The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-08-15
SUPPLY AND DEMAND.
The Law the Goldbugs Invoke, but Which,
Aided by Intelligence, Is Their Ruin.

10 AhSht III
1t is queer how the gold standard adj
vocates lay down "A proposition and then
seek to avoid the conclusions to which
it points. In seeking to establish the
assumption that silver has deprecated
because of its increased production they
refer their readers to what they call the
~inexorable law of supply and de-
Eland."
They say that the increased produc-
ton of silver has caused its value to de.
cline-its value now and always being
its purchasing power. This would ac-
count for II end only of the natural
law to which they refer. The supply
has increased, but what about the aboli-
ton of the demand? Is this great natu-
raj law a m sided affair? Do its results
refer only to supply, or are they con-
cerned also with demand?
1t is a matter of history that the de-
mand for silver as money of final pay
ment i'll Europe and the United States
was obliterated before there had been
any increase in the output of silver
bullion. Did the law of supply and de-
mand suspend its operations until after
the supply" had begun to increase? Is
it true in theory or fact that the cessa-
ton of demand" has no effect on val
ues? This is the position the gold organs
and ~expounders take. They refer conf
IDENTIFY to the law of supply and demand,
and yet place themselves in the attitude
of insisting that it is solely a law Of
supply. But if one-half the people who
now eat beef should conclude to eat an
other kind of meat, would that have
any effect on the price? The gold stand
ard e%xpounders would no doubt insist
that there had Deer a sudden overpro-
duction in beef.
But, silver being il money metal, its
value relates exclusively to it's purchas-
ing power. 1t is capable of demonstra-
ton, and has been demonstrated time
and again i'll these columns by means of
official figures, that III gold standard ex-
FOUNDER has ever undertaken to set aside,
that the purchasing power of silver has
not decreased by SO much as half a cent
in spite of the closing of the minis and
the increased output of the mines. An
ounce Of it will buy just as much cot
ton, wheat, iron, calico and all other
staple commodities as it ever would. 1t
is only when we come to buy gold that
we find that a tremendous d~islocation
has occurred. This d~islocation is made
manifest whether we try to buy gold
with silver, or with cotton, or with
wheat, or with any staple product of
human labor.
The inevitable conclusion must be
that gold has doubled III value, and that
is what has occurred, the difficulty in
pe%rceiving this being entirely due to the
fact that Il dollar is called 100 cents no
matter how largely it's purchasing power
is increased. Measured by itself, gold
appears to have remained stable, while
everything else has deprecated. AS this
depreciation would be an impossibility,
we know that gold has doubled in pur-
chasing power, which is all the value
that a money metal can possess.
If an Atlanta man returning home
after a few months absence should
discover that the Equitable building
was twice as high, compared with the
surrounding structures, as it had been
when he went away, what would he
conclude? He might fall into the men-
tai confusion that has overtaken many
men on the money question and go about
wondering why all the buildings in At
lanta except the Equitable had shrunk
to half their height. He might conclude
that the land on which the city is built
had sunk so as to leave only the Equi-
table standing on level ground. But the
probability is that his mind would seek
the simpler and more logical conclusion
that the height of the Equitable had
been increased by adding 70 stories to
the original building.
The reason that the arguments of the
bimetallists are Irresistible in their
force and unanswerabla in their logic is
because they are simple and easily un-
derstood. Fundamental truth is always
simple and is always in accord with
common sense. This is why predictions
made by bimetallists Is and 20 years
ago have been fulfilled to the very let
ter.
"Value is the result of the natural
law of supply and demand, " say the
gold standard eXpounders, but when BIZ
metallists take them at their word they
proceed to cut the law i'll two. For in
stance, they say that gold has not in
creased in value, although the demand
for it has been more than doubled. The
public and private debts of Europe pre-
vious to 1872 were payable in either
silver or gold at the option of the debtor,
but since that time they have been pay
able in gold alone. Does that increase
the demand for gold? II not, why not?
Why, any 12-year-old boy would know
that the obligation Of one metal as debt
paying money would double the demand
and therefore the value of the metal
that is retained to do duty for both.
Therefore, we say, let the gold stand
ard opponents stand by their proposition
that the law of supply and demand is
inevitable in it's results, follow it ont to
its memorable and logical conclusion
and abide the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
Constitution.
A Puerile Declaration.