Middletown transcript., 1897-03-13


driven out Of circulation. specie payments /
were suspended, the currency began ut once /
to depreciate and before the close of the year I
the paper dollar was worth less than 76 cents /
In gold. From the time the depreciation began |
the price Of commodities and the wages of la-
Dor were paid in paper currency, and the in
furious effect upon Tho interests of the labor
ing man is clearly shown In the report re-
ferred TO.
workingnen the Sufferers.
In 1889 the wages Of labor, paid In depreci-
ated paper, were less than per cent higher in
paper than when paid In gold, but the prices |
of the 22S articles used BY faHs laborers and |
other people in the main ssAAnce Of their fAza
lies were nearly IS per cent higher than thsy |
were when paid in gold; in 1868 the wages 81
labor paid in deprecated paper worth about l
90 cents on the dollar were 1015 per cent higher
than when paid in gold, but the prices Of the |
articles the laborer had to buy with his wages
were nearly 40 per cent higher; in 1854 the |
wages OF labor paid in depreciated paper dol
lars worth 40 cents each had advanced 251f per
cent but the prices Of the necessaries of life l
had advanced e016 per cent; in 1866 wages paid |
In paper currency worth So cents on the dollar /
had advance Is per cent above the rates pre- |
viously paid in gold, or its equivalent, but the
prices Of commodities had advanced nearly liz |
per cent-that is to say, had more than dou- |
bled, and In 1855 wages paid in currency |
worth II cents on the dollar had advanced q /
fraction more than 50 per cent from the preyi-
ous rates In gold or its equivalent but the
prices of commodities had advanced 90 per
cent The rise in the rates Of wages never cor
responded with the rise in the prices of other
things until the year 1869, four years after the |
close Of the war, when the value Of our cur
rency was II cents on the dollar, and 1t was /
quite certain that no further depreciation |
would occur. In 1860 this country was on |
gold basis and and been on that basis for many |
years under the operation of the acts Of 1884 /
and 1887. Wages were then paid in gold or its |
equivalent and by reducing the wages paid in |
o deprecated currency to gold basis and /
comparing them with the rates paid in gold in |
1860 we shall have another demonstration Of /
the injurious effects of cheap money on the in |
terests of the laborer.
On this basis the laborer received 20 cents /
and mills in 1868, instead Of the gold dollar /
he received in 1860; in 1864 he received 80 cents
and mills instead of gold dollar, and in 1866 |
he received GO cents and mills instead Of 3 |
gold dollar.
In other words, the wages Of labor meas
ured by gold as they were in 1850, when we had |
q sound currency, had fallen about "a per cent |
In 1868, more than 10 per cent in 1864, and |
nearly "A per cent in 1866, when we had o /
deprecated currency, and, gentlemen, the |
force Of this illustration Is greatly aug Anted
by the facts that these reductions in ates |
of wages occurred at a time when several hum |
dred thousand laborers had been Withdrawn |
from the field of competition, when the gov |
ernment was engaged in the prosecution of q |
great war and was expending money lavishly |
for all kinds Of supplies for the army and |
navy. and when the prices Of all the products |
of labor had largely increased
Surely If there ever can be time when an |
abundance of cheap money will increase the |
wages and improve the condition of laboring |
men these results ought to have been accom-
plished under the combination Of favorable |
circumstances existing, especially in the great |
centers of industry, from 1851 to 1856, and yet |
there has been no other period in our history |
when the rates of wages fell SO rapidly or so
low.
Chile's Sad Experience.
The recent experience Of the republic ot
Chile furnishes another impressive WARNING 60
the wage Garner against the evils of depre.
ciated currency. That country had for long |
time the SO called double standard Of value,
with coinage Of legal tender gold and silver at
the rate of 1859 to l, but as this was consid-
erable undervaluation of silver the coins Of
that metal went out of circulation and gold
constituted the medium of exchange and actu-
al standard Of value until about the beginning
Of the year 1875, but as soon as the commercial |
value of silver fell below the ratio Of 1889 to
as compared with gold all the gold went out |
of circulation and the country had silver mon
ometallism. In 1876 before this change took
place, the peso, or dollar Of Chile, was worth
about S855 cents in our money, but in 1885, ten |
years after, gold went out and silver came in,
the peso was worth less than So cents in our
money. Silver continued to depreciate and,
besides, large amounts of paper currency were
issued by the government and the banks, and |
In 1895, 20 years after the change from the gold
basis to the silver basis, the peso was worth |
only about 841z cents in our money.
