The record-union., 1896-10-04
itical Economy" Vol. H., Book III, t

litical Economy" Vol. H., Book III, to
say:
THE proposition respecting the de-
pendence of general prices upon the
quantity of money in circulation must.
for the present, be understood as apply
ing to a state of things in which money.
that is gold and silver, is the exclusive
instrument of exchange and actually
passes from hand to hand at every
purchase, credit in many of its shapes
being unknown. When credit comes in
to play as a means of purchase, distinct
from money in hand, the connection
between prices and the amount of cir
culating medium is much less direct and
intimate, and such connection as does
exist no longer admits of so Simple
mode of expression"
Under this system, the commodities
whose value is expressed in terms of
the standard of value are exchanged for
other commodities whose values are
also expressed in the same terms, while
actual money, apart from its use as
common denominator of value, does
not enter into the transaction AS this
great medium of exchange increases
the need of coin decreases.
LABOR THE TRUE MEASURE OF
VALUE.
But there is one more test Of the ac-
tuaI value of the gold, a test which does
not depend upon theories or tedious m
qury as to quantities of money or meth
DDS of business transaction. This test is
simple one, but the most important
the most accurate and far-reaching Of
all those which have been applied.
This most important of all tests is. the
amount of gold which given quantity
of labor will buy.
The real standard of value in the
world is labor. 1t is this which pro-
duces all commodities, the necessities
as well as the comforts and luxuries Of
life. The food we eat, the clothes We
wear, the houses in which we live, the
necessities which half a century ago
were considered luxuries, are all the re-
suit of labor and the money which is
paid for them measures the hours of
labor which produces them. Labor is,
then, the real standard by which to
measure gold. If a day or an hour of
labor will buy less gold to-day than it
did fifty years ago, then it may be prop
erly said that gold has appreciated"
If it will buy more gold to-day than it
did fifty years ago, then gold has de
preciated, and if each grain of gold
which an hour of labor buys will also
purchase more Of manufactured COM
modities than it did fifty years ago, then
the laborer has again multiplied the
value of his time and skill
Let us see about that. A committee of
the United States Senate, known as the
Aldrich committee, made thorough ia-
vestigation a few years ago into the
question of wages and prices, and after
a long and thorough research made a
report, the accuracy of which is every
where accepted. That investigation
showed that a days labor in nearly all
the trades would in 1890 buy abou
double the amount of gold that it did
fifty years earlier, and do it with less
hours of work in a day. For instance,
plaSterers who in the good old free
silver days of 1910 got 81 30 per day
were paid So 80 in 1890; blacksmiths
who received 81 30 per a day in 1910
got 50 in 1890; painters. whose wages
in 1910 were 81 %, in 1890 were paid
81 80; wheelwrights who earned 81 p
in 1910 got 50 80 in 1890; engineers who
received 50 per day in 1910 were paid
S4 % in 1890 and so on. Taking eleven
engaged in the particular Industries, rs
basis, it was found that the average
rate of wages advanced from 81 80 per
day in 1910 to 50 81 in 1890, or that an
hour of labor would earn nearly twice
as much gold in 1890 as it did in 1910.
GOLD HAS DEPRECATED RATHER
THAN APPRECIATED.
How, then, can it be asserted that
gold has appreciated? 1t has depre-
ciated, and that highest and noblest Of
all standards, human labor, will to-day
buy more of it than it did fifty years
ago, while the deprecated gold thus
purchased can in turn be exchanged for
more of other commodities which have
still further deprecated by the I'M
proved methods of production, manu-
facture and transportation which the
ingenuity of the human mind have pro-
duced in the wonderful age in which we
are living.
To Compete for an Annual Pass.