Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1898-11-17
MoEopoLRs AND GOLD.


money
To DO Its work
-Tn reaching ont for the barbed-wfre
trust and great acknowledgements iron
and steel combine has disclosed the full
proportions OF its Plan and purposes The
Federal Steel company. As the combine
VIII probably be called. intends to control
mine or control the mining Of al the ore.
It win hx the price OF every pound OF iron
Il VIII manufacture or control the manu-
facture of every kind OF iron product. from
aTmor plate and guns aad beams and rails
to wire, barbed and plain. and cold chisezs
and hammers and nails As iron Is the
foundation and the skeleton OF the super
structure OF our material civilizations. the
few men at the head OF this com bfne' viii
exercise q stupendous influence upon the
division and distribution OF the wealth OF
this nation, and therefore upon It's social
and political life Behind the Federal
Steel company there Is dream Of wealth
and power and ACKNOWLEDGEMENT that would
have seemed fantastic 9 few years ago. but
Is now in favorable way 10 complete reali-
cation IN. Y. World.
When some great industrial monopoly
springs into life the World is quick TO
observe it, but it is as blind as \ Mann
moth cave fish to the greatest of all
monopolies-that of money. The
combined. for it controls them all.
Money is the machinery by which all
| modern business is transacted. and
they who control the machinery have
the business at their mercy. It is as
plain as light itself that the gold stand
ard is the instrumentality by which
tlie money power is seeking to do its
work. The great money lenders of
London, Berlin and New York are die
fsting the financial pozcy of Europe.
America. and large part of Asia,
through the agency of the gold stand
ard. The specious excuse is offered that
bimetallism is impracticable. That it
is impossible to keep gold and silver
exactly together-on psr-if both are
freely used. Therefore we must only
have one. It is assumed that the mo-
ment one becomes more valuable than
the other at the agreed ratio-that is,
when premium appears-the one
| which Uses to a premium ceases to be
money and the other becomes the
standard; or, as some have claimed, we
would have two standards, which to
thinkers" of a certain class Is '4un-
thinkable." In other words, the main
defense of the gold standard rests upon
the idea that the smallest premium
upon one Of the metals is a greater evil
than to destroy that metal entirely as
money. The simple statement of the
proposition demonstrates its absurd
ity. At the worst the breaking of the
par is no more than a slight inconven-
fence in accounting, so far as domestic
trade is concerned. If. for example,
gold should rise to premium of ten
per cent, then a dollar in gold would
be equal to a dollar and ten cents in
silver. So long as this condition lasted
the gold would be held chiefly by the
banks las it is now and count as part
of their reserves. But the condition
could not last permanently unless prac-
tically all of the gold were expelled from
the country, and this could only be
when -our silver and paper together
constituted our full distributiye share
of the worlds money. Until that point
was reached it would be more profitable
&c invest the gold than to hoard it in
the banks or elsewhere, because as sill
yer flowed into the country to make up
our full share of the worlds stock
prices would rise. which is only another
way of saying that the gold would fall.
So far as international parity il con-
cerned, it is never permanently and
steadily maintained, even between
countries Using the same money metal.
The exact par of the English pound
sterling is $4.S66 in American money,
but it seldom stands at that figure COM
mercially. It ranges generally from
about $4.s2 to $4.S9, according to the
state of the international balances and
The varying demands of the different
countries for specie. Between gold
countries and silver countries the
parity is already as badly broken as it
can be. The gold standard gives no
relief there. Unfortunately for US, the
breaking of the par of exchange has
given silver-using countries very great
advantage in international trade. The
arguments in favor of the gold stand
ard are purely technical-mere quib-
bles. On the other hand. the objections
TO it are of the most substantial char
acter. Its adoption means the destruc-
ton of a large part of the money
supply of the nations in which it is
made the standard, falling prices, hard
times, oppression OF the debtor and an
unconscionable advantage to the cred
itor. The latter is the reason why the
worlds great creditors favor it. The
value of their demands is increased,
they obtain command of more and
more of other peoples wealth for the
same number of dollars. In effect they
corner the money market and dominate
the business of the world. Upon con-
stantly falling market the weaker bust
ness men are forced out, while the
stronger ones form combines for their
own production Hence it can be
truthfully affirmed that the gold stand
ard is the prolific father of trusts. The
Rockefeller-Car combine may con-
troll the iron and steel industry. but
the money combine controls every
thing, including the New York World.
H 2. BARTINE.
pnTNTc AMT nDrNrnNc