The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-10-04

money With InaI is the q1SS lOu "
decide. Now. AR. Long denies this
proposition. He says 1t IS not the
amount OF money, but the material out
of which the money is made trsat fixes
the price Of products. 1 deny that.
And they know better, because they tell
you if you get free coinage OF silver and
add to the money in circulation by coin
ing silver as well as gold and initiate the
currency, you will cut the purchasing
power of the dola1r In two, and thereby
Of course you must double the price OF
products. Don't they tell the old soldier
and the wage Garner that, as they claim
that the dollar will only be half as
much? They say they want good dol
Car, and they want a gold dollar be-
cause it is worth more than any other
dollar. Well, put in twice as much
gold and You will have twice as good
a dollar and four times as much gold
and you viii have four times as good a
dollar, and at last you could get enough
gold in it so you could buy all the state
Of Kansas.
Now, then, some eminent men have
written upon this question. Here Is
Mr.. Ricardo. OF course / know that
Mr.. Ricardo wiz appear to great dis
advantage along with Mr.. Long. IT
will be tough on Ricardo. daughter
He Gays: 1.-THE value OF money in any
country is determined by the amount
existing; that commodities would rise or
fall in price in proportion to the increase
or dimunition Of money. / assume as
a fact that is incnotrovertible. That
is Mr. Ricardo, a man who has been
quoted by eminent gentlemen that be-
iieve he was an authority upon this
question. And John Stuart Mill says:
I'VE have seen, however, that even IN
the case of metallic currency the inn
mediate agency in determining its val
ue is quantity ."-PrinccipleS of Politi-
cal Economy, page s volume 2. And
James Graham says: ''The value OF
money is in the inverse ratio Of its
quantity, the supply of commodities
remaining the same" Not a single
writer but what has given his opinion
that the amount of money in circulation
determines its value Now, Mr.. Long
says that these writer's qualify this
Statement. and say it depends upon how
much credit money is in circulation, and
that DIS a factor also in determining
prices. Well, We don't deny but what
it has to some extent. Credit money is
the most uncertain and unstable system
Ii1idslGc uIldt ever was ny
mankind. NInety-five per cent done ON
credit Let US see what an eminent
statesman in the Republican party said
about the credit system. Senator
Plumb in speech in 1890 in the United
States senate said: Mr.. President, the
structure bill upon the narrow base of
about six hundred millions of actual
cash must necessarily be insecure. Its
continuance must depend upon the care
fl mans cement of somebody; ana 10
whosoever management it is entrusted
there is given an equivalent in the shapT
of power. the only human ambition
worth mentioning in any arena where
men contend for power. And the secret
in my judgment of the position of the
great bankers in this country against
the increase of the circulating medium
as rule is because they don't want to
be shorn OF that enormous power"
By the government report there IS
4 600 million dollars of business DONE
and there is only 1,600 millions of actual
cash, admitting paper and silver to be
primary money, which 1 do not admit.
So that $500 million of that is credit.
The 1900 million goes into actual circu-
lation without any cost OF interest to
you. But every dollar of the $500 mil
lion goes into circulation by you poying
the banker for that credit Now. the
bankers met in convention down at st.
Louis short time ago. They said in a
Eve further believe that
our full mea sure of national prosperity
will not be gained until the whole world
that the dollar of the ma
ton is one hundred cents in gold, and
that the nation as 10 kepe it at that val
ue.
Mr.. Long talks about silver being
money. I ask you why the sec
rotary Of the treasury has given out
the word that ne will Nedeem silver in
gold is silver is not today, as a matter
II fact. merely token money. and the
500 millions in gold is the only pri-
mary money you have today under the
decision of the treasury. (Applause.)
And a nation, the grandest the world
ever saw, that needs more money than
any people on Gods earth, whose inter-
nai commerce IS equal to France, Ger
many and Great Britain altogether, |
whose carrying trade by rail is equal TO |
all the world combined. whose domestic |
exchanges every year amount to ninety |
six billions of Collars-to limit them to |
primary money to the amount OF 600 /
Million. is to hand them over bound |
rand ard foot to the money trusts of the |
world. (Applause.) =
New, l saw this put in practical IL /
ustration the other day. Over here at |
the Other day Long made a |
speech, telling them they only needed |
per cent of real money TO do business |
with. A friend of mine vino keeps d !
orocery over there heard him. He went /
home and went to issuing checks on his |
1ank; and pretty soon the banker called |
around to see him and told him he had \
,verdTawn his account. And he says, |
have got my per cent there yet. |
haven't /? And he says, what do you l
mean? Why, he says, Mr.. Long told US |
We only needed per cent OF primary /
money. Oh, we'll. says the banker. 1
want you 10 understand that don't go in
,ur bank Ne co cash business.
II the population is increasing and |
'us;ness is increasing and the currency
ioes no. keep pace with the increasing |
purchasing power Of the dollar. you
make IL a rooDer dollar; defrauds the |
iebtor. In thirty years we have doub-
ed our population. we have increased
'ur business transactions one thousand
,er cent, and / defy Mr.. Long. or any
'tder long or short. TO show US where
We have lncres sed the circulating medi-
I'm per capita. Take for instance since
S72 We have coined in gold in this coun-
ry 500 millions. We have today IN cir
uia ton but 600 millions OF gold they
ay; the rest has gone away, been lost,
lsed I'D n the arts. gone to Europe,
'ou know. Therefore, on that basis,