The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1897-06-15
PRICE TWO SCJENI'ss

verge OF bankruptcy, and If persisted in
your nation to the danger line. You
nave u dishonest dollar In consequence
or an Increase In purchasing power, for
! lay 1t down as q proposition which
no one dare dispute, that q dollar which
demands more Of human toll to repay
than the original dollar Of tho debt de-
hlahded, IS Il dishonest dollar.
GOLD BUG DEFINITION.
The gold bug idea Of q dollar leaves
out all consideration OF purchasing DOW
er' me advocates OF the single gold
standard would simply apply to money
to determine its value, what IS known
as the melting pot test"
They don't tell you this first however,
IF YOU ask the average gold bug what
he means by an honest dollar, he Will
say, with an assumption OF great lmpor-
lance, sound money: and then II you
ask him what constitutes sound money
nell look still wiser and reply. "the hon
est dollar But If you really care to
push him to the wall, you will get his
invariablc old meltng-pot theory He
VIII tell YOU that an honest dollar Is one
whose race value Is no more than that
or the bullion contained in 1t. He will
illustrate by telling you that II you put
q gold $50 coin in melting pot and re-
duce II TO 4. molten state. 1t will still
be worth $50
But then you see the very old gold bug
doesn't tell--hc has forgotten IL he ever
Know, what makes that gold coin worth
as muoh after melting us before It's
the law, the law OF coinage providing
for the free mintasc Of gold. in unlimited
quantities. That same law which was
IN force regarding silver in 1873 made
that metal at one time SO above par.
According to that mcltinE-pot detini-
ton. the Mexican dollar Is All honest
dollar. There's no reason In saying that
the silver standard will place q great
nation like this on the plane or Mexico.
las the gold standard made Turkey O
great nation?
HIS IDEA or HONEST MONEY.
What would he an honest dollar? A
dollar whose average purchasing power
was the same yesterday. is today, and
WI WI De .to,morrow. That would be an
honest dollar. don't believe we have
IL now. But IL OH the contrary that pur-
chasing power can nuctuatc or be
chhnSed, l am using dishonest dollar.
But we now have q dollar made In the
interest or our creditor classes who give
us our definitions and make the iuws to
fulfill them. #
Dollars are human Inventions They
cannot be made perfect, but IL Wen get
q dollar that's tolcrably honest, shall
pc satisfied. We haven't 1t now 81 Il
because a man can coin his gold Into
money at certain rate II cannot be pllr-
chased for less than that. But If his
coined silver gets melted he must sell
1t to some one who wants to make
spoons. The government doesn't want
1t for money. If It did, however. who
among you doubts for an instant that It's
value would a once rise 10 the par Of
the stamp 1t carries? And yet they are
AFRAID OF flood Of cheap money. Who
1ears the calamity Of more money? Yes,
some people do. There arc actually
people who haven't enough money to
buy their winters provisions who are
afraid there will be terrible flood OF
silver. They say that speculators would
buy up the silver at so cents per ounce
and have each ounce coined into dollar.
Right along this line. as have the
kindest feelings toward you Norfolk
FOLK, ! will give you a simple recipe for
getting rich quickly. Just go out and
BUY up all your nelghbors' property at
half Its value and sell Il for what It Is
really worth. or course you may have
some slight difficulty in inducing your
neighbor 10 sell for less than he can get
elsewhere, but you will have to manage
that yourself. just as those fellows who
are going to buy 100 cents worth Of sill
yer for 80 cents will have TO do.
A MONETARY PARADOX.
There are some gold bugs who will
prophecy q food and a drought. in one
brea IN. They say your flood OF silver
Will drive out 5000, 100000 Of gold now in
circulation. and then the people will
suffer for money, for It would take fif-
teen years running all the mnts on full
time to supply this deficiency. Now In
the first place there IS not six hundred
million dollars in gold in this contry.
True. theSS figure 1t on, all right They
account for about half the sum men
toned. nearly ali OF which is boarded In
vaults The other half Is what is called
the invisible supply" and It's becoming
more Invisible every day.
l'ut about that drought Some great
man made that remark about having 10
walt nftcen years to make up the de-
lciency caused by the outflow Of gold,
ana he was such great man that he
never thought OF the simple expedient
or building more mints.
Thus 1t Is throughout. You VIII find
IN the latter arguments In every gold
bugs speech. answers 10 all those ad-
vanced in the first part.
THE PRESENT SITUATION.
I am frequently told that we have
plenty OF money now. But notice that
my infoTmantS are usually men who
have some money themselves. To illus
trate, | don't mind telling you that /
have most excellent father-in-Iaw. He
once said to me, William, while have.
we cannot bo:h OF us want" He did not
say that l might not want, but that
both could not want at the same time
while he had enough. 1t Is exactly thu
way with the gold bugs While thev
have enough all the people cannot he In
want. - -