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

i have been well able to buy.
THE RELATION BETWEEN SILVER
i AND WHEAT.
The gold standard people struggle hard
to make great point over the ract that
/ silver and wheat for while parted COM
pany, SO to speak, and 1t was assumed
argument Of the binetallsts that there
Is close connection between them.
Therefore, a word of explanation upon
this point will not be i'll timed. Intelli-
| gent silver men have never claimed that
silver and wheat are inseperably con-
| nected or that silver and any other arti-
ed and proved that there was close com
mercial connection between their prices.
This connection grew out of the fact that
american wheat sold in the European
| which was sold from silver using coun-
| tries and which could be sold at silver
chief competitor. silver money is exclus..
| lively used and the purchasing power of
that money had remained the same in
India, although it had fallen greatly COM
| pared with gold. The East Indians were
| therefore content to receive the same
| amount as formerly for their wheat But
about half as much gold to exchange for
| the silver which they had been in the
habit of receiving In other words, wheat
| for about half its former price. But this
| gold, when converted into East Indian ru-
| PEGS: would yield to the Indian farmer as
|
Hence, in India. the price of wheat re-
NAMED practically stable, while in Amer
lea, doing business on a gold basis, it
| had fallen about one-half In 1893 the
East Indian mint was closed to the free
| coinage of silver, and from that time the
| connection between wheat and silver was
rated in rupees When the. coinage of
silver was Free the rupees and silver bull
lion We're practically the same thing, but
| when the East Indian mint was closed
1 rupees dlr6adV
yer bullion, began to part COM
pany the rupee remaining stationary
| or nearly so, While silver bullion fell.
Hence, from that time on, the tendency
| was for wheat to follow the course of the
| rupee, which had an artificial value rath-
| er than the silver bullion. About this
! time, moreover, another disturbing ele-
ment came into play. The finances of
| Argentine became involved, and the pa
preciate heavily compared with gold, but
| like silver, to a considerable extent, it
| maintained its purchasing power over
commodities generally, al least over those
which were produced in that country.
/ Then Argentine loomed up as a great
competitor in. wheat, and as her paper
| India silver, she could actually undersell
| that country in the English markets. To
a considerable extent East Indian wheat
was crowded cut, and Argentine, with her
| cheap paper money, became our principal
| competitor. But exactly the same princi-
| PIE applies in both cases, as you will see.
!
| the greater is the stimulus to the exports
OF wheat and other products from any
country in which there is a premium.
| The fact is recognized by all the trade
| journals, notably in the London Econom-
ISL (Which is very pronouncedly for gold,
fhat the rise of the gold premium at
BuenoS Ayres always stimulates the eX-
! port trade of Argentine; and the farmers
| OF the country actually hold back their
Wneat and their wool their hides and
other exportable products for a rise of
| the gold premium. In other words, the
cheaper their paper money becomes com
pared with sold, the more it results to
| tneir advantage and the better they are
| pleased. In dealing with this mater the
| gold men see nothing but the relative
| value of gold and silver and they assume
that any, money which is cheaper than
| gold IS deprecated generally. They fail
| TO recognize that 10 very great extent
the changed relations between gold and
SILVER or between gold and paper is the
result OF an upward movement of gold.
! AS a result of this misunderstanding on
Their part, they fail to GRASP. the economic
truth that some other kind of mon
than gold and at the same time just as
etfectiye for the purchase of goods
| or the payment of debts as it
explained, are the two as great f HfSe
TONS Of Of money, but the gold men argue
/ as IL they thought the chief function of
silver or paper is to be exchanged for
] gold. 1t is only in the payment OF their
foreign gold debts that the depreciation
/
the the depreciation of paper an in
ternal business they have been
| very greatly benefited, and their pro-
! gress has been little short of marvellous
except as that of India received a most
serious check when the mint of that
| country was closed in 1898, and additions
to TO the money supply almost entirely cut
off; 1t so happened last year that neither
l lrfi nor Argentine had any wheat to
! sell IN Europe Consequently we were
| l.
ton. The crop of Europe was also very
snort and the result of all these things
| combined was that wheat advanced. At
the same time silver was further depre-
! Grated in value by the action of Japan in
oemonetizing that metal. This separa-
! ton of wheat and silver in no way affects
the soundness of our contention. They re-
| malneo together long as commercial
condltlons were such as to keep them so.
| When these conditions changed they
parted company, as any other two things
would have done But all this in no
way affects the main argument. There
c IS scarcely a doubt that this year our
wheat for sale va" ana 1.-THE the " difs
| terence between gold money upon one
ha nan and silver or paper upon the other,
| will again give them the advantage of
Which have spoken. BY restoring silver
to its full position as money, we shall
| very considerably, also the value of that
metal. We shall also make gold cheaper
py transferring portion of our demand
|
| to deprive the East Indian of all advan-
| tage in the sale of his wheat or cotton
| and very greatly reduce the advantage
| which the Argentine farmer has in the
great premium on gold, by lowering that
| premium.
! SCNfE GOLD STANDARD CONTRA
DICTIONS.
| This is the condition which we believe
! would obtain under free coinage. To
| whatever extent the free coinage of silver
would raise prices, it would simply be as
| result of the increased volume of mon
| ey. The gold men claim that it would not
| increase our money suppy-that it would
! drive all the gold out of circulation and
contract the currency, because it would
| take us, they say, a long time to coin
! enough silver to fill its place. Upon this
| point they are utterly inconsistent with
| themselves In one breath they are GO
| ing to have the country flooded with
| cheap silver, in the next they are going
| to have great contraction of the cur
| rency, and both by the same process. They
are inconsistent for another reason. They
tell US that the currency is going to be
| contracted-that we will have less money
| than we have now, and even the little we
J 90 nave is not going to be worth any
| thing. Now, my friends. if you can make
! money scarce and at the same time make
! 1t cheap, 1t is the only thing on the face
| of the earth of which such q thing can
| be truthfully affirmed. Money in this re-
| spect is governed by the same law that
| controls everything else. When you
| make it scarce you make it dear and YOU
can only make it cheap by making it
'