Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1897-12-22
WHY GOLD ID STABLE.

advocates Of the single gold standard
that the value of money metal
cannot be fixed by law the VirginiaCity
New Chronicle prints the following:
Here is point of value which has es.
capped general observation, and we
think is not mentioned In any of the
"Coin" publications. This is the fact
that by the Peel act of 1874, the price of
gold Is fixed by English law. This act,
passed July 10, 1874, compels the Bank
of England to pay s3 lis and Cd for ey-
cry ounce of standard gold presented at
its counter and 1t is what keeps the price
of gold stable all over the world at
$l8 80, less carriage and lnsuring. By
the provisions of its charter the Bank
of England is obliged to purchase all
the gold bullion brought to it at 1882
an ounce.
This statement can be verified by
reference to Chambers Encyclopedia.
Lippincott's edition of 1859, vol. l, page
667, or to the Encyclopedia Britannica,
American edition, 1888, XVI, page 4s5.
On the same page they will find this
case of silver is somewhat different, the
bullion being purcased by the depart
ment at it's market value.
Now what becomes of the argument
so gliby put forth by Carlisle, Cleve-
land s. Co. about the price of gold be-
ing fixed by Providence or by tacit
agreement among nations? 1t COM
pletely knocks out DR.. Depew, who
stated in his Detroit banquent speech
that there can be but one standard of
value, and that is a metal which will
bring the same price whether it is in
bar or has the stamp of the government
upon it. On the contrary, the Bank
| Of England, which under 1.-THE prevail
ing system, regulates the price for the
whole world" is compelled by law to
pay stated amount tor all the gold
brought to It.
1t is as clear as daylight that the law
by naming both the price and the buy
er, when the latter is responsible like
government, with practically unlimited
resources can fix and MAINTAIN prices,
Notwithstanding Secretary Morton's
dictatorial declaration that'mere statu-
tory enactment can't do such thing.
The British law fixes the price and
names the buyer. The buyer is the
British government, a corpol alton of
unlimited credit and resources pledged
to pay SIS 90 for every ounce of stand
| ard gold presented at its Bank of Eng
land counter. But it does not pay that
amount in gold: it pays it in notes. Ev-
Identity, therefore, the real thing, or
power, or redeemer, behind both the
gold and the notes, is the credit of the
British government. Now, the advo-
Gates of tree silver coinage in this coun-
try are not asking that the government
should do for silver what the British
governmenthas done for gold-force the
payment of specific price for bullion
by law. They simply ask that silver be
given the same chance with gold in the
market; III other words, that it be not
| Disseminated against.
Commenting on the above the Los
| Angeles Express says:
The reason gold is more valuable
| than silver is because those who have
control ofthe money market have decld-
ed that it shall be so considered. If few
men like the Rothdhilds were to decide
tomorrow that silver should be 1.-THE
money of redemption" as they are
pleased to call it, gold would be worth
no more, if as much, as silver is today.
The value of gold is purely artificial
and the creation eff money brokers who
have selected it as the standard of val
ue; hrst, because they are largely Eng
lish and the British empire produces
gold but practically no silver; secondly,
because the supply OF gold is smaller
and therefore more easily controlled
by few men who own most of the gold
mines of the world.
| But while the British government, to
please the bankers which control il. has
fixed standard price for gold, and pre-.
tends that silver is mere commodity.
yet it buys this silver, coins it in the
ratio of Is to l and forces it on the Ash
atics for that value, showing again the
power of government, and that the val.
ue of the metals as money rs arbitrary
aud artificial. 1t is dishonest accord.
ing to our English creditors and their
tools in this country for the United
States to pay its debts In silver, be-
cause silver is only worth One-tbirty-
second as much as gold, but it is per-
fectly legitimate and honest for the
English trader to use silver dollars
coined OH the basis of Is to in the
transaction of his business with the
Chinese and other Asiatlcs.
Ii little island like England can Tx
the price OF gold for the world is there
any reason why rich and prosperous
nation like this, with boundless resour.
ces and producing almost every thing
'needful, can not fix the prics OF silver
for the worldp