Middletown transcript., 1897-04-03

and silver woEld t;tye u I,oro correct measure
/ of valuean one less ii15le 70 fuctuation than
| single gold standard.
Second. d.-Gold has appreciated ID snius ard
| all property measured by it Aas declined 81
/ value.
Third.-The supply of gold is inadequate to
make it safe standard, and the scarcity of it
| will tend to the depression Of prices
Fourth.-Tho free unlimited coinage of sill
yer at the ratio Of lG to will create unlimited
demand for silver and restore it to par
Fifth.-Free and unlimited coinage Of silver
at 10 10 l will increase the prices of property.
Mythical double Standard"
4 With reference to the first proposition: A
1 standard Of value is some exact measure which
/ enters into and becomes part of every con-
1 tract, and to which all obligations are refer
/ able. II our governments could, by legal enact
! ment, fix tho value Of gold and silver in the
markets Of the world and could keep them ad-
/ justed to fixed ratio double standard
would be practicable. But it cannot fix or
maintain value. The buyers Of the world, the
merchants. do that. When Abraham purchased
i his lot in Ephron's g cemetery, he weighed out
| to Ephron silver 'tcurrent money with the
merchant" And the merchants of the world
have been saying what shall be ttcurrent
money" from that day to this.
Governments are as powerless to suspend the
law Of value as they are to suspend the law Of
| gravitation. Such being the case, can con-
i C6lN6 VI thO 5bbuudTuSs One Ot ROlQ ana b0o
ether Of silver. and contracts might be made
| referable to eithsr standard, but the indeter-
inmate double standard resting on two met
| ais not linked together by any binding obli-
| cation, but both acting under go as you please
| rules, Is to me absolutely incomprehensible.
| We cannot bind them together as we do two
metals in the pendulum of o clock or in the
handspring Of watch No people ever did
business under the imaginary double standard,
and every attempt to enforce it has resulted in
alternating from one standard to the other.
England tried it for go years. and it was IN
utter failure France changed her ratio 118
times in IL years trying to walk the double
| standard tight rope. We tried it and went first
to silver basis, then to gold basis, then to
| paper basis and then back TO a gold basis.
The phrase "double standard" is contradic-
ton of terms. st. sndard means correct meas.
ure, and there cannot be two different correct
measures of value any more than there can be
two different correct weights to sell by, two
different correct oompasses to sail by or two
different correct thermometers to measure
temperature BY. n one measure is correct, she
other cannot differ from 1t and be correct.
Gresham's Law.
It Is an inexorable law Of money that when
two metals are coined at fixed ratio and both
made legal tender, IL either is underValued In
the coinage law the undervalued metal goes
out Of circulation. About the middle of the
father OF finance in Franco, announced his
great law to Charles v; 160 years later Copper
nicus, the founder of modern astronomy, an
nounced it to the Prussians, and 81 years still
later Gresham announced 1t to Queen Eliza
beth. Macaulay in his 'tHistory of England"
shows how perfectly this law worked in Eng
land and eloQuently describes the direful
consequences. He was describing coins de.
based by clipping, but still legal tender A coin
Is just as bad whrn debased by generalization
in coinage as when clipped or counterfeited.
In the one case the creditor is deceived, and
in the other he is forced. It is simply the
difference between theft and robbery. The
law of money has never failed. We know what
viii be its operation just as we know that the
deadliest poison will kill because it always has
killed.
We Now Have 16 to Bimetaliism.
Tho gold standard advocates believe in gold
as a standard with the largest possible safe
use of silver among the people. The 10 to /
dreamers believe in the SO called double stand
ard, and we are driven by this law to the use
of silver alone. All gold standard eoun.
tries use large amounts of silver and no
silver standard country uses any gold what
ever. AS the practical question is the use
of the metals, it follows that we are the
bimetallist and the 16 to ] people are the
monometallist Hence tho battle that Is to
be fought to finish next year Is whether we
will remain under gold standard, with actual
bimetallism In use among the people-gold
and silver circulating freely without discrim-
ination against either-or shall we have q SO
called double standard at the mints and mo-
where else, with silver monometallism in ac-
tual use2 The battle is between substance and
shadow, between those who want bimetallism
In fact and those who want it in name only,
We are the friends Of silver money, who would
bring to its aid the power of the government
to keep 1t good, and they are it's enemies,
4oI~n
it the guarantee Of parity by the government,
and thereby degrade it to its market value.
