Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1896-09-04
SILVER VS.. GOLD"

SILVER VS.. GOLD"
Under the above caption Judge
Cleveland attempted to make reply
to Hon. Coe I. Crawford's speech, or a
part of it, as the STAR gave it in its
synopsis. Mr.. Cleveland says:
''That there has been steady de.
cline in prices for the past twenty-three
years, beginning in 1873, is admitted
by Mr.. Crawford and by Mr.. McCleary
in his great speech in congress in reply
to Towne."
That Judge Cleveland is entirely
mistaken concerning the two gentle
men mentioned, he will certainly be
forced to admit. Mr.. Crawford and
Mr.. McCleary both contend that the
'decline in prices" began prior to 1873
On this point Congressman McCleary
said in his famous speech:
"The trouble with my colleague is
one that is common to the whole tribe
of free silver men. The year 1873 is to
them what the year of the hegira is to
the Mohammedan-it is the point of
time from which everything is reck-
oned. But no legitimate Inference
can be drawn in relation to these mat
ters without examining also the course
OF events before 1873, and making a
facts. * A period extending
from 1882 to 1852, twenty. five
years, the fall in average prices was
oFsfS
taken place since 1873"
Congressman McCleary most en-
phatically disproves what Mr.. Cleve-
land says of him, and his speech
abounded with facts and figures to
prove just the opposite of what our
friend Cleveland charges him with.
So that Mr.. Cleveland's first claim is
altogether unfounded. We may there.
fore infer that the entire discussion,
which is for the most part quotations
from various authorities, is equally
fallacious and wrong.
But here is an argument Mr.. Cleve-
land makes with himself that is worthy
of space. Heasks:
"Has the demonstration of silver
and the substitution of the gold stan
dard for the double standard caused
the gold dollar (by which the value of
everything must now be measured) to
double i'll value. or contributed mater
tally in bringing about that result?
III not then tncre is no oground for COM
plant, and the advocates of free coin
age of silver are wrong"
We should like to know of Judge
Cleveland if silver circulated as money
i'll sufficient amount to be worthy of
comment prior to the time lS73) that
he speaks of its characterization 2"
If silver did not previously circulate
land it did not) how can it be explained
as causing the 'gold dollar to double
in value" after the laws were changed
and it began circulating? And this in
view of the fact that an average of
about twice as many silver dollars have
been coined EACH YEAR since 1873 as
were coined in ALL the years previous
to that time? Note that fact. and then
explain to the people how coming two
times as many silver dollars each year
as were coined all together previous to
1878. could possibly double the value
of gold?
Now, then, if Judge Cleveland bases
his whole argument upon the belief
that thegold dollar has been doubled, -
must he not admit, as he says he will,
that ''there is no ground for complaint
and the advocates of free coinage of
silver are wrong?" This proposition
must prove conclusively that the finan-
cial legislation of this country has not
caused the appreciation of the gold
dollar, and that failing prices" of
commodities must therefore have been
due wholly to other causes, distinct
from changes in our monetary laws.
Judge Cleveland, after using nearly
three columns in the Herald, from En-
cyclopedia Britannica, and other an
clent authorities, trying to show that
supply and demand does not govern
prices, might be interested in reading
from the New York Times what Mr..
Bryan said in an address delivered at
Madalin, n. y, on August %, which
substantiates Mr.. Crawford's areu-
ments, viz:
"You know that if the worlds cron
next year of certain article is yery
much greater than the crop of this
year, that article will fall in price. If
the crop is much smaller than this
year, that article will rise in price
You know that the law of supply and
demand reaches and controls ali sorts
of property Bryan's speech.
Mr. Bryan was talking to farmers.
The remarks which we have quoted
above set forth clearly the chief cause
of the decline of the prices of agricul-
tural products here during the last
twenty-five years. But Mr.. BRYAN and
all the other silverites tell the farmers
that these prices have fallen because
of the appreciation of gold" and the
characterization of silver!''
For ayann1o in No,,, E,,,1..