The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1896-03-06
"a DEPRECATED DOLLAR FOR THE
LbR0RRR.u


1t has been somewhere said that
fools utter what knaves conceive. At
any rate, it is certain enough that
things that are repeated in a parrot
like way about money have been artful-
" shaped to give a surface appearance
of truth and then set agoing for the
the purpose of binding and mislead-
ing those who are not well enough
versed in monetary science to at once
penetrate the veil of error that dis
guises the real truth. And it is sur
prising to find how many, even among
intelligent businessmen, are blinded
and misled by mere catch phrases.
One of these is the declaration often
put out with an air of great 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 suf-
fer 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 a number of
occasions, has made use of similar ex-
preston. Do Mr.. Cleveland aud 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
eiating or depreciating? With ma
jority of those who earn living by
toll, wages or earnings are determined
directly by the prices of labor products.
This is true of all farmers who work
their own farms and of all others who
sell directly what they produce, and
sooner OF later the price of products in
general must determine the wages of
labor. It is true that in organized in
dustries the effect of fall is first felt
by capital, but the moment emargins
of profit is gone the effect of a decline
in prices, if not before, must fall on Ia
Dor. It may first be made manifest by
reducing the number of Iaborers en-
ployed, and thus of the total earnings
Of labor. Eventually, however, a fall
in the prices of the products of labor
must result in a fall in the wages OF
labor. The number Of labOrers forced
into idIeness will increase as long as
prices continue to fall, Idle labor pro
duces nothing to exchange and hence
cannot buy what others produce. Mar
kets are thus restricted, and this reacts
on prices and ultimately again on
wages. Wages in the long run is the
share labor gets of what labor and CAPT
tai together produce. For instance, if
in the United States labor and capital
combined produce in ayear, as thought
to, sl6,OOO,0OO,0JO 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 sl20000 O0O 900; whileif only S12,-
e0O,000,0O0 worth is produced, then the
proportion of labor being the same,
there would be but sS,0GO,00O0OO to
divide as wages or as the earnings Of
labor. In this division it is manifest
that if some got the same wages as be
fore, others must take less or 60 with
out any. It is, therefore, the interest
Of labor to have at all times conditions
maintained that favor the largest posi-
bic production Of wealth. Such ccndt
tions never attend upon a shrinking
oi1le Of money. It IS, therefore, the