Semi=weekly graphic., 1896-05-02
CARLISLE
TELLS woRKlNemEN PLAINLY HOW
FREEcoiNAoe wouLolNJuRe THEM.

Prices Rise Quickly but Wages Slowly
When Money Is Dcprsoiatinr Expert
ence of United States, Chile and Mexico
with Cheap Money Wage Farmers
would Also Lose onc-half of All Past
Savings Deposited Ia nanks, Bnildins
and Loan Associations. ETC., Total OF
billions.
Secretary Of the Treasury John G..
Carlisle made another of his mastery
speeches ON tho currency question, in
Chicago. on April Is. It was to an i'm
mense audience composed largely OF
workingmeR, many of whom, especially
in the beginning, were sl1epticai as to
the blessings of 100 cent dollars. The
secretary's argument as to the effects of
cheap money on wages was most con-
vincing and effected notable change in
the attitude of his auditors We quote
part of his speech ON this point;
Labor cannot BIO boarded. Tho idle
day is Como forever. Lost wages are new
er reimbursed, and therefore steady en-
ployment and good pay in good money
are essential to the comfort and happi-
ness of the American laborer and his
wife and children, and he will be I'M
faithful TO himself and to them if he
does not insist upon the adoption and
maintenance Of such policy as will
most certainly preserve the value and
stability of all our currency and promote
the regular and profitable conduct of all
our industrial enterprises. He cannot
prosper when the country is in distress,
when its industries are Frustrated, its
commerce paralyzed, its credit broken
down, or its social order disturbed. Nor
can he prosper when the fluctuations of
the currency itre such that he cannot
certainly know the value Of the dollar
in which his wages are paid.
Money received foI wages, like money
received ON every other account, is val
liable only to the extent that 1t can be
exchanged for other commodities, and
it is scarcely necessary to suggest that
dollar worth 90 cents will not purchase
as much in the markets rs dollar
worth 100 cents. To call dime dol
lar would add nothing whatever to its
intrinsic value or to its purchasing pow
is clear that when wages arc paid in a
Deprecated currency the rates Of wages
must be increased in proportion TO the
depreciation of the money and In pro
portion to the increase in the prices Of
other things or the laborer viii suffer n
loss.
But l affirm that it is the universal
rule that the rates of wages do not in
crease In proportion to the depreciation
in the value of the money in which
they are paid, and that when the cur
reney is deprecated the rates of wages
do not increase in proportion to the in
crease in the prices of the commodities
the laborer is compelled to purchase.
Our Experience With Cheap Money.
Congress, early in tho year 1869. in
augurated the policy of issuing legal
tender paper, gold was driven ont Of
circulation, specie payments were sus-
pended, the currency began Mt once to
depreciate, and before the close of the
year the paper dollar was worth less
than 70 cents in gold.
In 1862 the wages of labor, paid in
deprecated paper, were less than 3 per
cent higher In paper than when paid IN
gold, but the prices of the 1913 articles
used by the laborers and other people
in the maintenance of their families
were nearly Is per cent higher than
they were when paid in gold. In 1868
the wages Of labor paid in deprecated
paper worth about go cents ON the dol
lar were 101s per cent higher than
when paid in gold, but the prices of the
articles the laborer had to buy with his
wages were nearly 40 per cent higher,
IN 1864 the wages of labor paid in de-
preciated paper dollars worth 40 cents
each had advanced 35M per cent, but
the prices of the necessaries of life had
advanced 901e per cent. In 1865 wages
paid in paper currency worth SO cents
on the dollar had advanced 43 per cent
above the rates previously paid in gold,
or its equivalent but the prices OF COM
modities had advanced nearly III per
cent-that is to say. had more than dou-
bled, and in 1866 wages paid in cur
reney worth II cents ON the dollar had
advanced fraction moro than SO per
cent from the previous rates in gold, or
its equivalent, but the prices of com
modities had advanced 90per cent. The
rise III the rates of wages never CORE
sponded with the rise in the prices of 9th
er things until the year 1869, four years
after the close OF the war, when the
value Of our currency was Z cents ON
the dollar, and it was quite certain that
no further depreciation would occur,
The wages of labor, measured by gold
as they were in 1860, when we had a
sound currency. had fallen about "a per
cent in 1863, more than 10 per cent in
1864. and nearly Al per cent in 1865,
when we had a deprecated currency,
and, gentlemen, the force of this illus
tration is greatly augmented by the facts
that these reductions in the rates OF
wages occurred at time when several
hundred thousand laborers had been
Withdrawn from the field of competi-
ton, when the government was engaged
in tho prosecution of a great war and
was expanding money lavishly for all
kinds of supplies for the army and navy.
and when the prices of all tho products
of labor had largely increased
Experience of Chile.
The recent experience Of the republic
of Chile furnishes another impressive
warning to the wage Garner against the
evils of Deprecated currency. Ia 1875