The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-09-13

anu put ally elSHlI-S 10Y VI 7ii-
in Ortonville to the test with them. His
Illusions will vanish before the result.
MORE ABOUT THE MULTIPLE
STANDARD.
We publish this morning a thought
full communication from correspond
ent concerning the adoption of null
tiple standard, as urged in many ar
ticles in the G. o b e for some years
past There can be no question that
this is the most important and COM
prehensive of all possible financial re-
forms. 1t might very we'll take the
place of all the rest, provided only
that the legal tender laws, as ap-
piled to our existing currency, were
to be abolished. All the controversy
that has arisen between the advocates
of different standards is based upon
the fact or the belief that such stand
ards change. The silver man cries out
that gold is constantly approaching,
and that to make debts due at some
future time payable in this metal is
to defraud the debtor The gold man
is equally emphatic in opposing the
adoption of the silver standard; be-
cause, he urges, silver has deprecated
and must continue to fall, and to
make a debt due at some future time
payable in this declining material is
an outrage and a fraud upon the cred
itor. If you grant either premise, the con-
clusion follows logically and certain
ly. Moreover, all must admit that
neither gold nor silver is commodity
perfectly stable in its value. Gold Is
the more so of the two, but the differ
ence is relative and not absolute Gold
certainly fluctuates in value up and
down, and the variations are not no.
ticeable because it is the common
measure of prices.
The world has advanced from the use
of one substance as money to that of
another, always discarding the more
variable and retaining the less. BY this
| process it has come to the single gold
standard as most stable, and, therefore,
less iniquitous in measuring the terms
of longtime contracts. Why should
we not now take the last stsp
and substitute for gold itself "a
standard that will not vary? Such
is the multiple standard. If the debt
or pays, when his debt becomes due,
sun Of money that will purchase
| exactly the same amount of all the
! leading commodities on the market as
would the sum that he borrowed at
the time when he received it, justice
is completely satisfied. The standard
has not fiuctuated, and at last neithsr
debtor nor creditor receives an undue
advantage through the lapse of time.
| We have not the faintest shadow OF
doubt that, as soon as the idea
makes it's way into the public mind,
the demand for the adoption of the
multiple standard will be universal
and Irresistible. What needs to be
|
the thousands to whom it is unfa-
miliar. The plan suggested by our
correspondent relates to the practical
application of the general principle,
ard, as far as we can see, would be
feasible Just how the multiple stand
ard would be realized in practice is
comparatively unimportant when
once we get the principle behind 1T
recognized
1t seems to US that probably the
simplest method would be to adopt a
new unit and standard of value, Civ
ing to it some distinctive designation.
! We might call it simply the unit"
for that matter, or the multiple unit"
or the 'integer.' Suppose, for the
/ sake of illustration, that we use the
last mentioned term. Whenever a
man wished to make a contract or
draw a promissory note under this
system, he would acknowledge the re-
ceipt Of, say, 100 integers" and agree
to repay the same with stipulated in
! terest after so many months or years.
The government, in the meantime.
through it's statistical department,
which already records the prices of
all the great staples, would determine
the average price of each of the hun
dred or more commodities entering
into the makeup of the ''integer" for
| the previous year, and on the 1st day
of January would announce the aver
age value of the 'integer,'' or unit,
which would be it's value for the next
year, and which, let US say, might
amount to 80 cents. The borrower,
in the case we have supposed would
then receive $50, which would be the
equivalent expressed in money of the
the unit would be fixed in each year
in the same way. Suppose now that
at the end of the stipulated time, the
government reports should put the
value Of the 'integer" for the prior
wear, as computed from the trade
lists. at $110 The borrower would
tthen pay back to the lender $110 as
the equivalent of his loan, because 1t
!. would buy exactly as much of every
thing that he wanted. If prices chang
ed in the other direction, the borrower
would receive $110 and pay back 500