The Forrest City times., 1898-01-21
THE oEMoNETIZATIoNoF SILVER
what Its Eject Has Been Upsa
Labor.

In attempting to answer this ques-
ton we have at least two propositions
TO take into account. /. Has the de-
monetization of silver in any way con-
tracted the volume of the national
basal on redemptive money? 2. If so.
has it embarrassed the wage earners of
our country?
There can be no doubt in the mind
of any intelligent observer that If one
half OF nations, or the worlds, re-
demptive money is destroyed. the re-
naming half will appreciate in value
and become more difficult to obtain.
Hence all commodities used in the ex-
change for the limited amount of
money must be increased in CORE
spending volume.
This has been recognized by both
politicians and business men. Mr..
James Dobson, in an address before the
Manufacturers club, in Philadelphia,
said: I'VE are now presented with a
condition, not theory; u condition so
faI reaching that unless change takes
place in the near future it will bank
rupt one-half of the producers of the
wealth of the country; condition
wherein the seller sells under fear;
the buyer buys without confidence, and
the creditor apprehends loss on his
principal. This condition of affairs is
due, in my judgment, to other than
natural causes. l allege that ii is due
to the demonstration of silver, to the
contraction of our currency, to max
ing one dollar do the purchasing power
of two"
John Sherman, in speech in 1896
touching the effect of the demonetiza-
tion of silver in Germany, said: "The
erroneous effect of the law / suppose
is felt by every man, woman and child
who buys or sells anything. There is
no act of any parliament that has had
SO wide-reaching effect as this act of
the German parliament. The amount
Of coin in the world is estimated by
Mr.. Seyd and other technical writer's
at S3,200,000,000 of silver and $780,
e0o,0o0 of gold. A struggle for the
possession of the gold at once arose
between all the great nations, because
everybody could see that if the So, ,20o,-
100000 of silver was demonetized and
$500, 100000 of gold coin made the sole
standard it would enormously add to
the value of gold" Mr.. Sherman ought
to have taken this into consideration
when he aided the men of LON bard and
Wall streets in the demonetization of
our silver.
Economic writers in all ages have
recognized that contraction of the
nations money supply has a tendency
to paralyze trade and cause fall in
the general level of prices. On the
other hand, an increase of the money
supply will check n decline in prices,
and, If sufficient. cause them to rise.
John Sherman said in 1869 before
silver was demonetized: THE contrac-
tion of the currency is far more dis
tressing operation than the senator's
suppose. Our own and other nations
have gone through the operation be-
fore. 1t is not possible to take that
voyage without the sorest distress. 1t
means the ruin of all dealers whose
debts are twice their business capital,
though one-third less than their actual
property. 1t means the fall of agricui-
tural production. without any great re-
duction of taxes. What prudent man
would dare build house, a railroad.
factory or barn with this constant
fact before him."
John G. Carlisle, ex-secretary of the
treasury, said, in an address February
f1, 1878: THE conspiracy which seems
to have been formed here and in Eu-
rope to destroy by legislation and 9TH
crwise from three-seyenths to one-half
the metallic money of the world is the
most gigantic crime of this or any other
age. The condition of such a scheme
would ultimately entail more misery
upon the human race than all the wars,
pestilences and famine that have ever
occurred in the history of the world"
Yet this man at a latter date used his
influence in helping rivet these fet-
ters on the limbs of American enter
prise and labor.
Hume, one of England's ablest AMI
most reliable historians, says: w
find that in every kingdom into which
money begins to flow in greater abun-
uS HSC tHah loTlHeTiy every Inlng taxes
on new face, labor and industry gain
life, the merchant becomes more en-
terprising, the manufactures more dill
gent and skillful, the farmer follows his
plow with greater alacrity and atten-
tion. nation whose money decreases
is weaker and more unable than an
other nation which possesses no more
money but is on the increasing hand.
Falling prices and misery and destruc-
tion are inseparable companions"
That the demonetization of silver has
lessened the volume of our redemptive
money and contracted the volume of
our currency is fact without an in
terrogation point and that there has
been fall in the general level of
prices is also apparent. AS labor must
necessarily be paid from this profits of
what it produces from the soil, the
mines and the shop, "A lessened price for
these products will carry into the hands
OF labor a lessened amount of wages.