The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1896-04-17
SILVER MUST COME.
5OVEREIGN'S LETTER TCa THE
SILVER PARTY.
All Glasses. Must Have an Equal Chance
to Loan Wealth, Otherwise tho Re-
public Is Being observation-disclosures
Issue Cannot Be Dodgcd.

The letter of Mr.. Sovereign, grand
master of the Knights of Labor, in re-
spouse to an invitation to attend the
Washington Silver Conference, should
be read by every person in the United
States, sufficiently advanced in years to
understand it's import.
The picture which he presents of the
growing power of wealth, and its dan
ger to the common people is as vivid as
it is true. No one who stops to think
even for moment, can fail to note the
tremendous strides in wealth and power
recently made by the money owning
and money controlling classes, nor the
INSCRIPTIONS manner in which their
power is employed
The National Bimetallist does not ad-
vocate communism or anything ap
preaching it. No obstacle should be
placed in the way of just and honor
able acquisition of wealth. Deprive
men of that incentive, and it would
operate as brake upon the wheels of
progress at once.
put IL uoto Cudlilp pun, do DeSI IL ttii
such policy as will give all classes an
equal chance; which will tend to just
distribution of wealth, and not build
up community consisting of few mil
lionaires on the one hand, and untold
millions of suffering poor on the other.
That such is the inevitable effect of an
approaching standard of value is so
plain as to scarcely need discussion.
When money appreciates (gets
dearer) 1t is plain as light itself that
the man who has a great deal of it, or
who owns evidences of debt. notes,
bonds, mortgages, and the like. reap3
benefit that does not belong to him.
The money" which he has, or collects
from time to time, will command more
Of those things necessary for his sup
port and comfort. These things are
produced by the labor of others, and
consequently they are injured.
Let the producer exert himself to the
utmost. and there is limit to his pro-
ductive power. Beyond a certain point
he cannot possibly go. But there is no
limit to the appreciation of money.
| Within the last twenty-five years it has
| doubled in value. Under present con-
| ditions money can double again in the
next twenty-five years as easily as it did
in the last.
What does that mean? 1t means
wheat, corn, cotton-almost everything
at half their present price. 1t means
a doubling of the burden of debt, and q
| doubling of the wealth of the creditor.
| 1t means that the idle non-produccr
come, can buy twice as much for it. II
means that the man engaged in produc-
| ton must surrender twice as much of
his product in order to get the same
amount of money
1t is seriously claimed that this hurts
nobody. because the producer gets
money of double purchasing power
This is a most egregious error.
When one man doubles his wealth by
adding to those things which make up
the aggregate of the worlds riches, il
may be truthfully said that he injuries
nobody. But when he does so by an in
creased purchasing power of his dol
lar" he must necessarily do it at some
body else's loss.
Suppose the purchasing power OF
every dollar in the world were instantly
doubled. No sane man would claim
that the wealth Of the world would be
doubled. 1t would contain just what il
does now, and nothing more. 1t wollt
support just as many human beings as
now, and no more. But it would make
vast difference in the distribution Of
that wealth. The man whose wealth
was all in money would be twice as vic.
as before; the man whose property was
mortgaged for half its value, would BE-
ruined.
There being only a given amount o.
commodities in the world, il the moniet
classes could command twice as many
it follows with unerring certainty thai
| other classes must be able to command
less.
The effect would be the same as dou.
bling the size of the measure by which
|
1t is the same thing, for measure Of
value is also measure of quantity
II beef is 10 cents pound, it is imma.
terial whether we ask for pound or IL
cents worth. In each case we mean
the same thing. Whether we double
the pound weight or double the 10 cents
in a given transaction the effect Is the
| same.
| If all men stood upon an exactly equal
footing, buying and selling equally oil
all things, and for cash, then an appre-
citation of money would do compare
lively little harm. Perhaps none. But
this is a condition that does not exist
Men do not buy and sell equally. They
are divided into classes. Some one
owns one kind Of property, and some
another. Some are producers, and
some are producers. Some are
| debtors and some are creditors. Some
have large accumulation of money land
some have none. Therefore, it Is clear
that an appreciation of money gives the
monied classes an unjust advantage