Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-11-01

although only ! very little, 70 purchase
the same quantity Of goods and meFchan.
reason for this, however. Is perfectly
plain and will not dwell upon it any
more than to say that it was owing en-
demand of the East India and the United
States for the metal for monetary uses.
THE FALL OF PRICES SINCE 1878.
But from 1878 to 1888 upon an average,
silver and property in general continued
to exchange for each other upon sub
stantially the same terms as before, You
must understand, however, that both the
silver. and the other forms of property
had fallen in value compared with gold
something like one-third. That is to say,
prices generally had gone down, which is
only one way OF saying that money had
gone up Since 1873 this fail of prices mas
been more marked Until. IS have stated,
the aggregate decline amounts to just
about e-half- This is a fact OF enor-
tom of the entire demand for the restor-
alton of silver. We are not advocating
bimetaliism upon rigid technical grounds.
There are reasons for believing that the
two metals. gold and silver, will con-
stitute better monetary system than
either one alone, but we are laying no
particular stress upon that aspect of the
question. But we have no objection TO
gold as a money metal. 1t is good
enough. No one complains of it. 1t has
faithfully performed its function as mon
ey for thousands of years, and we make
no attack upon the yellow metal as such.
We simply say that there is not enough
OF It. That silver and gold having stood
tosether for four thousand years, and the
worlds business having been adapted to
the supply of both, when silver was de-
monetized, our supply of metallic money,
became insufficient for the transaction OF
business except on a lower scale of prices.
Our opponents are very fond OF saying
that there is plenty of gold. So there is
If we care nothing about prices. one
half the stock of gold in existence might
be destroyed and there would still be plen-
ty to transact the worlds business, but
to enable the scant supply of gold to go
around This is the evil which has af-
flfcted US for nearly quarter of CEN
tury-prices going almost constantly low
er and lower.
DEPRESSED BUSINESS IN GOLD
STANDARD COUNTRIES.
In every gold standard country this
great fall of prices to which | have refer
red, has been recognized. 1t has been
made the subject of repeated investiga-
ton, and the best economic thought of the
age has ascribed it to the characterization
of silver in 1878 Besides this. in all these
countries, during the greater portion of
the period referred to, business has been
in most unhealthful condition and at
times nearly paralyzed This is condi-
ton which invariably accompanies gen
eral and long continued fall of prices. NO
country in the world has sustained losses
at all to be compared with those of the
for this simple reason, my friends, that
this country is at once the greatest pro-
Queer in the world and also the worlds
greatest debtor.
FALLING PRICES INJURE PRO
DUCERS AND DEBTORS.
Any intelligent person who considers for
moment cannot heiQ seeing that a gen
eral fall of prices viii, as rule, inJure
those who are in debt and those who are
engaged in production, while benehtting
the non-producing and creditor classes.
/ IN ANN a
the value OF his crop is Sl,cUD, a ran or
prices equal to fifty per cent. will reduce
the value of that crop to $500. In order
to realize 1000 he must plant twice as
much as before. On the other hana, III
a man be not engaged in producing, either
cirectly or indirectly, ard nave nXeu
times, that same fall of prices has bene-
flied him, because his income will buy
more. So again, il the farmer to whom l
have referred, or any other producer be
in debt a certain amount of money, he
must p2y-th2t debt out of the price which
he gets for his products. If this price
fall one-half, he must turn over twice as
much of mis- products in order to satisfy
the debt. IN other words, as far as that
transaction is concerned, the burden OF
the debtor has been doubled, while the
real wealth of The creditor has been like
wise doubled But the effect does not stop
here If man pay his DEBT at all, 1t
funds which he has left after meeting
current expenses. But fall of fifty per
cent. in prices is very apt 10 cut down his
returns 20 such point that ne VIII nave
no surplus ana consequently be unable
to pay anything upon his debt, the result
Of which is ruin. Inis comes from the
fact that all things do not fall alike in
price, and some things, such as taxes, 40
not come down at all.
This last consideration is one of the
stereotyped arguments of the gold men,
who sJrenuOusiy insist that the fall OF
prices has not injured the producers, be-
cause the things whicn they buy are also
cheaper As 1 have stated, this reasoning
is defective, because while there mas been
a general fall the process does not apply
equally to al things, some OF them not
falling al all. The worst feature OF this
great fall of prices is that the bulk of 1t
has been in Wholesale rates, retail pri as
not having fallen anything like so TAR.
Now, take The case OF farmer again, or
IL you please, Almost any other producer.
All Of the produce he sells is as a rule at
wholesale rates, while when he goes to
the store to supply his household demands
he buys o. retail rateS. To considerable
extent, retail prices have been kept up
by combinations among dealers and the
circumstance that retail sales are usually
OF small parcels, the prices of which are
lowered very little if any. Consequently
producers nave been injured as producers
much more Than lney have been benefited
turer is in no wise different from that of
the farmer except that the manufactures
has q better chance to Keep even by buy
ing his raw material cheaply and by in
creasing his output, while the farmer pro-
duces raw material himself. and there is
no one upon whom he can shift any por-
ton of his loss. except possibly, a very
little of ii to the hired man. In addition
to this there is limit to the productive
capacity of the farmers land, and when
urices fall, he is not able to increase his
crop and keep even in that way. There
re, in truth, very few business men of
any calling who are actually benefited
by q general decline Of prices. In seasons
of great Guinness, address yourself to al
most any business man, ask him what is
the matter, and in ninety-nine cases out
of a hundred. he will tell you that prices
are so low that there is no profit in bus
mess And yet, strange to say, this same
business man is Mortified al the idea of
money being made cheaper. They all
want prices to so up, but they don't want
money to go down, result which must
inevitably follow. Whether we have a
gold standard, a silver standard, or a pa
per standard, 1t is utterly impossible for
prices generally to rise without money
falling because 1t is simply a matter of
balancing, money is at one end of the bal
ance, goods are al the other. When one
goes up the other is bound to go down.
EVEN BANKERS AS A RULE NOT
BENEFITED BY GOLD STANDARD.
1t has been observed that very large
majority of the banhsrs of the country
are in favor of the gold standard There
are some exceptions, ii is true. but they
are merely the exceptions which prove the