The River Falls times. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1894-1933, 1897-08-10
The Future Of Prices.

The United States Investor dis
cusses at some length the future price
OF gold in connection with the Klon-
dyke discoveries and the notable in
crease or the gold output of other
sections. 1t says the new discoveries
have suddenly developed an extra
ordinary degree of optimism regard
ing the financial and industrial future
of the United States, and that to
suppose the output of gold could be
increased to the extent that now
seems certain without greatly &C.
celebrating the industrial pace OF the
world, would Indicate profound
ignorance of economic conditions.
'We know" it adds, that striking
results have followed previous gold
discoveries, and we are also satisfied
that the Alaska find exceeds in i'm
portance any of which history pre-
sents record"
Nevertheless, even assuming that
the production of gold is to be enor-
mously increased, the Investor does
not think it necessarily follows that
the price of the yellow metal will fall.
The theory was held that serious
decline must necessarily follow the
great California discoveries, but no
,.acV1lf %o0l~ Tnho NoIifnY-
MIA discoveries were followed by
rising prices of commodities, though,
taking the country at large, not to
such an extent as some suppose.
The Investor thinks it may be as
sumed that rising prices will follow
the Alaska discoveries, without con-
ceding that it necessarily means a
fall in gold. cit may not appear a
matter of much consequence" the
financial paper adds, whether we
say that goods have risen or that
gold has fallen. The distinction is,
however, vital one. The discovery
of vast deposits of gold is likely to
greatly increase the purchasing power
OF the world, making it harder than
before to supply commodities in as
large amounts and as fast as they
are needed. in that case, it would
be correct to say that goods have
risen in value because OF the increased
demand. But there is another pos
sible factor to be kept in mind. There
may also be an increased demand for
gold"
Such increased demand might arise
from other silver using nations, like
Japan, going on the gold basis; from
the increase of wealth in the world,
and to the universal tendency to
hoard gold, which finds it's strongest
expression in India and among many
semi civilized nations.
In short, the idea of the Investor
seems to be that the worlds gold
hunger cannot be appeased by any
possible discoveries, and that there
fore the price of the yellow metal is
pretty sure to be maintained under
all circumstances. If this is the case,
it affords a strong argument for the
reconciliation of silver by inter-
national agreement. We may admit
that the increasing population and
wealth and business OF the world are
going to create constantly enlarging
demand for money as medium OF
exchange, and it is quite possible that
the output of the gold will never be
sufficient to fully meet the demand.
In that case, why not call the other
precious metal, silver, to the rescue
and endow it with full monetary
power at ratio agreed upon by the
| leading commercial nations? If the
demand for silver were rest ored by
it's admission to the mnts of the
great nations, the value of silver
would inevitably rise. Silver would
then be boarded as we'll as gold, but
the aggregate of the I wo metals would
amply supply the worlds monetai y