Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1898-03-18
Alas, How Changed

tA~k bi C'NtroNtrtlnS some Oh MI.
T"wnc's propositions on the currency
question. What the result has been
1t l. our present purpose to briefly
consider
The first point attacked is the state
mcnt that property values have fallen,
under the gold unit, until it takes
double the amount Of any property,
including farm products, to settle a
debt contract before silver was stricken
down, or rather, before the effects Of
that act transpircd in the coinage met
ais parting company. oily boldly af-
firms that this is not true, and de-
clares that in the Mississippi valley
the price of farm products, in gold,
has risen since 'the crime OF 1872"
1t will he seen that but very small
portion OF farm products as compared
with the value of the whole country is
taken for peg upon which to hang
the proposition, and it is not claimed
that the prices of farm products have
appreciated, under these conditions,
anywhere else, but by implication it is
conceded they have declined.
by the Mississippi valley, we pre-
sumo, is meant the gulf States at the
mouth Of the river, with Arkansas and
Missouri, whose tota, yield of wheat
averages about one-thirtieth the pro-
duct OF the country, and would, there
fore. probably be a fair average of
wheat it terms farm products" The
yield Of wheat in the United States for
1897 is placed at 100000 bushels.
The claim OF our contemporary, even
were it true, would prove nothing, or at
least does not sustain the conclusion
that it has endeavored to establish.
And were it true that improvements
in farm machinery are OF such recent
date rs to sustain its proposition,
which is likewise not true, the only
effect would have been to lessen the
value OF the product, reduce the wages
paid harvesters, while it might slightly
augment the wage.rate of skilled labor.
Anyway the assertion is boomerang
and disproves the proposition it was
designed to support.
Moreover" claims the Oiympian,
statisticians show us that in spite OF
the iniquities Of the gold standard,
This is "bitter sarkasm," as A. Ward
would sayl the average OF all prices
is rising, rather than falling to day."
Here is another palpable misrepresen-
tation. With the exception OF wheat,
and some other food products, which
owe an inflated value to well.known
causes. the average Of prices, including
the rewards Of labor, are still on the
lower grade, where they landed during
the panic which SO utterly paralyzed
business and Frustrated all industrial
pursuits. The only advance has been in
trades that are tributary to the process
for wringing blood.money from starv-
ing nations across the water, and in
the hectic flush incident to the scram-
bic for nuggets on our northwestern
border.
1t seems little strange to observe
that Mr.. Towne is charged by our
neighbor with trying to pay debts in
45-cent dollars, when the same pencil,
directed by the same gray matter, be.
fore the Republican party switched"
showed SO clearly the fallacy of such a
proposition; and the very idea that
silver, rehabilitated with debt.paying
power, would be at discount of IS
per cent, was secuted as the silliest of
all silly sophistry. The Olympian
once inquired, in perfect accord with
all bimetallists: Who would volun-
tarily put his hand into his pocket
and pass out dollars at 40 cents, after
the law had fixed their value at 100
cents in debt-paying power? Such
philanthrOpists, it then contended,
were indeed rare. The editor, before
he found comfortable stall, scoffed
all such goldbug absurdities.
1t is quite plain that the critic mis-
understands the proposition of Mr..
Towne, when he tackles his assertion
that goldbugs want dollar of as high
purchasing power as possible. Oily
protests that they do not want the
model dollar increased to 46 grains of
gold, instead of 1922 its size now.
Why, bless your soul, Oily, Mr.. Towne
did not mean that. He meant that
goldbugs want to buy as much prop
erty of all kinds with as small an
amount of gold as possible; that's all.
He claimed that they are strenuously
in favor OF making the modicum of %
grains the unit for purchasing the
world. That's all.
There is space for but another allu-
sion to our contemporary string of
absurdities designed as criticisms of
Mr.. Towne's lecture. In referring to
the statement of the speaker that
gold standard nations had increased
in 30 years from population of forty
millions to four hundred millions of
people, the Olympian asks, in apparent
sincerity and candor: "Were not
these the most enlightened and pro-
gressive people on earthw Certainly;
but did not Mr.. Towne state the truth
when he declared that the gold unit