The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-08-19
Danger Height of
MISTAKES SET RIGHT.

To the Editor Of the Globe
l am very much astonished by the views
expressed in your editorials. Don't you know
that the people are thinking. in fact, ac-
Quiring judgment as never before?
On the financial question | will state that
I believe firmly with Mr.. F. C. Robertson.
of GrotOn, n. D., that the money is the
measure of the values, and the striking down
of one-half Of our primary money has con-
tracted the price of all things measured by
the same, and must continue to do SO, as the
amount of coined gold is increasing only at
the rate of 1 per cent, while the business of
the country is increasing at the rate OF
per cent"
am a common man, working at an easel
making portraits for the trade. but will vouch
for my own fighting qualities. For the first
time in my life l will engage in lively bat
Jacob l.. Hohmann.
Minneapolis. Mimi. Aug. u. 1896.
There is at least one error which our
correspondent avoids. 1t is perfectly
true that the people are thinking and
acquiring information on this subject
as never before. IT is upon this pro-
cess of education that the friends of
sound money rely absolutely for the
triumph of their cause. Let any man
read. study, make himself suf-
ficiently familiar with the history of
all nations and ages on the money
question, and. sooner or later, his re-
nunciation of financial mistakes. and
particularly of the doctrine that a gov
eminent can create values by law is
certain.
We have not the pleasure of recog-
niZing, among the names Of the great
financial authorities of the world. that
ID. Possibly, we are not great losers
thereby, if he is correctly quoted by
our correspondent. 1t is very singular
how men will accept, on this financial
subject, statements of others as mat
ters Of gospel fact, when very slight
investigation would show that they are
being either Intentionally or accident
ally misled. FBr one thing. no such
thing ever happened in this country
as the striking down of one-half of
our primary money" We presume
Mr.. Holman refers to the act Of 1873
1t did~not a"strike down" a dollar Of
any kind, because it neither took out
of existence a dollar of the coin then
in circulation, nor deprived any dollar
of the legal tender quality which it
then possessed. On the contrary.
there have been added about $430. 00O.-
600 since that time, coined of silver.
which is what we suppose our CORE
spondent refers to as primary
money" that is, money which
does not call for redemption in any
other Kind, and which is unlimited
legal tender for the payment of all
debts. public and private. If any man
can tell us how silver has been Struck
down. or how money volume has been
'contraetedY by the preservation of
every dollar that existed before 1873,
and the addition thereto of S43O. OOO. 900.
we would be pleased to understand this
new arithmetic. Our old mathemat-
les contain no formulas for changing
big addition into first a subtraction
and then a division.
Again. we do not know what is our
correspondents authority for the
statement that the business of the
country increases at the rate of per
cent, presumably per annum, and we
doubt if any such estimate can be
other than mere guess. However. it
is pretty certain that the paper instru-
ments of credit, with which the cur
rency has nothing to do. fully keep
pace with it. We are able. however
to test his other statement that "the
amount of coined gold is increasing
only at the rate of / per cent" This
is a sample Of the stuff which the sill
yer men put in circulation. and which
passes from mouth to mouth without
question or challenge, circulating
through thousands of newspapers and
from hundreds of platforms before any
body takes the trouble to investigate
the, actual facts. If any one who has
heard the statement made that we
have just quoted viii refer to the cir
cular of information issued within the
past few weeks by the treasury depart
ment of the United States, he will find
that the estimated stock of gold in the
entire world is a little over $4,000. 0Oo,-
600. This is much mere likely to be