The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1896-09-05
what Is An Honest Dollar 2

w QdC Is All f1Ou0SC DOudT
When referring to obligations to pay
money, an honest dollar is the dollar of
the contract. In general, that is an hon
est dollar which maintains parity with
the things it measures in daily transactions,
or that preserves stable relations to COM
modities That, too, is manifestly the
best dollar and the best kind of money.
THE term ''honest money! however,
is usually hypocritically used to mean gold,
or the dearest money By ''honest
money is usually meant that which will buy
the most, and, of course, in that view of
it the dearer it becomes the honester it gets.
The ''honest way to increase the value
of money would be to increase the weight of
the coins, then all could understand how
it was done, and what it really meant.
There are two ways to double the value Of
metallic money; one is to double the weight
of coins; the other to destroy, or demone-
tie, half the metal out of which money
can be made. The latter is the way taken
to make money ''honest' in 1873; by des-
trOying half the world money they doubled
the value of the other half.
The effect of this may be Illustrated by
a single fact.
1t is now everywhere admitted that the
price-level of things generally has fallen
fully so per cent since the characterization
of silver in 1873, which is the same thing
as an increase of 100 per cent. in the value
of money; for when dollar will buy in
general twice what it would formerly buy,
it has doubled in value or increased in
purchasing power 100 per cent. The total
debts of the people of the United States of
every kind aggregate not much under
S25, 900, 100000 1t takes the same
number of dollars to pay the annual in
terest on this debt that it took ten or fifteen
years ago; but with scale of prices indi-
Gated by wheat at dollar bushel, wool
at 20 cents and cotton at 10 cents pound,
and other things in proportion, which would
be the bimetallic scale, it would take some
$500, 900 men working every day to pay
this interest; but by scale of prices in
dicated by wheat at 80 cents bushel,
wool at Is cents and cotton at cents
pound, on the single gold standard scale,
it will take at least 5, 900, 900 men, work
ing every day in the year to pay the in
teret, on this debt; and if bushel of
wheat or ten pounds of cotton on the aver
age equals days labor it will take much
more labor if expended in raising wheat
and cotton to meet the interest on
this immense debt. And, generally,
money that is itself constantly increasing
in value must necessarily produce wide
spread and unending injustice. No one
would undertake to justify the sealing
down of the dollar; but common honesty
ought to prompt the equal condemnation
of a standard of value that by constantly
increasing, works always to the advantage
of the creditor and non producing class and
against the debtor and the producer.
Such money is not honest, and no amount
of pious cant about it can make it So
Besides the infinite injustice caused in
directly by money standard that is con-
stantly increasing in value, as the gold
standard is, the indirect effect upon trade
and industry is benumbing and deadening.
As money rises in value prices fall, trade
becomes hazardous, production is checked
and labor is forced into idleness. Hence
the truth of the observation made by Hume
long ago, that an increasing volume of
money is always attended by activity Of
business and the increase of wealth, while
contracting volume of money is attended
always by stagnant trade aud restricted
production 1t is, therefore, perfectly
safe to conclude when one is heard prating
about honest money" that he is either
not sincere or does not understand what he
is talking about.