Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1896-08-20
The Shorter Silver Cat.ohism.

The Shorter Silver Catschfsm.
@. All the silver countries slipped down
to a silver basis between 1874 and 1894 at
the average rate Of per cent yearf A.
Yes.
q. And some Of the htnetailic countries
slipped with them, others are slipptng and
some are now on the verge Of the descentf
A. Yes Even the strengest-Francs and
the United States-maiatain the parity
with difficulty, and this difficulty 10 In
creasing.
Q. What stands between us and the
breaking Of this parityi A. The treasury
reserve and its redempeien Of greenbacks
and treasury notes In ssad when gold 10
called for.
@ Suppose the parity should Be broken
by the stoppage of this podemption what
would happenf A. Ws would begin slid
ing down rapidly to a silver basis
O. How would this downward motion
be shown practically A. By premium
on gold. Spain is two years down, its
silver money being at . small discount In
gold, but its paper and silver are at parity.
Greece is near the bottom, with silver aAd
paper at parity. Our paper and silver
would remain mt parity until gold reached
100 or thereabouts, depending upon the
market value OF silver. Then, II our paper
fell lower silver would be ut q premium. as
10 is in some bimetailic and gold oountriee
O. Would II affect anybody A II
would affect everybody seriously, but 30
insidiously that few would know what
was tho matter.
@ Howl A. The price cf all imported
commodities bought at gold valuation
would rise little Beyond the gold pro-
nium. So would all domestic commodk
ties whose price here Is regulated by tha
price abroad The man who could get 10
cents In gold for cotton In Lvsrpeol
would not soil IL to the New EnglaAd
manufacturer for 10 cents IN silver or
paper. With every domestic product for
which there Is q foreign gold market the
gold premium would be added to tho
paper-silver price in the domestic market
These would include breadstuffs and pro-
visions
@. What products would not rise In
valuee A. Those the prices OF which are
fxcd by local conditions. those that can
not be exported to get the gold value
eggs, poultry, fish, butter, milk, vegs-
tables, hay, fruits, and all factory or min
products where the raw material was not
affected by the foreign price, as 1t would
be with our cotton mills
q. What would be the effect on wages
and salariesY A They would not rise- A
man could not send his labor to London
or Paris. II he could no would not get
any more for IL. There would be NO rsa-
SON for the imitation Of wages Nothing
would rise In value unless the man own
ing it could dispose Of 1t 10 some one at
higher price This law would apply equally
to wages, rents and to labor products-
q. Then silver imitation would mot raise
wages or salariesS A There is no reason
to expect 1t or analogy to support the be-
lief, either while we were sliding down 30
q silver basis" or after we got there. II
we went further, TO paper basis, and
silver went to premium, thea wages
would In time keep somewhere near the
specie basis, as they did between 1889
and 1879, but while the specie basis was
silver and wages were paid In silver they
would not be anected Dy small changes In
Its purchasing power, any more than they
are now by any increase or decrease In the
purchasing power of gold A paper bads
raises the price Of everything to conform
10 the specie behind it; tho silver-spscie
basis would only raise the price Of certain
things for which we had q foreign gold
market
n n,,t tha o,ot ~ lirt :, nv xro,,ld - ryraa fIv
increased on q silver basisf A. As we live
now, yes Coffee, tea, sugar, rice and
many ether common things Of this kind
would lecome luxuries beyond the powss
Of the workingman to buy. He would
have to live on what would not increase
In value, having only his DrseoD- wages o.
salary to buy with