Natchitoches populist. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1898-1899, 1898-09-23
STABLE DOLLARS.
HONEST AND DISHONEST
ONES DEFINED.
The Gold Dollar, While 1t Increases In
Value, RObs the Property Owner of
the Value of His Holdings as Ex-
pressed In Dollars.

The advocates of the gold standard
are the self-styled champions of the
honest dollar" 1t ought to be easy
TO agree upon a definition of what con-
stitutes honesty in a dollar
But what do the gold men give us?
They say that honest money" is
sound money" and Sound money" is
honest money" This is reasoning in
circle. When pressed for more
specific answer they say that the gold
dollar is honest because it Is always
worth one hundred cents, or because it
loses nothing in value when melted
and is therefore stable in value,
The law says that the dollar shall be
of the value of 100 cents. How
then, could it be worth more or less
than that? The quality of being worth
one hundred cents is simply law-giv-
ing quality. The whole is always
worth neither more nor less than the
sum Of its parts. But does that show
that the gold dollar has remained
stable?
Certainly not. In order to see II
stability of value has been maintained,
comparison must be made with other
things Everything is stable when
measured by itself, or parts OF itself.
The gold men who make that arrange
ment are doubtless the brightest men
in the world, when measured by them
selves; but If compared with other
people different conclusion might be
reached.
Under the free coinage Of silver in
India up to 1893 the silver rupee was
the standard of value. 1t was always
worth itself-no more, no less-and 1t
was always worth the sixteen annas
which the law said should constitute
a rupee.
But did that alone prove that the
silver rupee, under free coinage, was
stable in value?
The human body is composed Of GER
tain parts in childhood, with the foot
the head, VIC win say, ten per cent Of
the whole person. But the fact that in
maturity the body is equal to itself
and the parts that compose 1t, these
parts bearing each about the same
relation to the whole as In childhood,
does not show that there has been no
growth.
To find out whether the dollar has
remained stable, or has, as bimetaliists
contend, risen in value, comparison
must be made, not with itself or parts
Of itself, but with other things.
But it is said that the gold dollar is
stable because it loses nothing in melt
ing; that it Is worth the same in the
shape of bullion as in the shape OF
coin. This again is due solely to the
law
IL gold coin is melted the law allows
the holder to go to the mint and have
Il coined into the same number Of dol
lars: but if silver coin is melted, there
Is no such privilege. When free coin
age exists there cannot be difference
between the bullion and the coin value.
Why?
Because 40 one would be foolish
enough to sell his gold when, as now,
there is free coinage Of gold land the
same would be true Of silver, under
the free coinage of silver), at less than
the mint price, and let the purchaser
make a profit of the difference be-
tween the price he bought 1t at and the
mint price,
In other words, no one will sell gold
bullion for less than one hundred cents
when he can take it to the mint and
have it coined into dollar worth 100
cents Thus neither the fact that the
gold dollar is worth 100 cents nor the
fact that 1t loses nothing by
melting tends in any degree to show
that II remains stable In value.
II dollar was designed primarily
for melting purposes, the last men
toned characteristic might be useful
But the object of the dollar is not for
melting, but to effect purchases, pay
debts and measure property by, and
the best dollar is the one which keeps
the most stable as measured by prop
erty: so that debt of 500, for exam
pie, will represent, IS near as possible
the same amount of property when
contracted and when paid,
1t is Just as absurd to reason that
gold is the best because it loses moth
ing by melting as 1t would be to say
that paper money is the best because
1t will float, when gold and silver
would sink to the bottom. The object
Of the dollar is neither melting nor
swimming.
The best dollar is the one which
answers best the purposes it is intend
ed for.
----------------- ----------
Santiago and silver.