Evening journal., 1896-10-19
CHAS. B. LORE ON SILVER
Continued from Fret Psso.


standard of value as is possible in
human transactions.
Il must be remembered that meas
ures of value are artificial creations.
prescribed by law. In our country the
people, who are the lawmakers, have
wisely fixed this dualistic standard,
suggested by wisdom and proved best
by experience
When the metals parted company in
bullion value in 1894. the quantity Of.
pure gold in the gold-dollar value wac
reduced per cent If needful, why
could not this be done again? Has not
gold risen In value out OF proportion TO
all sources of wealth? II so, justice
demands equalization; not by adding TO
burdens already crushing
WHICH is THE HONEST DOLLAR?
It is urged with vehemence that the
silver dollar is a dishonest dollar--one
of only so cents in value. In all the
newspapers representing the capitalists
this assertion has been iterated again
and again until by many its truth is
assumed.
When and how did this historic dol
lar become dishonest? 1t has been the
one unchanged and unchanging factor
in our finances, honest to debtor and
creditor alike. Il is the only coin in
our history that has continued the same
at all times. The silver dollar OF 1892
is identically the silver dollar of 1886
In pure metal. Is not its offense that it
has held capital and labor in the same
even and inexorable balance, and has
kept interest rate within the capacity
of the borrower? Has not gold risen
In fttIItr
usurer's gain be increased one-fOurth
therefore, by another turn of the flnan-
cial screw, and a fourth more of human
toll and the necessaries of life be given
by the toiling borrowing millions TO
the lending few? Fix the gold unit and
this is an accomplished fact as values
now stand. The gold standard would
rob the many, enrich the few.
Concede that the bullion in the gold
and silver dollars have parted com
pany. They have frequently done 80
in our past history It is markedly SO
now, partly because our government
has persistently discredited its own sill
Yer coinage, partly because of the de-
creased production of gold and It's great
absorption and demand in mechanical
uses The fact still remains that as
coins of the United States they have
precisely the same legal value. They
are coined only for use In our OWL
country. They do not pass as coins In
other countries, but are bought and
sold only as bullion. With bullion W,
pay balances of trade against us ant
meet all demands of foreign exchange.
Measured by all human wealth silver
has lost no value. Gold has gained fol
causes stated but gold may call silver
dishonest for this no more than tn,
richer man may call the poorer dis
honest because adventitious circum.
stances have changed their relativ,
means. It is not absolute but relativ,
purchasing power that is the measur,
OF honesty.
PROTECTION OF LABOR.
The continued coinage Of silver dol
lars, Il is claimed, wrongs the laborer
that his interests are best served b.
suspension. If true. this should awakei
earnest opposition. Is not the assump
tion based on error? Laborers hay
been called capitalists. The idea wa
formulated by Mr. Bayard In his speec
in the United States Senate in 1878, 4
this language:
1t can not be that the laboring classo
are the debtor classes: on the contrary
as I say, there is not day in the yea
when the sun goes down when they ar
not the creditors of capital for IN
amount Of their wages for that time.
This assumes that laborers are capi
talists, or of the creditor classes, bu
with the accommodating suggestion
that the sun shall first go down eac
day in order to make them SUCH
The great labor classes are neithe
capital nor creditor classes, save i
mockery-they are the producin
classes. Their daily labor is the pre-
duct they bring each morning into th
market for sale to the best advantage
They have a right to demand the higi
est price for that commodity-tha
wear of brain and Drawn that fills th
earth with riches. They find the be'
market and the highest prices whel
money is abundant and business brisl
Like agriculturalists and other pr,
ducers, they have something to sci
Unlike capitalists, whose money is *
vested at rates of interest fixed by Law
which can not be changed the prices
labor change in quick sympathy wit
the abundance of money and the eve
accompanying demand for labor II
claim that the gold unit, as q great,
HuAinooihb lbWNlf 10 a uththl W ldNi
is a flight of ideal craftsmanship thi
has no basis in fact, and could only re
permanently in the minds OF those WI
know little of the toll and experience
OF labor life.
Tested by experience even the dal
of paper money, with all its evils v
with every brain and hand busy turn
ing the wheels of stimulated produ
ton and industry, would be preferrt
by the laborer to a gold-standard pc
iOd, yellowed in the whitening contra
tion OF stagnation and want. 1t is tn
then the gold unit might purcha.
much. but. under the palysing touch
contraction. how would the laborer &
the gold unit?
Mr.. Robert Giffin, the celebrated En-
lish statistician, in the London Tim
of February 2l, 1885, admits "that q
gold standard has resulted in the pr
gressive fall Of wages since its ado
tion, computed upon their actual pu
chasing power"
This admission, emphasized as it h.