Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1896-02-28
WAGE FARMERS PAY,
ARTFUL ATTEMPTS TO MISLEAD
THE MASSES.
Fallacy of the Idea That an I'm.
crease of the Circulating Medium
Means ga Deprecated Dollar for
LabOr.S

mislead the people, is one OF the most
remarkable characteristics OF the re-
lentless warfare waged against the
poor mans dollar, which of necessity
must be made OF silver. The express
sions "Sound money" and "honest
currency" have been appropriated
with the effrontery of Satan to sus-
tain an unsound policy and medium
of exchange that has robbed many
debtors OF half their earnings.
Even the President of the United
States, and his immediate predecessor
in office, have not scrupled TO make
use of sophistry and iuggle of words
to sustain the policy that has given
the Rothschilds a mortgage on the
American government, and placed the
financial system within the control Of
the sharks ON Wall street on this side
OF the water. A. ]. Warner, the silver
champion, in late monograph thus
alludes to this monstrous act OF du-
plicity:
1t has been somewhere said that
fools utter what knaves conceive. At
any rate, it is certain enough that
many things that are repeated in a
parrot-like way about money have
been artfully shaped to give surface
appearance of truth and then set ago.
ing for the purpose OF binding and
misleading those who are not well
enough versed in monetary science to
at once penetrate the veil of error that
disguises the real truth. And it is
surprising to find how many, even
among intelligent business men, are
blinded and misled by mere catch
phrases. One of these is the declara'
ton often put out with an air OF supe.
rior solicitude for the laborer, namely
"a deprecated dollar paid into the
hand Of toll" Mr.. Cleveland in his
letter prior to his first Inauguration
as President, said:
Labor, already depressed, would
suffer still further depression by a
scaling down of the purchasing power
OF every so-called dollar paid into the
hands Of toll"
And Mr.. Harrison, on q number OF
occasions, has made use OF similar ex-
pressions. Do Mr.. Cleveland and Mr..
Harrison, or does anybody else, sup
pose for a moment that the wages OF
labor. any more than the prices Of the
products OF labor, can be kept the same
very long while money is either appre-
ciating or depreciating? With a ma
jority of those who earn q living by
toll, wages or earnings are determined
directly by the prices of their products.
This is true OF all farmers who work
their own farms and of all others who
sell directly what they produce, and
sooner or later the price OF products in
general must determine the wages oil
labor. 1t is true that in organized in
dustries the effect OF fall is felt first
by capital, but the moment the margin
of profit is gone the effect Of a de.
cline in prices, if not before, must fall
on labor. 1t may first be made mani.
fest by reducing the number OF labor.
ers employed, and thus OF the total
earnings Of labor. Eventually, how.
ever, fall in the prices OF the prod.
ucts Of labor must result in a fall in
the wages OF labor. The number ol
laborers forced into idleness will in.
crease as long as prices continue to
fall. Idle labor produces nothing to
exchange and hence cannot buy what
others produce. Markets are thus re.
stricted, and this reacts on prices and
ultimately again on wages. Wages in
the long run is the share labor gets
of what labor aud capital together
produce. For instance, il in the
United States labor and capital COM
bined produce in year, as it ought TO-
SIG, ,OO0, ,0OO, 900 worth Of commodities
and labor gets three-fourths OF this
sum, then the total earnings of labor
alone, that is the aggregate of all
wages, will be $4,000, 900, 900; while
if only $12,OOO,OOO,0OO worth is pro-
duced, then the proportion of labor
being the same, there would be but
$9, 9,000, 100000 to divide As wages or as
the earnings of labor. In this division
it is manifest that if some got the
same wages as before, others must take
less or 90 without any. 1t is, there
fore, the interest of labor to have at
all times conditions maintained that
favor the largest possible production
of wealth. Such conditions never at
tend upon a shrinking volume of
money or a rise in the value of money.
1t is, therefore, the highest interest Of
labor to have the money supply keep
pace at all times with the increase of
population and wealth.
Nor is it true generally that prices
60 up before wages advance. This is
doubtless true when the price of a
thing rises from it's scarcity; but it is
not true when prices rise as the result