Little Falls herald., 1898-04-08
STANDARDS OF VALUES.

Here rs the Key by Which to Unlock
the Whole Silver Questien
Two Standards. 81
There is vast amount of discussion
concerning the term standard of val
ue." The term '..unit Of value" is used
for the first time in the United States
statutes of 1873, when the gold dollar
was declared to be the unit of value"
Lawmakers are not always precise in
the use of wordsl -. - -=>.
1t is important that the reader should
fully grasp the following brief state
ment; it is the key unlocking the sill
yer question! We can measure the ex-
changeable value of commodities either
by silver unit or gold unit, but there
is no possible way of keeping the ex-
changeable value of the unit itself fixed
We may be precise as to it's weight. its
fineness and it's appearance, yet it can
not be a fixed standard as yardstick
made of metal is legal standard of
length at certain temperature. The
exchangeable value of the unit itself
depends upon the supply and demand
of the metal out of which the unit is
made, providing there is no restriction
in coinage We can note the tempera-
ture Of the metallic standard yard,
and have its exact length known at
that temperature, hence we have a
fixed standard of length at certain
temperature. As for gold and silver.
we can regulate the demand for coin
age by statute law, but cannot regulate
the supply of either metal, and we know
that the worlds annual supply in the
past 100 years has been exceedingly
variable and always beyond legal con-
troll, hence we cannot have standard
made of either of these metals which
is fixed and strictly analogous to a
standard fixed like yardsticS at GER
tain temperature.
We can have, and did have, two
"standards of payment" in the United
States from 1892 to 1873. These were
our gold coins and our silver dollars,
and up to 1873 our smaller silver coins.
By our statute laws. they were abso-
lutely equal, under our government, as
debt payers. Standard dollars for debt
paying were made of each, multiples in
gold and single for silver, but these dol
lars were seldom exactly equal as dol
lars in exchange for commodities.
Either the one or the other was near
ly always at premium, and those who
were well informed in such matters
often took advantage of the situation
and made a profit by gathering in these
coins that were at premium and re-
selling them for manufacturing or ex:
port. Hence. if by a Standard we mean
something fixed in it's own exchange
able value compared with commodities
whose demand and supply may have
been unchanged, we cannot use the
term STANDARD Of value" without con.
fusion of though. The dollar debts IN
der our formef laws we're paid by the
two standard coin dollars, Perfectly re-
gardless Of the supply or demand Of
these dollars or the metals ott Of which
they we're Coined. When it was e6h:
yenient, the debtor could always choose
the cheaper dollar 70 pay his debts.
Hence, we had two standards of pay
ment fixed by statue law, while it is
we'll known that from 1909, until the
discovery Of gold in California in 1s4s,
these two precious metals were annual
ly increasing in scarcity and hence in
exchangeable value. These dollars,
however. were fixed standards as to the
payment of debts, both were constant
]y appreciating as measures of value.
They performed two. different func-
tions! That eminent authority on the
history of metallic money, S. Dana
Horton, calls these dollars, as they were
in fact. not standards but ''instru-
ments Of valuation"
Anyone who may be under the false
impression that either gold or silver, or
both metals, when used together are
not subject to the law of supply and
demand, and hence fixed in exchangea-
BILE value, holds theory that cannot be
sustained. Bimetallists claim that the
fair use of the two metals, at the same
time, as full legal tender money has a
constant tendency to equalize their
relative exchangeable value. In other
words, it has a constant tendency to
keep them more steady but not fixed,
as we know a true standard should be.
There can be no such thing as an un-
varying standard of value. Gold money
is sound money because it's exchange
able value is fixed by nature is the
false plea of those who see falling prices
but who cannot see that the standard,
gold, has become more valuable. Hence:
the reason why we oppose the adoption
of the gold standard is because gold
has constantly increased in exchanged
BILE value since the commercial world
has partially discarded silver as full
legal tender money. We hold that as
soon as we treat silver fairly that the
importantce of gold as an ..instru-
ment of valuation will decrease. We
demand the full restoration of silver
payments, not only because the statute
law distinctly says our silver dollars
are legal tender for all coin obligations,
but because the equity Of the case de-