Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1897-11-18
as TO DOWNWARD PLuNeEs. 81
Curious Statement of a New England
Editor Examined.

/ 40 ~ -OOWHNNtfANS
Curious Statement of a New England
Editor Examined.
The Springfield Republican, an adj
mirable, as well as a conservative, or
gan of the provincial thought of New
England, is somewhat amazed at the
aexterity with which Mr.. Bryan (ee-
pecially in his Nashville speech) is able
| to turn recent events into arguments
for bimetallism. The air of superiority
with which the Republican deals with
Mr.. Bryan is easily forgiven when we
| take the trouble to remember that it
comes by nature to the average New
England editor. 1t belongs to the ira
ditions of his high Office.
At any rate, the editor of the SPRING
field Republican is not too superior to
admire frankly and boldly Mr.. Bryan's
powers of augmentation. But the edo
itor holds back with shudder when he
contemplates the awful results which
Mr.. Bryan and other live bimetallists
are trying to bring about. THAT it will
ever be necessary to take the down
ward plunge to silver recommendation
is not sustained by any of the signs
| OF the times" The awful solemnity
of this remark is sufficient excuse for
quoting it.
We have the naked assumption Of
the editor of the Republican (and OF
other editorial financiersl that the re-
suit of Independent free coinage in this
country would be ''silver monometal-
lism." They have neither fact or argu-
ment to prove that this would be true.
On the other hand, we have the state
nents of Lidderdale, Grenfel and other
financial writers of ability that the as
| sumption of silver recommendation is
entirely false, and they base their state
| ments on the experience of France,
which, from 1906 to 1874 kept the two
metals on a ratio of fifteen and half to
one in all the markets of the world.
But this merely in passing. Whatw
desire to inquire about is the origin and
nature of "the downward plunge
| the awful cataclysm-that is to take
place. The editor of the Republican
will readily believe that our inquiries
are not inspired by idle curiosity. Does
he mean by "the downward plunge
that gold would command a premium2
| Surely not, for that would bring very
much higher prices, and the Repub-
lican has just been cackling nightly
over partial rise in prices. We had
premium on gold during and long
after the war, and with it great pros
perity and industrial progress. Was
that premium on gold n downward
plunge" or was it an uplifting of all
the forces that make for the material
development of the country?
Perhaps our contemporary means
L ha% xxN,1l1 laVro,pia IN In
reduced; that is to say, in purchasing
| power. But, no; that cannot be the
meaning, for to say that money has
lost even half of it's purchasing power
| is merely to announce that prices have
doubled. Would that be an evil? Is it
something to be dreaded? If so, why
have we suffered no i'll effects from the
recent increase in the price of wheat?
The price was nearly doubled in few
days. Was that "a downward plunge"
with respect to anything or anybody?
| If not, what does our contemporary
mean by "the downward plunge to sill
YER monometallism? Does he mean
anything by it, or is he merely engaged
in soaring the Reubens and Betsey
James of New England?
AS our contemporary is not likely,
under the circumstances, to answer our
| inquiries, we may take the trouble to
interpret it for ourselves. He means
by "the downward plunge" that our
currency would depreciate with respect
to gold and other commodities. AS we
have said, this is only another way of
declaring that the prices of all COM
modities would rise. Now, the only
question to consider is this: Would
rise in the prices of all commodities be
an evil or blessing to our people? We
have recently seen the gold dollar de-.
preciate almost to a 50-cent dollar as
compared with wheat. Was the result
of that event beneficial or deleterious?
The republican and all the gold organs
have been and are now declaring up
and down that it was highly beneficial;
that it helped business; that 1t brought
instantaneously into view the most SUBJ
stantial signs of prosperity.
Thus far we hope we are taking the
editor of the Republican with us, and
In this hope we are going a little far
ther-that is to say, to the inevitable
conclusion. What is that conclusion2
Simply this: That if the downward
plunge of the purchasing power of
money-the depreciation of the dollar
AS compared with wheat has been as
beneficial as the Republican declares
land as we cheerfully admit, does it
not follow, as the day follows dawn,
that ''the downward plunge"-the de-
probation of the dollar with respect
to all staple commodities-would null
tiply these benefits in a direct ratio and
restore prosperity throughout the coun-
try?
Meanwhile we can assure the Reu-
bens and Betsey james of the Con-
necticut valley that they need have no
fear of the deleterious results of such
downward plunges" as the Republic
ans editor drums up out of his imagina-
tion.-Atlanta Constitution.