Let us see now what effect this cheap money,
or, in other words, this system of silver mono |
metallism which you are asked to adopt here, |
had upon the wages of labor in that country. |
Our minister at Santiago has very recently |
made an official investigation and report upon |
this subject, which has not yet been published, |
from which 1t sppears that in the northern |
part of Chile, where labor has always been in |
greater demand than elsewhere on account OF |
the great nitrate fields located in that section |
OF the country, very little change took place |
even in the nominal rates OF wages notwith' |
standing the great fall in the value OF the cur
Fency-that is. laborers continued TO receive
IN depreciated money about the same amount |
they received before in good money. In 1875, |
when the peso was worth ssh cents, mo
chanio, boiler maker, blacksmith, car |
penter, fireman and an ordinary laborer re- |
ceived together for days work 181a pesos, or |
t18.35 in our money; in 1885 the same persons |
received for the same work 20A pesos, but ow-
ing to the depreciation of the currency this |
was equal to only S10.98 in our money, and In |
1896 % years after tho country had descended |
the same work 5.e5 pesos, but the value of the |
peso was less than 35 cents, and consequently |
their wages amounted to only S8.34 in our mon
ey, or just about one-half of what they had re- |
ceived 20 years before. In the central part OF |
the country the result was substantially the |
same, though not quite so injurious to the La |
borer. In 1875 days wages for five men-a |
mason, carpenter, a gasftter, painter and |
an ordinary laborer-amounted altogether to |
So. in our money, but in 1886 the wages OF /
the same men were $5.53, and in 1895 4.99. In |
the southern part of the republic there was |
some increase in the nominal amount of wages |
paid between 1915 and 1889 on account of the
fact that line of railway was then being con- |
structed through that region by foreign capi- |
tai, but since the latter date the general aver
age rate of wages has remained substantially |
the same, although paid in constantly deprer
ciating currency.
Our minister to Chile, after very careful |
examination of the entire situation in that /
country, says:
"It may be taken for granted that in Chile. |
as in all other countries which have had a like |
financial experience, the consequences of cheap /
money have weighed most heavily upon the |
classes that are least able to support the bur- /
den,"
The evils of silver monometaliism and a de-
preciated currency finally became intolerable |
in that country, and, although it produces
considerable silver and very little gold, it has |
recently adopted the gold standard Of valne.
Japan's Experience.
In nearly every country In the world having |
the gold standard of value the wages Of labor |
have increased materially during the last 25 |
years, and at the same time the purchasing |
power Of the money In which wages are paid |
has increased also, while in the countries hay
ing the silver standard Of value wages have |
been actually reduced by the depreciation Of
the currency to such an extent that the labor
er Is in much worse condition than he was |
at the beginning Of that period. Japan, by I
far the most progressive and prosperous coun- |
try In the east, coins both gold and silver at |
the ratio Of 49, fi8 to ]. q ratio which greatly |
overvalues silver, and, as the government does |
not maintain the parity Of the two metals, the
currency is on deprecated silver basis
Wages are paid in silver, of course, because
the laboring men and women always get the
cheapest money in circulation. and they gem /
orally pay the highest prices for the articles /
they buy, for the reason that their purchases
are usually made in small quantities at a time.
The Japanese silver yen is worth little less
than 80 cents in our money, and when the |
wages Of labor, paid in this deprecated coin,
are reduced to our standard Of value, they APP /
pear SO insignificant that it is difficult to un-
derstand how the people who receive the mis-
.-n1,1,x -,s@&,roo .ay, 1.-Two ynaivTtaira their