Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1896-10-01
HARvEYS HARD HITS.
Telling Blows Given the Gold Standard
at Chicago.

at Chicago.
w. H. Harvey, the author OF "Coin,''
talked to a large audience at the Audi
forum. Chicago. on Saturday night,
September 10, on the subject of free sill.
yer. In the course of his remarks he
made some telling hits in support of his
arguments for the free coinage of sill
yer. Mr.. Harvey said:
Man promotes his own interest by pro-
noting the common good. Individual self
ishncss. crystallized into law is the mother
of anarchy and the death of republics.
Therefore the present is the crucial test
of American institutions. Money is the
blood of commerce. You can do without
wheat, corn, beef, any of what are called
the necessarfes of life, but If you
part of civilization you cannot do with
out money. Without money society would
go back to barbarism.
There is in society need for certain
amount OF money, just there is a need for
a certain quantity of bread, and laws inter-
fering with them are oppressive. If there
were laws encouraging the boarding Of
wheat they would be repealed. If there are
laws encouraging the boarding Of money.
we should demand that they be repealed
also. There is not enough money to meet
the normal requirements. We should see
that more is made. A cattle man in Texas
knows that If one-half the cattle In the
country were destroyed, his herd would
be worth twice much as it is now; the
money dealers know the same concerning
one can raise as many cattle as he pleases,
but everyone cannot coin all the money
he wants. [Applause.1
''Bimetallism is the right to use either
gold or silver for money, so that these met
ais will be in competition with each other.
The idea of relying on two metals rather
than one is taught by nature. We have
two eyes, two ears, two lungs, and two
legs. Monometallfsm is like man with
one lung one leg. We are not mono
metallists, but bimetallists. We are called
silver men, but If gold had been demonet-
ICED, would be called gold men We
believe in both metals, so that If one
grows scarce we may use the other. lap
piause.l
Sizes Up Gold and Silver.
'All the gold in the world available for
use in money is $4,000. 900, 900. If cast into
one block it would only make cube OF y
feet. ALI the silver in the world available
for money is $4,000. 900 likewise. If cast
into one block it would only make a cube
of IS feet. Under the law Of bimetallism
the two metals have never varied in COM
mercial parity more than three per cent,
and this slight fuctuation was the elasti-
city that the bimetallic system gave to
our currency From 1892 to 1850 the worlds
supply was two dollars of silver and one
dollar of gold, or thirty-two ounces OF Sill
yer to one of gold. From 1850 to 1878 TINS con-
dition was more than reversed, and yet
these violent fluctuations did not seem 10
have any perceptible effect on the com
rnercial value of the two metals Inc OPP
ton of the debtor acted IKE the req uia'oi
on steam engine.
I'm 1S7a coinage was left free to gold, but
denied to silver. One OF the MAN arterles
of civilization was'cut of. The DEBTOR was
lirnitod TO gold payments Form that time
until now the worlds production mas peen
sixteen ounces of silver to one ounce OF
gold which could not be salo OF any 20
Sears nreyfous to 1873. But, in spite or
that fact the metals have departed from
commercial parity 80 per cent WniIe pre- e.
vious to 1873, with violent fhuctuatlons ia
production, the Vdf1sieioii was o-'
per cent. [Applause]
People Have Delusion.
"People have delusion that doilar is
fxity. They think wheat may t tln,,D Dht The
dollars In like manner, 1t was tnousnI tle e
earth stood still and the sur; moved. RuI -
the law had made bushei OF WneaI I ne
unit of currency then the oeiusloh "ouio oS
that the value of wheat was stationary anu
the value of dollars f1uctua1ing. with paper
or silver redeemab1e in gold. an exchange
of dollars for horse means the reiatlVe eA-
changeable value of gold fer the horse. "A
rise in gold will cause it to buy more prop
erty and property to buy less gold:
Suppose all the gold in the world were
DESTROYED except 1000 gold dollars, ana the
demand for gold should remain what II Is
now, with all the nations scrambling for 1t.
Then a single gold dollar would Duy the
state of Illinois. If III the gold in the world
were destroyed except one sold dollar, ana
the law recognized no other primary money
this dollar would buy the hemisphere. so
the dollars rise in value as expressed III
relation to other property.
with the strain that had been shared by
both metals before 1873 shifted to gold alone,
and with silver made mere token money,
there came rise in the Va!He OF golo. Inc
debtor could no longer regulate the demand
Thereafter when value was expressed IN
terms of money it was to mean gold. The
government which had walked on two legs,
had now to walk on one. Then came the de-
cline in prices, for prices is the value OF
property expressed in money. The value of
property as compared with money has de-
clined and gold has gone up. The equivalent
has followed the gold, as the tail follows
the kite. [Applause.1
Falling Prices and Debts.
Failing prices require more and more
property to pay debts. A debt contracted
in 1884 for 81 900 could have been paid, had
not wheat declined, with 1000 bushels of
wheat But with wheat declined it now
requires 1000 bushels of it to pay the same
fore is the confiscation of the property of
debtors. With falling prices the merchant S
goods are worth less than he paid for them,
and the manufacturer cannot afford to
work up his material But for falling prices
more taxes would have been collected, and
the debts of the nation, and of the states,
counties and cities would not have reached
their present frightful proportions Of $50,
600 600 coo, when the total assessed value OF
all the real and personal property in the
United States is only S24, 600 c00,O00
when one is stripped of his possessions
and cannot find the wherewithal to COM
fort his family and to provide for his nat