Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1897-09-24
BUSINESS INTERESTS.
SHRINKING PRICES THE. RUIN.
OF TRADE.
Tho Gold Standard Destroys the Avor-
age Business. Man as Well as the
Fsrmer-Free Silver Would Benefit
the Vast Majority.

the country to the shrinking volume
Of gold. All intelligent men under
stand that the money in circulation
and the property for sale are recipro-
cally the supply and demand for each
other, and that general prices rise or
fall with the increase or decrease OF
the money in circulation as compared
with population and business. Theo-
retically, everybody understands that
q shrinking volume of circulating
medium produces falling prices; and,
In addition to the recognized theory,
the practical effect of cutting off one
Of the money metals, and combining the
print or stamp of the government to
gold alone. has more than doubled the
purchasing power of money and d.
minished general prices more than one
half.
Every merchant and business man
who buys commodities to sell again Is
compelled to sustain a loss in the
shrinkage of value or market price of
his goods while on hand. More than
one-half Of the value of goods gener-
ally has disappeared in the last twenty
years, and every man who had COM
modities in his possession during that
time was compelled to sustain his share
Of the loss, says the Silver Knight
Waterman. The effect of falling prices
embarrasses the business man in many
ways. 1t destroys the capacity of his
customers to buy and pay cash, and
makes the extension of credit extra
hazardous on account Of the difficulty
men have in disposing of their prop
erty or services to obtain money with
which to pay their debts. The bust
ness men of the United States who
have accumulated property by honest
q industry have been harassed, impov-
erished, and many of them thrown
into bankruptcy, by falling prices &C.
casioned by scarcity Of money.
If the business men, who are the
greatest sufferers on account Of the diff
ficulty Of contending against falling
prices, would examine the question of
enlarging the volume Of circulation by
returning to the usages Of all the ages
previous to 1878. and unite in an eff
fort to obtain relief, prosperity would
surely follow. 1t is through the service
which gold gamblers, bondholders,
stock jobbers and railroad wreckers OBJ
tain from business men that the gold
standard has been fastened upon this
country. We realize how difficult it
Is for men engaged in enterprise of
any kind to differ with the banking in
situations with which they do business.
They do not realize that those insti-
tutions which are not in the hands of
the wreckers and extortionists, float
along with or follow the bank syndi-
Gates of New York and London. which
are engaged in purely speculative or
wrecking operations.
Legitimate banking cannot thrive
while the people suffer from falling
prices. Falling prices make it I'M
profitable to borrow money at any rate
of interest, because falling prices de-
stroy the profits of business. Failing
prices also destroy securities and make
the loaning Of money extra hazardous.
If the legitimate bankers of the United
States would rid themselves of the
paramount influence of the great
banking syndicate who make money
by speculation and not by legitimate
banking, they would find it to their in
terest to advocate sufficient volume
of money to enable the community in
general to prosper. The banks are en-
gagged in the loaning of money, and
the loanable value of money must nee
essarily fall with the price of other
property. In ordinarily good times the
people will borrow all the money the
banks have, at from six to eight per
cent interest, and use the same to ac-
cumulate wealth. At the present time
no man can use money to create wealth,
because he must first invest in prop
erty, and the fall in the price of prop
erty will destroy all his gains; conse-
quently the rate of interest has fallen
about one-half. Choice loans on gilt
edge securities are in demand at from
two and half to four per cent, and
today is liable to go to the bad next
year.
No legitimate bankers are as much
interested in restoring the volume of
money, so as to secure stability of
prices and prosperity, as the balance
OF the community. The number of
persons really interested in falling
prices and wrecking fortunes Is COM
paratively small, perhaps not one-half
of one per cent of the population of
the country. Take, for example, peo-
pie engaged in reorganizing railroad
companies, which is confiscation of
property rights by railroad wrecking
A railroad is allowed by the manage
ment to become indebted for current
expenses, Suit is brought, receiver
appointed, and the road sold under the
order of the court requiring that the
current expenses shall be first paid.
This requires a lump sum of money,
sometimes not very large, but large
enough to make it impossible for any
body outside of the pool to pay them
off and get possession of the road. The