existing, especially in the great centers of industry, from 1861 to 1S65 and yet there has been no other period in our history when the rates of wages fell so rap idly or so low.
 Experience of Chilli an Example.
 The recent experience of the republic of Chill furnishes another impressive warn ing to the wage-eafner against the evils of depreeiated currency. That country had for 6 long time the so-called double standard of value, with coinage of legal tender geld and silver at the rate of 16. 39 to l, but as this considerable under valuation Of silver, the coins of that metal went out of circulation and gold consti- tuted the medium of exchange and actual standard of value until about the begin- ming of the year 1876; but as soon SIS the commercial value of silver fell below the ratio of 16.39 to l as compared With gold, all the gold went out of circulation and the country. had silver monometallism. In 1S75 before this change took place, the peso. or dollar, of Chilli, was worth about SS1a cents in our money, but in 1885, 10 years q pO1d a m SiiyaY pa in ha