The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-09-28

liquidation of interests and debts.
dollar is a unit containing 100 cents
used In computing actual value and is es-
tabiished by law and not by the quality
or quantity of it's material composition.
II IL is necessary to put material costing
a dollar into dollar in order to make IL
good, then 1t holds true that our present
gold money is as cheap money as the
poorest silver dollar this government ever
coined, and the argument so often made
that % S-10 grains of gold is dollar be-
cause 1t cost a dollars worth Of labor to
produce 1t, falls to the ground.
THE VALUE OF A DOLLAR.
In fact the whole theory that every
coined dollar should contain a dollar 8
worth of metal is absurd, for the reason
that there is TO way Of determining
whether a dollar contains a dollars worth
oil metal or not except by determining its
actual value by the legal value of itself
or by the legal value of some other kind
of dollar whose value is established
and regulated by law of congress and
not by its real worth as a commodity. II
Cod III creating the first man, Adam,
mad said, Let us put a mans worth of
clay in a man." Adam could never have
been created and q. goldbug could never
nave been born for the want of a measure
with winch to determine mans worth
or clay. Yet a proposition of that kind
would have been no more ridiculous than
is the proposition to put a dollars worth
OF silver or any other kind Of metal in a
weigh and measure themselves because
they are the produce of law. Their ac-
curacy can be determined only by the law
creating them. Eleven inches cannot con-
sttute foot, not because any material
thing forbids it, but because the law for
bids 1t. The inch had its origin far back
In the age OF ignorance and superstition
and was determined by the length of three
grains Of barley placed end to end length
wise, but who in this age of enlighten-
ment would be willing to make himself so
ridiculous as to assume that every
huctuating length of three grains Of bar
ley should determine the length Of our
unit of distance? Yet such a position
could be no more irrational than the claim
that the ever fiuctuating commercial value
or any kind of metal should determine the
legal value of our medium of exchange
or that we should declare a legal dollar
dishonest because its value was not de-
termined by an exploded theory that was
born In the ignorance of a barbarouS and
superstitious age.
The relative value of money made from
the different kinds OF material can only
be influenced by the legal advantages one
Kind may have over another. If the law
of the nation authorized the free and un-
limited coinage of one kind of metal into
money and restricts the coinage of an
other and demonetizes the restricted coin
IN the payment of certain obligations the
value of the metal represented by the re-
stricted coin will depreciate, and the
metal admitted to unlimited coinage, and
made when so coined a full legal tender
for all debts, if produced in limited GUAM
titles will appreciate in value because of
Its legal powers and privileges over the
other. Herein lies the Inconsistency of the
advocates of a single gold standard. They
are unwilling to restore silver to former
legal powers and privileges with gold,
and to adjust the ratio at which the two
metals shall be coined afterwards. What
honesty of purpose could be ascribed to
the person who would without cause or
provocation, silently steal up to a fellow
man, under cover Of the night, and de-
liberately stab him in the back, and then
insist upon the right to stab him again
on the ground that the loss of blood from
the first wound had greatly reduced the
strength and vitality Of his innocent vic
tim? Such d person would be denounced
as a coward and a william. Yet this is
perfect Illustration of the treatment silver
has received at the hands of the money
power. They sent an assassin to Washing
ton in 1873 and silver was stabbed in the
back when 1t was strong and vigorous.
and when 1t commanded a premium
over gold. The stabbing was done in the
silent hours Of night so dark that the
act escaped public observation at the
time. But Shylock grew drunk on the
blood from the wound during the dark
days of misery, bankruptcy and poverty
that followed. The people came to the
rescue and succeeded in partially healing
the wound. But now this interruptions
money power, grown naughty on the
fruits of plumber, insists ON the right to
stab its victim again because of the weak
ness resulting from the wound of 1873.
THE DUTY OF LABOR.
It is the duty of labor to demand that
the wound inflicted on the silver dollar
by the legislative dagger of '73, and probed
by labors enemies ever since, be healed
over by the restoration of that dollar to
all the rights and power it possessed prior
to its demonstration. When such demand
is granted silver will then come to a.
parity with gold on the ratio of 16 to /.
Let there be no surrender to the unfair
and unjust proposition of the advocates
Of a single gold standard, in which they
demand that the ratio Of coinage shall be
based on the commercial value of gold at
q time when its commercial value is in
creased and the commercial value of sill
yer is decreased by discriminating laws
in favor of gold and against silver. And
such proposition is designed to make
money Scarcer and dearer, that the few
may continue to rob the many without
opposition or restraint.
How many of our working people can
be deceived by this constant cry from
Wall street for what the goldbugs call
honest money! How many can be in
f1uenced into a passive acquiescence 10
the will of the money kings by the false
promise that the poor mans dollar will
be made as good as the rich mans dol
lar? l want to say to you, my brothers,
that if the history of the past is any
guide for the present, Wall street Is al
ways on the wrong side of every great
public question. The test of membership
on Wall street is based on support OF fraud
and deception, and therefore what Wall
street calls honest is always dishonest.
When Wall street cries out for the poor
1t is always for the rich. 1t IS the caldron
of hypocricy and crime, and # the work
ing people will first learn what Wall
street wants and then vote the other way,
they will always be right. There is no
such thing as a poor mans dollar, and
it is out of the fear that a dollar may be
made that will pay the debts of the people
and bless the homes of the poor, and for
the use of which Shylock cannot exact his
pound Of flesh, that Wall street and the
gold gamblers of the world are opposed
to the free coinage of silver
A careful study OF the circulation Of
money in this country reveals the as
founding fact that the entire circulating
medium of this nation must change own
ership on an average every six days, and
even at that rapid rate 1t is only sum-
Gent IN volume to partially meet tne re
quirements of business. On an average
of once every eight months sum OF
money equal TO our entire circulating me-
dunn must be paid into our municipal,
county, state and national treasures 10
support our various institutions OF gov
eminent for which payment the people
receive neither food clothing nor shelter
From this fact may be gathered an I'M
preston of the burdens of taxation. But
such burdens fall into insigniticance when
we realize that every dollar Of every KIND
Of money in circulation in this country,
or a sum equal thereto, must pass into
the hands of the interest-takers on an
average once every six months, and that
the people are compelled TO borrow II
back with new securities pledg1ng the re-
turn of the principal with the interest at
stipulated times. The stream is constant
ly pouring into the Golfers Of the money
loaners and out again to the people. The
period of rotation, by reason OF the great
volume of debts, is contracted to the
short space of six months. The free and
unlimited coinage of silver will lengthen
this period of rotation and render the peo-
Die less dependent upon the money lend
ers for the necessary money with which
to do the business of the country. Hence
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