The Yale expositor., 1896-06-12

Editor National Bimetallist: The
advocates of the gold standard stig-
Matte the movement for the restora-
ton of silver to the place it occupied
in our currency prior to 1873 when the
coinage of that metal was stealthily
suspended as an attempt Ito degrade
the peoples medium of exchange"
They mean by it that the value or pur-
chasing power of money will thereby
be lowered, or, as they say, "degrad-
ed.''
The value or purchasing power of
money is the quantity OF a commodity
or other form of property given sum
Of it will exchange for. For instance,
If one dollar will exchange for two
bushels of wheat, it has high value
or purchasing power; if it will ex-
change for only one bushel OF wheat,
the dollar is degraded" by having its
purchasing power lowered. In the first
instance one-half of the labor eXpend-
ed in producing the wheat is sacrificed
for the benefit of the owners of money;
in the second instance, the producer
of the wheat reaps the benefit and the
owners Of the money, who live in idle
ness, are deprived of its gain. There
can be no fall in the value of money
without corresponding rise in the
value or prices of other forms of prop
erty, including wages paid for labor,
and no rise in the value of money
which is not accompanied, or rather,
manifested, by fall in the prices Of
other forms Of property. Money and
other forms of property, as Locke said
many years ago, exactly counterbalance
each other; and if the word degrade"
is used, this term will apply as well
to other forms of property as to money
and the question is whether money or
other forms of property, including
wages paid for labor, shall be degrad-
ed; for this effect cannot be visited
upon both at the same time, for the
two scales of the balance never rise
and fall together, but always alter
nately.
The relation between one quantity
of money, in which values are eX-
pressed, and other forms of property
is about as to 40; that is. for every
dollar in money there are forty dollars
in other forms of property. Conse-
quently for every dollar given to the
owners of money by increasing its
purchasing power, forty dollars in fall
ing prices are taken from the owners
of other forms of property. Is this a
wise and just policy for young and
vigorous country which is already
struggling under an increasing weight
Of Indebtedness, and whose wealth is
not in it's accumulated riches, but in
it's productive energies-a policy that
is enriching the drones at the expense
of the working bees of society? What
causes the fluctuation in the relation
of money to other forms OF property,
In other words, in the value of money?
Until this is understood we can make
no progress in our knowledge of this
subject.
1t is not in the character Of the sub
stance or material of which money is
but in the quantity Of it in circulation.
AS this quantity is increased, other
things remaining the same, it's pur-
chasing lower falls; as this quantity
d;minishes it's purchasing power rises.
A whole page of daily newspaper
could be filled with extracts from the
writings Of eminent economists affirm
ing the truth of this proposition, and
Furthermore, it is attested by the ex-
perience of all the ages. Julius Paulus
said in the third century of our era:
THE power of money resides not so
much in the substance as in the guam
tity," and three centuries later this
saying was repeated in the Pandects of
Justinian. Ricardo land no higher au
thority can be quoteD said that COM
modities would rise or fall in price in
proportion to the increase or diminu-
ton of money, assume as a fact that
is incontrovertible." If this is true 1t
matters not whether our money is
made from gold or silver. Stability in
its value, in other words, stable cur
rency can only be secured by adjusting
its quantity and keeping it adjusted to
the wants of trade. Human wisdom
alone cannot accomplish this object.
Experience tells us that to do this we
must resort to natures treasury" and
make our gold and silver mines our
banks of issue. If we use gold and
silver as our primary money upon
which all credit rests its quantity VIII
be increased and the value of the unit
or dollar will fall and prices will rise.
If we use gold alone as primary money
the volume of it will be diminished,
the purchasing power of the unit or
dollar will be increased and the prices
of other forms Of property, including
wages paid for labor, will fall.
HENRY G.. MILLER.
May, 1896.