The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-10-12
THAT eDEMANDY FOR SILVER.


THAT cDEMAND" FOR SILVER.
81 do not claim says Mr.. Towne,
that the government can create value;
it can only create opportunity" II
assert" says Mr.. Bryan, that when
silver is admitted to free coinage at
is to L the price of silver will rise to
$1.29 an ounce. measured by gold"
Both mean that the opportunity of ac-
cess to the minis will create such a
demand for silver that it's price will
Immediately rise to par with gold, by
always has been, and indefinitely will
be measured.
On this all the argument for free
coinage is built. Both positions rest
on the idea that the change of form
from bullion to coin is demand for
silver itself, instead of being merely a
desire of the owner of the bullion for a
more convenient form of his metal.
What is the demand for silver? On
the part of it's producers it is a desire
it can be exchanged for things that
are desirable, just as the desire of the
farmer for wheat is one to get it from
the earth in order that, with ii, he may
procure the things he wants for him
self and family. But such a desire
does not give value in the wide sense
of the word. That comes from the gen.
eral desire of other people than the
producers to obtain the things pro-
duced. If the public wished for neither
| silver nor wheat those articles would
have, the one no value and the other
only that which came from it's aid in
sustaining life in it's producer.
The demand, therefore, that will in
producers of articles in excess of their
needs which they wish to exchange
for other things they do not produce
but need. They desire silver in its
money form only so far as it aids them
in making the exchanges. The demand
thus created is limited to the quantity
Of things produced for exchange and
the quantity Of silver coin used in
the exchange. If there were no other
money in existence than silver the de-
mand for 1T would be very great, and
it Is diminished as other forms of
money are used, and especially as any
Of the other forms are considered more
useful. Then in order to increase the
demand for silver coin and, by reaction,
the value Of it's material, there must
be an increase of the things produced
whose exchange it effects or aids in
making. More wheat, pork and beef,
more clothing, fuel and implements
must be produced, more buildings con-
structed, more productiveness in all
branches in industry, for, unless this
ensues, there cannot possibly be more
use for silver and, consequently, more
demand for it. Just so there cannot
be more desire for wheat, the supply
remaining the same, unless there are
more mouths to be filed with the bread
made from it.
1t would be quite as accurate to say
that the value of wheat depended upon
the ability to change the bullion into
coin. The farmer desires the thresher
in order to change the condition Of his
wheat in the straw into a form more
convenient for exchange. The increase
in the number of threshing machines
would not give more value to his wheat
for that depends upon the desire Of
people for it as an article of food So
no possible increase of the quantity of
silver coins can increase the desire of
people for them except as the quantity
OF the things they produce are in
creased in the exchange of which they
may desire silver. So people desire
clothing, but it would not be seriously
contended that therefore the number
of sewing machines must be indefi-
nitely increased or that such increase
would affect the value of clothing.
There are limitations to the desire
for silver in the existence of other
forms Of money, also esteemed as use
full and desirable. These affect the
value of silver just as the existence OF
other forms of meat affect the price of
beef. Were there no mutton or pork
fish or fowl, the value of beef would
be immensely raised by the desire Of
men for meat. In order then, as
another means to raise the price of
silver there must be decrease in the
other forms of money But the ten
dency Of development is the other
way. The desire of men to accom-
plish what they would with the least
expenditure of effort has developed
money less and less burdensome. Gold
is preferred to silver and notes to gold
and checks and drafts to either. This
leaves for silver usefulness in that
narrow circle in which are included
the exchange of articles of small value
the minor articles Of retail dealing.
Within these limits silver is desired
but the limits bound it's use and the
desire for it and, consequently. its
value.
THE EXTENSION of RUBBER.
A news item says that an effort will
be made to see il the tree from which