Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1898-06-17

eiiuI whether we nave vi or Sl ,O0U, OyU, uvo
in money prices will be the same, is
either too stupid or too mendacious to
justify MS in wasting much time in ex-
planning to him what money is actually
for. Next he intelligently asks:
rs it intended that its volume shall
balance all property?"
And then he answers, ponderously
and triumphantIy: "By no means"
What wealth of philosophy and
depth of reasoning we have here; be-
cause the volume of money is not in
tended to balance all the property in the
world; in other words, because all prop
erty is not offered for sale at once, there
fore the quantity of moneyisa matter of
no consequence, according TO Gov.
Shaw But the governor must certainly
recognize the fact that there is some
property, indeed, great deal of prop
erty, constantly being offered for sale
that is, balanced against money-and
that much of it demands actual cash.
Suppose there is not enough money
available to balance the property which
is offered. What happens then? Moth
ing except that the prices must fall SO
as to enable the scant supply of money
to go around. Suppose man have a
salary OF $50 week. With prices as
they are now he can buy certain guam
tity of such things as he needs. Sup
pose, again, that his salary is suddenly
reduced to $40 week. Can he buy the
same quantity of those things at the
same prices? Even Gov. Shaw ought
to be able to see that he cannot. Either
the prices must fall one-half or he must
content himself with half as many
things. Suppose that the same thing
takes place with every other man and
woman. Is it not evident that, meas-
used by dollars" the worlds power has
been reduced one-half? What is the re-
suit? Simply this: The world will only
buy half as many goods or it must buy
them at half price. Those who have the
goods for sale can get no more money
than there is, and hence, the less money
there is, the lower the prices must be;
the quantity of the goods sold remains
the same. Let us see if we can get this
idea into the governor in another way.
The governor is said to be shrewd,
moncy-making lawyer. 1t has been al
legged that much of his wealth has been
acquired by the forecloslng of mort
cages. Now we will suppose that he
brings suit to foreclose mortgage of
$1,000 on what is supposed to be s., 900
farm. He RECEIVERS, Judgment and en-
tiers his decree. When the property is
offered for sale it is found that it is only
$500 in the state of Iowa. How much
money would that $4,000 farm sell for 2
BY the time Gov. Shaw figures out his
little sum he will, we hope, know more
about the qnantitive theory of money
than he seems to know at present. Let
us now follow his steps farther. He
says:
Enough currency is needed to sup
ply the demand of great commercial
people, and to afford them medium of
exchange"
In this sentence the governor surrep-
ders his entire case. The moment he be.
gins to talk about "enough" currency
he accepts the qnantitiye theory, al
though apparently without knowing it.
Suppose there is not enough. What will
happen? Prices will fall. When peo-
pie offer their goods for sale they will
be met with the statement that "money
is nwfully scarce" and if goods are
bought mt all it must be at lower ra te.
If. Gov. Shaw does not know this, we
can assure him every farmers wife in
Iowa, who ever has eggs to sell, can give
him lesson in political economy, All
business is done on a basis of prices y
If the volume of money has nothing to
do with prices, then it has nothing to
do with the exchanges, and there is no
sense in his talk about "enough our,
rency," etc. If we care nothing about
prices, the quantity of money is, of
course, immnterial, except that If it be-
came too minute in character it would
be very inconvenient. Next he informs
us that money is not consumed hy its
use"
Well, who says it is? The only bear.
Ing that fact has is in this way: We do
not require as much money in the ag-
gregate as we would if each dollar could
only be used once. 1t neither proves
nor tends to prove that the volume of
money has nothing to do with prices,
Now we come to his clincher-hls hall
bushel measure illustration. That is
too good to even miss a punctuation
mark, so we will repeat 1t in full:
suppose the whole nation to be a
great wheat farm. How many half.
bushel measures will be needed to
handle the crop? Will it require enough
to hold the entire yield? Not at all
There will be demand for enough only
to accommodate every machine, every
seller, every buyer, every shipper, every
warehouse. Must they all be of gov.
eminent standard test? Certainly not
They must be of the same size, of the
same dimensions of the government
standard, but they may be of temporary
make, and yet serve the purpose as
we'll as if they were made of cast STEEL
When we read this bit of profundity
one of two conclusions comes up with
irresistible force. First, Gov. Shaw has
not the faintest apprehension of the
real principle involved or, second, he
| is deliberately endeavoring to deceive
those who he thinks are fit subjects TO,
deception. The number of half bushe
measures required to handle the whea,
has not the remotest connection with
the amount of money required, nor is
the same principle involved. A half
bushel is simply tool or instrument
Intended to aid the eye in determining
the exact quantity of grain. A farm
er may handle his entire crop with a