The broad ax. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1895-19??, 1896-07-18
"DEGRADED' MONEY.
The MOCKING CRY OF THE
BENEDICT ARNoLOS.
Afts. DesPosIing the Americas Dollar
OF Its Honor They Call ft Dis
rsputable and q Dishonest Piece of
Monsy-freasoa.

| advocates OF the Solo SIauodro buS-
Matte the movement for the restora-
J ton Of silver to the place it occupied
In our currency prior 10 1873 when the
coinage Of that metal was stealthily
suspended as an attempt ito degrade
the peoples medium OF exchange"
They mean by il that the value or pur-
chasing power OF money will thereby
be lowered. or. as they say, "degrsd-
ed"
The value or purchasing power OF
money is the quantity OF a commodity
or other form OF property a given sum
of 1t will exchange for. For instance,
IL one dollar will exchange for two
bushels Of wheat, 1t has a high value
or purchasing power; il 1t viii ex-
change for only one bushel Of wheat.
the dollar is degraded" by having its
purchasing power lowered. In the first
instance one-haf Of the labor expend-
ed in producing the wheat is sacrificed
for the benefit of the owners Of money;
in the second instance, the producer
Of the wheat reaps the benefit and the
owners Of the money, who live In idle
ness, are deprived Of its gain There
can be no fall in the value Of money |
without q corresponding rise in the
value or prices of other forms Of prop
erty, including wages paid for labor,
and no rise in the value Of money
which Is not accompanied, or rather,
manifested, by a fall in the prices of
other forms of property. Money and
other forms Of property. as Locke said
many years ago, exactly oounterbalance
each other; and if the word degrade"
is used, this term will apply as well
to other forms Of property as to money,
and the question is whether money or
other forms of property, including
wages paid for labor, shall be degrad-
ed; for this effect cannot be visited
upon both at the same time, for the
two scales of the balance never rise
and fall together, but always alter
nately.
The relation between one quantity
'f money, in which values are ex-
pressed, and other forms of property
S about as / to 40; that is, for every
iollar in money there are forty dollars
n other forms Of property. Conse-
Iuently for every dollar given to the
'wnes of money by increasing its
power, forty dollars in fall
ng prices are taken from the owners !
I other forms Of property. Is this a ,
rise and just policy for a young and
igorous country, which is already o
under an increasing weight o
Indebtedness, and whose wealth is q
ct In its accumulated riches, but in c
Is productive energies-a policy that q
J enriching the drones at the expense
the working bees of society? What
auses the huctuation in the relation
{ money to other forms Of property, n
! other words, in the value of money? II
Intil this is understood we can make u
o progress in our knowledge Of this e.
nbject II
II fs not in the character of the SUBJ :.
lance or material Of which money is -
lade that its purchasing power resides, =
at in the quantity of it in circulation. %
g this quantity is increased, other -
Kings remaining the same, its pur- -.
aasing power falls; as this quantity =.
lminfshes its purchasing power rises. A.
A whole page Of a daily newspaper -
Suld be filled with extracts from the - -
fittings Of eminent economists affirm -.
g the truth Of this proposition, and -
Irthermore, It is attested by the ex- -.
T1ence Of all the ages. Julius Paulus =
I'D In the third century of our era:
me power Of money resides not so
uch in the substance as in the ouan-
b.. and three centuries later this
ying was repeated in the Pandects of IN
Sunian. Ricardo land no higher au- sl
ortty can be quoted said that COM an
ODDITIES would rise or fall in price in Pc
oporton to the increase or diminu- ao
N Of money, assume as a fact that an
incontrovertible" II this is true Il TO
alters not whether our money is i
ade from gold or silver. Stability in
value, in other words, a stable cur raj
ncy can only be secured by adjusting mol
quantity and keeping it adjusted to Wo
wants Of trade. Human wisdom the
one cannot accomplish this object del
Iperienee tells us that to do this we Jan
Isl resort to natures treasury" and MOI
IKE our gold and silver mines our say
INKS OF Issue. If We use gold and ella
yer as our primary money upon sil'
Iich all credit rests its quantity will wit
increased and the value of the unit pas
dollar wiz fall and prices will rise. the
we use gold alone as primary money has
volume Of 1t viii be diminished. and
purchasing power Of the unit or a h
lar win be increased and the prices &c
other forms OF property, including the
ges paid for labor, viii fan. can
.t3f HENRY q. MILLER Smj
LAY, 1871. ~lv