Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1898-06-17
FINANCIAL WISDOM.
Gov. shaw's Statements About
Sound Money Analysed.


FalIacious and UntenabIe Assertions
of Iowa's Chief Executive on the
Currency Question-Wheat and
Money in the balance.
'An impression exists in some localities
that the volume of money has something
to do with the price of commodities No
argument is more fallacious and none sup
ported by more sophistry. What is the
primary purpose of money? Is 1t intended
that the volume shall balance all property?
BY no means. Enough currency is needed
10 support the demands of great CONNER
c1al people and to afford them medium Of
! exchange. Money is not consumed by its
use Suppose the whole nation to be a
great wheat field. How many half bushels
, Will be needed to handle the crop? VIII
we require enough to hold the entire yield !?
Not at all. There will be a demand for
enough only to accommodate every ma
chine, every seller, every buyer, every ship
per. every hardware house man. Must they
all be OF government standard test
certainly not. They must be of the same
size, of the same dimensions of the gov
ernment's standard, but they may be a
temporary make, and yet serve the pur-
pose as well as II they were made of cast
VIII be more half needed on thrash.
ing day than will be needed on seeding
day.-Gov. Leslie M. Shaw, of Iowa. Be-
lore Monetary Convention. January ok.
1895 W.
Inc foregoing appears in italics on
the title page of Sound Currency pub
lished February /. 1898. Sound Cur
rency is semi-monthly publication, is.
sued by the sound currency committee
of the Reform club, the leading associa-
ton of the United States for the defense
OF propagation of the gold standard
philosophy. The remarks Of Gov. Shaw.
above quoted, were taken from his
speech before the monetary convention,
held in indianapolis, carefully selected
by the editor of Sound Currency. itali-
clsed and given conspicuous place on
the title page of that publication.
Hence, it must be regarded as an
automatic statement of economic truth
from the gold standard point of view.
1t is barely possible that somewhere on
the surface of this terrestrial globe
there is living human being who can
give utterance 10 more ineopsequential,
incoherent, false and Standardization
drlvel in the same number of words
than we find in this quotation from gov
than we find in this quotation from
Gov. Shaw, of Iowa. But so, he should
either be subjected to gentle surveil-
lance in an asylum for the weak mind
ed, or he should be brought under the
influence of some Christian society, the
Chief aim of which is TO teach men to
tell the truth. 1t is difficult to believe
that the people of the great state of
Iowa could by any means known to
American politics be induced to elevate
to the highest office within the state a
man who is idiotic enough to honestly
express the opinion embodied in this
brief extract; and in fact it contains
matter which, when closely scanned,
shows conclusiyely that be does not
himself believe what he is trying to
make others believe. 1t Is our desire to
be entirely fair to Gov. Shaw, and yet it
is our duty to speak plainly. He was
addressing himself to a subject which
deeply concerns every man, woman and
child in America. Every industry in
this broad land, and the welfare,
mental, moral and physical, of every
person living within its borders-pay,
In the whole INCIDENTALLY depend
upon the sonndness, the truth or fallacy,
! of the opinion which he asserts with SO
much self-assurance and dogmatism.
And it comes not as the ipse dixt of
plain Mr.. Shaw, but with all the prestige
and added force of the exalted office
| with which he is invested. Therefore
plainness of speech is not only justifi-
able, but absolutely necessary But, as
before stated, we would also be just,
and that there may be no possible ques-
ton upon this point we ask the reader
to follow us while we analyze his state
ment. First he says:
An Impression prevails in some To-
calities that the volume of money has
something to do with the price of com
modities."
The only criticism to be passed upon
| this statement is that it is not strong
enough. Instead of being merely an
impression existing in some localities,
it is positive opinion held in all local
| tiles, and it is moreover the doctrine of
every reputable economist from Adam
Smith down to the late Francis A.
| Walker. With this enlargement and
Strengthening of Gov. Shaw's first
statement, we will go on. Next he says:
mo argument is more fallacious and
none supported by more sophistry."
| Hence we must enter denial, as fat
unqualified and direct as we are cap
able of expressing in English. 1t is not
true that nothing could be more falla-
cious," but on the contrary nothing
could be more fallacious" and utterly
preposterous than to deny it. The man
who denies that the volume of money
in circulation has an effect upon the
prices of those things which are ex-
changed for money, simply denies the
daily experience of every business man,
and at the same time insults the com.
mon sense of those to whom he makes
such denial. When commodities are
sold for money, tits merely an exchange
of given amount of money for given
| quantity of the goods. 1t might as well
be urged that the quantity of the goods
makes no difference with the price as
that the volume of the money makes
none. When person asserts that the
volume of money in circulation has nc
effect upon prices, he is fatty contra.
| dieting that fundamental principle OF