Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1897-12-23
COLD FACTS.


Chase, Of Chase's Mills Maine, makes this
reply under date of Nov. 8, ult., to the
/" Monetary Commission of goldites who
are now in session in Washington, who had
invited his views as to currency reform :"
Your questions ignore the great cause
of all our currency COMMISSIONS, which is the
appreciation of gold. The rise in gold,
since gold alone became primary money in
this country. shows that currency kept at
par with gold is very unstable. The effect
of the single gold standard has been to dis
turb the equity of deferred payments and
time contracts The dollar that is now
paid for interest on fifteen-year bond has
doubled in purchasing power since the bond
was issued. The producer has paid his
debts in raising money and sold his goods
in falling market until the savings of
lifetime have been wiped out from no fault
OF his own. Since gold alone was made
primary money in this country, the dollar
invested in the mortgage has doubled 10
has diminished in value one-haIt. This is
illustrated by the instance of the farmer
who bought farm ten years ago and paid
half down, and paid the balance in equal
annual payments. AS the years roll by il
takes more and moro hogs to pay 500 OF
mortgage, until it takes twice as much hogs
and hay to pay the last mortgage note as il
did to pay the first mortgage note. The
man who holds the mortgage gets more hogs
pillow don't get go many hogs as is his due
If after ten years of hard work and strict
economy the farmer is able to take up the
last mortgage note, the farm is worth only
half as much as when he bought it. What
can be more unjust than financial system
that doubles the burden of the poor mans
debts, whose farm is mortgaged?
If silver dollars are redeemed in gold
it will intensity the strain on gold and still
further increase the unearned increment
that now goes to the money lender. ]
would swing wide open the doors of the
United States mint to both silver and gold
at 16 to regardless of what other nations
may do. lam too much of an American to
play second fiddle to old England or any
other European nation. II, after 16 to l,
gold should go to a premium, it becomes a
commodity the same as paper, hogs and
wheat, and would not disturb prices
premium on gold when gold is commodity
is as harmless as Mary's little lamb bur
the appreciation of gold when gold alone is
the standard of value is wolf in sleeps
clothing.
Your plan of redemption is not to re-
deem. and can only be success when NOT
enforced. Why promise what cannot be
performed?
" The greenback, that was our salvation
in time of peril, and a blessing in time Of
peace until disturbed by hostile law, is good
enough for me. The greenback is as secure
to the holder as the government bond. Both
rest on the pleasure and power of the Gov
eminent.
Gold has appreciated SO much that an
elastic currency kept at par with gold is an
impossibility. A currency cannot be elastic
that is worth more to keep than TO part
with. The money lender demands two or
three times as much property security for
money that is now the equivalent of gold
as he did in 1880 for money that was then
the equivalent of gold. More credit OF
token money that appreciates along with
gold would only add to the idle millions
that are now seeking investment in bonds
because the men who own the productive
property of the country are not regarded as
solvent borrowers.
There is not a single gold standard
country on the face of the earth that has an
elastic currei cy. If gold payments were
suspended in this country, all our currency
would become elastic in the twinkling OF
an eye."