Evening star., 1896-10-29
THEDEBTQRS'C CHANCE
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Curious Phases Of the Problem Of Re-
pudiation.
EFFECT OF CHANGING RATIOS
Taking Revenge eYsi4 !" 1896 for the
"Cnme- of 1873"
THE WOLF AND THE LAMB

Independent free coinage at IL to 1
would benefit debtors only by swindling
creditors. Every man to whom q dollar
Is now due would be compelled to accept
for 1t one-half of that amount. American
debtors. including the nation itself. would
go into fraudulent bankruptcy at 30 cents
on the dollar or thereabouts. indelibly
staining the credit of the nation and that
Of every debtor in it.
The charge of dishonesty in free coinage
at 16 to Is met by the allegation that
tfe gold standard dollar has appreciated
since 1873 until 1t Is now a 2OO-cent dol
lar and needs depreciation itself by one
half to be rendered honest.
The theory of gold appreciation has been
thoroughly discussed in the campaign and
in the opinion Of the sound money men
has been exploded. But there Is another
branch of the discussion on this point
which has not been so fully or SO salts
factorily explored.
If 1t were possible to demonstrate that
gold had appreciated, E. alleged, this dem
onstration would not suffice to prove that
the half-value silver dollar under un-
limited free coinage at 16 to l would lie
an honest coin.
If debtors have been gradually robbed
for more than twenty years by dollar ap-
preciating slightly though with f1uctua-
tions from year to year. the evil and crime
ere not to be remedied by wholesale rob-
berry OF the creditors of today. by sud-
den and large depreciation OF that dollar.
One crime does not justify another. There
is no retributive justice in the crime since
the persons to be robbed today are not the
robbers Of the last twenty years.
Because A, a debtor of fifteen or ten years
ago. was swindled to an almost inappre-
cable amount through gradually appre-
ciating money, therefore B, creditor Of
today. should be swindled out of AZ per
of the money in which he is paid. This
Is the silver view of compensation. All
creditors are grouped together and all
debtors arc grouped together without re-
and are arrayed against each other like the
Indians and white men of old times On
the frontier. If a white man killed an
Indian. tie Indians would. in retaliation.
The creditors of today are to be robbed
Al per cent because the debtors Of the
'7Os and eos may ohave been robbed or
3 per cent. though the debtors of the '10s
who suffered thist- small robbery are In
many instances the creditors Of the 'p0s
whom 1t Is proposed,Ito plunder of half
their due in retaliation for the previous
robbery committed IN part upon them
selves. They are thus pluniered both go
iEg and coming. Ok
debtor vendetta. 10 declared against all
creditors lasting from generation to gen.
Grafton. without regard to individual
classes. or even of changes in the course
of years from one class to the other.
The Cure for Appreciation.
The cure for the evils of fiuctuating.
appfeciating money is not to substitute
depreciating. rnuctuatfhg money. but
steady. unfiuctuating currency. neither ap-
nreciaffno danreciafipp cuin5
perpetrated upon the. debtors of 1873 is
not satisfied by swindIfng the creditors Of
1896. The statute Of limitations has prob
ably run against the previous swindle.
In any event. we cannot show our abhor-
renee of an old rascallty by resorting to a
new one. The dubious and infinitesimal
crime of 1873 does not justify the vast
proposed crime of 1896. Nor would the
one justify the other if that Of 1873 were
the greater.
To cure the alleged evils Of an alleged
appreciating money of twenty years we
a deprecated and depreciating money for
today. Discarding as unreliable constant
ly lengthening financial yard stick, shall we
substitute instead of q stable measure one
that is constantly shortening? The evil Of
a changing money standard is not to be
1emedied on the homeopathic principle that
like cures like. 1t is only in the nursery
rhymes dedicated to Mother Goose and
other members of the Goose family that
the wise man who has scratched out his
eyes by jumping into q bramtle bush con-
ceives the brilliant idea of jumping into
another bush in order to scratch them in
again.
If OH account Of the imagined mysterious
affinity between the price of silver and all
Of the commodities except gold the appar-
ent depreciation Of silver is really an ap-
probation Of gold. and the gold dollar
has been appreciating in value since 1873
until now 1t is a 200-cent dollar and needs
to be cut in two in order to enable a debtor
to pay equitably debt contracted in 1873,
it is evident that this depreciation of the
dollar is just only in the case of the cred
itor Of 1873. The debtor Of no other year
has had each dollar of his debt doubled
upon him. The number of debts still ex-
the adjacent years, when on the silver
ties theory our dollar was worth approx
mately 100 cents. is infnitesimal, and they
are nearly all corporation indebtednesses
from wealthy and powerful debtors, whose
credit was strong enough to maintain long
sustained Indebtedness, and who made such
profitable use of the borrowed money that
they might be supposed able to pay the
extra interest or bonus represented by the
alleged appreciation of the dollar of pay
ment. Against the debtors Of 1873 and
thereabouts mot one per cent Of the entire
number of. debtors) who will be Justly
treated by depreciation of the dollar to 50
cents. If gold has really done all the
f1uctuating, are to be placed all other cred
itors than those who loaned in 1873 or
thereaboutS, who will be swindled in a
constantly increasing amount as the date
of their loans approaches the present day
Statistics show that the bulk of existing
debts not yet due were contracted within
the year, and that only the most insignifi-
cant fraction are older than five years,
which is the maximum limit of western
real estate mortgages.
Result of FNcfuatins Ratios.
The assumption that silver has remained
uniform in value, and that our gold dollar
has done all the frustrating, works out some
curious results, II accepted. 1t is not al
ways the debtors who have been defrauded
even on this theory. NThe depreciation of
silver or the appreciation of gold has not
been continuous. / Debtors who obtained
loans in SO. 's7, .ss and 80 and paid in
$780, for instance. paid in cheaper dollars
than they gave, aud defrauded their credi-
tors instead Of being defrauded The ratio
of silver to gold III 1856 was 20.7S to 1: in
81: 2113; in 49, 21.se: in 80. 22.lo. and in
The depreciation Of silver in the silver
dollar represents the alleged appreciation
of the gold dollar The silver dollar has not
deprecated nor the gold dollar appreciated
continuously since 1873.
Debtors who borrowed in 1876 paid in
1877 in a cheaper dollar than they received
Aol