The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-10-15
cational refinement of the people, pur-
chased too muchp

| AHOtuer CnlcaSO nnanclef was at tnat
time California miner delving for gold.
Today his benehcence to plain people
adorns your streets with free chapels and
tree institutions of education.
Another eminent Chicago citizen, then
II cabinet-maker, has amassed a fortune
and built city for workingmen and
women, and made it Il marvel of health
| and beauty among the many attractive
suburbs of Chicago.
And in all this half century the gold
standard has dominated the development
of wealth and prosperity in this city,
which has grown, in that period, from
10000 to more than 100000 in popula-
ton. Gold has been the measure of
values. the mediator of exchanges, and
the motor, the dynamo, which has ami
mated the industrial improvements and
enterprises which today make Chicago
| queen of realm of agriculture, COM
merce and manufacture unequaled on the
globe. The lands between here and AL
ton, over which, as an emigrant to the
territory of Nebraska, | passed that au-
tumn have risen, under the course of the
gold standard" in value to be worth
from two to ten times as much per acre
as then. And under the same gold
standard, which is denounced in the
Chicago populist platform as having
locked fast the prosperity of an indus
trious people in the paralysis of hard
times" | have seen the vast railway
system of Chicago stretch itself from
Lake Michigan to the Pacific ocean. I'm
der its magic influence tens of thou
sands of rural and urban homes have
evolved from the prairies of Iowa, tn.
Dakotas. Kansas and Nebraska, and by
its enactment the great American desert
has been transformed into the abode OF
. civilization, culture and refinement.
RURAL Discomfort.
But we are told that the farmers "are
disconnected and distressed" And eruc
, tatory orators say all this comes froL
the unsatisfed demand for more money
and bigger prices for farm products. But
these economic oracles confound terms
and make desire and demand synony-
. nous. Nearly all men desire more
, money. But no man can make law
:. full demand for more money except he
offer some valuable in exchange therefor.
Going over the fruitful states of the
, northwest one may see many attractive
and productive farms which he can
hardly help desiring, though his ready
money may preclude his demanding any
of them. But we are told that money
of the gold standard has too potent a
purchasing power and buys too much of
the products of these farms. Why, then,
: do the farms themselves constantly en-
nance in value? And if--as has been
: stated by the highest authority of popu-
listc candidature-''th dollar which
rises in purchasing power is dishonest
, dollar" why is not an acre of farm land
i with which one can TO-DAY buy $50 and
= with which one could thirty years age
buy only So. also dishonest? And is al
a acre which in New England was capable
, thirty years ago of purchasing 500 anC
! will now buy only $40 an honest acre Of
+ land because less dollars and therefore
. poorer people can buy it now than then
!, If dollars grow better for the plain peo
pie as they diminish in the purchasing
power of land. is not land better as il
declines in the purchasing power of dol
lars?
| Good money is made only out of com
mOdties which had value before they
, became money And if it is dishonest
for money to rise and fall in purchasing
+ power is it not equally dishonest for any
kind of unmonetized commodity to en-
: nance or decliI in It's power to buy
| money? And if-as we ave iold by the
, same oral lexicon of tinance-"an honest
: dollar will always have the same purchas
ing power must not all excnangeable
things stagnatc in value because unex
changeable?
! But a gold dollar has never anything
| but a relative value. This day 1000
= bushels of wheat sell for 500 in gold
| And this sale fixes, for the time being
between that buyer and that seller the
wheat value of gold and the gold value
of wheat. But tomorrow morning ca
Diagrams report failure of wheat crops
: in Russia, India, Australia and the Ar
gentne Republic. and before night wheat
| IL. httlh tn11 hnS al
preciated. but the relation of the worlds
, supply of wheat to the worlds demand
t for wheat has changed. Demand re.
, mains undiminished. supply is lessened
and. therefore. prices advance. The re-
lation of supply to demand is the sole
regulator of value. And neither gold
nor the unlimited and free coinage of sill
, yer at rs to l can repeal or mitigate that
{ eternal truth.
LAW OF LOWER PRICES.
As to the law of lower prices in com
= modtics. it is natural and constant and
not harmful. owing to the superior facil-
tiles of production. through invention.
cheaper transportation. better knowl-
edge of agriculture and more skill all the
time to make available in production all
the free forces of nature. Nature works
for nothing. The price of products goes
|
forces can do nothing unless combined
with mans efforts In prices therefore,
now absolutely reduced. wages tend all
the time to he Il larger element than what
goes ont of the same lower prices to the
capitalists. The only Oncrous elements in
production are labor and capital. Out of
the lower prices wages gets larger and
larger proportion. and capital less and
less per cent This law perfectly accounts
for steady or rising rates in wages. while
prices are going down. And while prices
are thus perccptibly declining and farm
ers and other capitalists are getting less
profits than before. are they not naturally
and fully compensated by cheaper com
modities to buy and wider markets to
sell in?
From my economic standpoint of view
there can be seen in certain legislation
of the last thirty years a potent primary
cause of the present conditions of discOn-
tent. But it is not necessary to talk
about that at this time.
The question today is. which shall
farmers and all good citizens of the
United States maintain and circulate
honest money or dishonest money: good
money o. bad money?
Henri Cernuschi. recently deceased. and
long known as one of the leading bimetal-
lists of Europe. says: 1.-THE melting pot
is the test of coined money. and that
which loses value in melting is bad money