, 1896-09-24

= . .
REPUBLICAN LEAFLET NOll q.
tCut this N and put it IL your .
pocket for ~refcTenCe.)
In the last leanet attention was =
= called to the fact that the o .
= Of money in the world had in "
. creased much more rapidly than .
. its population in the past half .
p century, and especially the =
= amount of gold. The gold money L.
Of the world as shown in that :
o leafot amounts to six times as :
. much today as a half century ago .
and after taking into account the "
. increase in population, the :
= amount of gold money in the =
world for each individual is our =
o times MS great as a half century =
. ago.
There is. however. another test .
. of the actual value of gold even .
a more accurate and interesting =
o than that which merely considers .
II as money. This is the amount of =
: gold which a given quantity of :
= labor will buy. The only real =
f. standard Of value in the world is =
= labor. 1t is This which produces =
= I'll commodities for which gold is =
q exchanged. and it IS therefore. =
the real standard by which to =
d measure gold. If n day or an =
8 hour Of labor will buy less gold "
today than 1t did 50 years ago =
. then it may be properly said that =
Il gold has appreciated" If it will .
buy nor gold today than it did =
. 80 years ago. then gold has de- .
= proCiatcd, and if each grain OF y
r gold which an hour of labor buys y
s. will also purchase more of com r
q modities than it did 80 years ago. =
= then the laborcr has again null =
y tiplicd the value of his time and =
p skill. q
+ A committee of the United :
= States senate. known as the Aid .
4 rich committee, made a thorough =
= investigation a few years 6 in =
. to the question of wages and =
prices, and after a long and thor =
. uugh research made a report, the +
= accuracy of which is generally =
: accepted. That investigation =
= showed that a days labor in near y
: ly all the trades would, in 1891. =
. buy about double the amount of =
= gold that it did 80 years earlier. =
y and do it with less hours of =
y work in a day. For instance, g
\ plasterers, who, in the good old =
" free silver days of 1910 got s1.50 =
= per day, were paid $3.50 in 1890: .
\ painters. whose wage in 1910 =
= We're $l.25, in 1890 were paid =
q $3.50; wheelwrights. who earned s
= $l.25 in 1910 got $3.50 in 1890: en- n
\ ginecrs who received 81 per day =
= in 1910, were paid $i.25 in 1890. =
+ and so on. Taking II represent =
= tative classes of workingmen en- =
s gagged in the particular Industries =
= as a basis, it was found that the =
r average rate of wages advanced =
= from $l.3O per day in 1910 to $2.37 >
St in 1890, u that an hour of labor =
# would earn nearly twice as much y
= gold in 1890 as it did in 1910. y
Il How then IAN it be asserted y
= that gold has 'appreciated?" 1t =
= has deprecated and hat highest 4
= and noblest of standards, human y
" labor, will today buy more of it \
: than it did 80 years ago, while the =
= deprecated gold thus purchased &
= al in turn be exchanged for y
" more of the other commodities .
4 which have still further depreci- II
= ated by the improved methods of =
" production, manufacture and =
= transportation, which the inge- II
r nuity of the human mind have q
= produced in the wonderful age in =
= which W. are living. y
= q + y = II + 4 y u = Il y