Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1896-08-07

basis. We carried on our war Of the great
rebellion on q similar basis. From 1862
till 1870 there was In this country no prl-
mary money; that is, no gold or silver III IN
country was conducted on a paper basis,
and prices were maintained at a much
higher level than when we had free coin
age. From 1873 to 1879 we not only had no
silver In circulation, but silver was
Actually monetiscd,
and yet during that period prices were. on
the whole, on higher level than during
the I'VE years succeeding the enactment OF
the Sherman law in 1900, during which Pc
rlod silver was not only remonetized, but
was more extensively In circulation than
ever before. The extraordinary and forced
silver imitation Of our currency under that
or increase In the wages of labor, nor,
except for very brief period. did 1t even
Increase the price Of silver. We never had
a greater per capita circulation than In
1904. when 1t amounted to $2433. and Of
this more than one-third was silver, and
more than one-third gold. and yet wheat
had never been so low since 1870 rs 1t was
In that year, and the same was true of
cotton. cannot now 90 into further de-
tails, but m examination Of our statistical
abstracts will show that the volume OF
primary money, so-called, has cut no prac-
teal figure In regard to prices or wages.
But 1t IL said that there has been q great
fall In prices and that this Ia caused
wholly by the appreciation or rise In gold
as gold Is the worlds ultimate measure Of
value. 1t Is very strange that neither the
great increase In the production Of silver
nor the fact that the free coinage of 1t
has been suspended In oil Caucasian states.
has had. NJ the advocates of free silver
maintain, no effect upon the price of silver.
One, whose mind Is In a normal state, un-
biased by s0phfstry or oratory, would natur-
ally suppose that when the supply became
so much more plentiful, and could no longer
be disposed of at fixed and arbitrary
have to be sold at Its bullion value. like
other products, that 1t might, to some
extent, depreclate the price. Such facts
would, undoubtedly. largely depreciate the
price Of other products The law of supply
and demand would, undoubtedly, apply In
such cases, and 1t Is difficult to see why
or how silver Is exempt from the same
law. To my mind. these facts have, in the
main, caused the depreciation of silver.
That they may have affected the price Of
gold to some extent, / am willing to con-
cede, but such effect has been neutralized.
and overcome by the great increase in the
production of gold. ! have already pointed
duction Of gold, within the last twenty-five
years, has exceeded by $24,52O,s70 yearly
the average annual production Of both
gold and silver III the fifty years preceding.
This increased supply has fully met the
Increased coinage demand. Had our supply
of silver. within the last twenty-five years,
been at no greater rate than In the fifty
years, preceding, and had this supply not
been used for money Mt all; the increased
supply of gold would have more than filed
the vacuum. And when we take into ac-
count, In this connection the fact. which |
have already pointed out. that since 1872
nearly all the worlds product Of silver
has been coined into money, 1t becomes
all the more apparent that the appreciation
has not been wholly. nor even to consider
able extent, on the part of gold, but that
silver must Of necessity have deprecated
to q very large extent, and. that such de-
probation must have been In far greater
proportion than any possible appreciation of
gold. 49,
But how can we account for the fall of
prices? In the first place the fall has not
been general nor equal. The wages Of
labor-the greatest of all commodlties-fa
exceeding In value the product Of our gold
and silver mlnes. have not fallen In value,
but, on the contrary. have greatly increased
In the we'll known Aldrich senate report
upon prices and wages Is table giving
the
Relative Average Wnges
In gold Of labor in all occupations, from 1910
till October, 1902, the year 1850 being taken
as q basis. at 100. From this table 1t ap-
pears that the lowest level was In 1853,
when we were on paper basis, being only
1872, while the highest level was In October,
1892, when 1t was 101 $50, and In the mean
time the average hours Of labor had been
reduced from eleven In 1850 to ten In 1891.
The committee adds this statement at the
foot Of the table: -" r.
"From a consideration Of the foregoing
table 1t becomes evident that there was
gradual advance In wages from 1910 to 1850.
Since that time the advance has been less
regular but more rapid. The period from
1875 to 1880 was marked by q standsti!l,
but since that time the advance has been
continuous. These conclusions are confirmed
by the supplementary investigations en-
bodied In the report"
To this will add that wages continued to
rise till the panic and crisis Of 1898, since
which period, though there may have been
at times less demand for labor, there has,
nevertheless. on the whole been no great or
permanent reduction In wages. Whatever
gold may have done since 1873, 1t certainly
has not diminished or deprecated the price
Of labor. And silver, where 1t has been re-
leased from the tolls Of god and has had
and Japan, has fallen far short Of giving the
recompense to human labor that It has re-
ccived in gold standard or bimetallic coun-
tries. James F. Connolly, United States
consul In Japan, In his report of last Feb
ruary states: -
1.-THE daily wages paid for mining and nm
skilled labor necessary for the production
Of what may be termed raw materials will
average about 10 cents Omitted States cur
rency), and that paid for skilled labor at
present will average about IS cents"
This would be about 22 and 40 cents a
day, respectively, In the currency Of Japan.
From the consular report Of Consul Cen.
eral Jernigan, Of last October, It appears
that the wages In Shanghai. China, last
September were AZ follows, per day with
board, In our currency: Blacksmith -
cents, brlcklayer 10 cents, carpenter II
cents. and cotton factory hand, without
board, 10 cents. q
In Mexico the wages appear to be as fol-
lows. In their currency: Blacksmiths from
81 to $3.50 per day, carpenters from 81 to
$3.50, tailors from 81 to 100, and factory
hands and common laborers from so to IS
cents per day. II 1t be here noted that