Our government has been and is now coin
ing silver at the ratio of 10 to /. It Is enabled
to do this because under the law 1t can re-
strict the amount coined, end, being vested
with this control, 1t undertakes to make every
dollar good money. The moment the govern
ment loses control of the coinage, confidence |
in its ability to protect the money issued is |
gone and silver dollar then rests on its mer-
it and Is worth 80 cents To illustrate: A |
merchant could very well guarantee the cx-
pense5 of his clerk If he were allowed to con- |
troll the expenses, but if the clerk demanded |
free and unlimited expenses then the mer-
chant would have to ststand from under" and |
let the expenses take care Of themselves
We hear q great deal of indignant declama-
tion because the government does not pay its |
"coin" obligations IN silver. To maintain the |
parity between gold and silver it is essential |
b0dG bl0 ROYefum6Hb III TeCc1NlnS lUS uuoS duu |
paying its debts must ignore the inferiority of |
silver, just as mother pretends not to see the |
limp Of her lame child. This gives the option |
Of metals to the person dealing with the gov
ernment whether as debtor or creditor. If the |
government should discriminate against silver |
by refusing to receive it for dues, or by insist
ing on paying it instead Of gold, that moment |
the parity would be gone and the silver in |
every mans pocket would would be at q dis |
count. Its coinage being under the control Of |
the government, the government makes it |
good at its counter, and this makes 1t good at |
every counter in the world.
If there is anything in the double standard |
stability idea we ought to work for it for all |
1t Is worth. If two metals viii fix value better
than one, then three metals will beat two, and |
four beat three, and by having eight or ten |
metals in the standard we can anchor it SO |
that it will not crawl an inch in 1000 years.
The second proposition Is that gold has ap- |
preciated and thereby depressed prices. The /
same cause operating upon a number Of ar |
ticles will produce the same effect in all those |
not affected by contravening cause. When |
we contemplate prices, we find that since the /
gold standard was adopted, Feb. r. 1873, some /
articles have declined in value, some have |
remained stationary, while some risen in /
price, and no contravening causes will ac- |
count for the failure Of gold to depress all |
alike. We find that no two articles have de- |
clined at the sanlo time or in the same de- |
gree, nor has Eny one article remained uni
formly depressed. This demonstrates that, as
to those articles that have declined, no one |
controlling cause can be assigned as having |
produced these results.
The stock argument of the 10 to people Is /
that wheat and cotton have declined, and they |
seem to gloat over the fact. / knew an old /
negro who, when asked how he was getting
along, always replied, .'Poorly, thank Godi'
and they are thankful when the country is /
pOeFIy ON wheat and cotton. Since 1873 the |
vast fertile prairies of the northwest have
been turned into yheatfelds, SO that the pro
duction Of wheat in the United States has been
doubled since then. The same thing has been
going on in Russia and South America. The
wonderful improvements in machinery for
harvesting wheat and the extension of rail-
roads for transporting it TO market gave an
immense impetus to the production of 1t.
farmer can make more money raising it at so |
cents per bushel today than he could at 81 per
bushel 20 years ago. The result has been that
the overproduction Of wheat has reduced its
price, and the gold standard had nothing to do
with the reduction. Its price is regulated by
supply and demand.
Ehineh Bugs, Caterplllars and Bollworms.
Last May little bug settled down on the
wheatflelds Of the northwest, aud in one or |
two weeks eat up one-half Of the 10 to argu- |
ment on prices and sent the prices back into |
7s.R l