The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1898-04-29
TWO GREAT HISTORIANS.
Hume and Alison knew the FrInci-
pies OF aIOney-savE That ouantf-
g Controls Prices.

The fame OF these great historians
/ Is worldwide and viii be familiar to the
people as long as any record Of modern
civilization remains They were both
distinguished writer's on political econ
omy as well as great truthful and PhilO-
I sophic historians. Hume said more
than a century ago;
Eve find that in every kingdom into
which money begins TO flow IN greater
abundance than formerly, everything
takes a new face; labor and industry
gain life; the merchant becomes more
enterprising; the manufacturer be
comes more diligent and skiIlful; even
the farmer follows his plOw with great
er alacrity and attention
"a nation whose money decreases is,
ct times, weaker and more miserable
than another nation which possesses
no more money, but is on the increasing
hand. Falling prices and misery and
destruction are inseParable cOmpan-
ions. The disasters Of the dark ages
were caused by decreasing money and
falling prices. With the increase OF
money, labor and industry gather new
Life"
Sir Archibald Alison had been en-
gagged for many years on a history of
Europe, when in 1915 falling prices Oc-
casioned by the panish-American wars,
which cut of the supply Of gold and sill
yer from Mexico and South America,
caused him to suspend his historical Ia
bors. He then devoted himself for IS
years TO the discussion of the tariff,
banking and every other economic de-
vice to which the genius Of man resorts
to avert the inevitable calamities which
always follow a shrinkage volume Of
the legal tender money, In 1853, after
the gold from California and Australia
had relieved the universal distress
which a shrinkage volume Of money
had produced and substituted hope,
prosperity and progress for despair.
want and misery, he renewed his his
tOricaI Iabors TO record the phenomena
which the gold from California and
Australia produced. In the full glare
Of the wonderful light which was shed
upon economic questions by such a
change Of monetary conditions as was
produced by the new discoveries, Sir
Archibald Alison, as a philosopher and
historian, said:
The two greatest events that have
occurred IN the history Of mankind have
been directly brought about by a con
traction and, on the other hand, an ex-
pansion Of the circulating medium Of
society.
The fall Of the Roman empire, so
long. ascribed, in ignorance, to slavery,
tgOtism and moral corruption, was, in
reality, brought about by a decline IN
the silver and gold mines Of Spain and
Greece. And, as If Providence had in
tended 10 reveal, in the cIearest man
ner, the influence OF this mighty agent
on human affairs, the resurrection of
mankind from the ruin which those
causes had produced was owing TO a di-
rectly opposite set OF agencies being
put in operation.
Columbus led the way in the career
Of renovation. When he spread his
sails across the Atlantic he bore man
kind and its fortunes in his bark. The
annual supply Of the precious metals
for the use Of the globe was tripled.
Before q century had expired the price
of every species Of produce was quad
ruPled. The weight Of debt and taxes
insensibly wore on under the influence
of that prOdigiOus increase.
''In the renovation Of industry the re-
lations Of society were changed, the
weight Of feudalism cast or, the rights
OF man established. Among the many
concurrent causes which conspired to
bring about this mighty contamination
the most important, though hitherto
the least observed, was the discovery of
Mexico and Peru.
If the circulating medium Of the
globe had remained stationary, or de
Ginning, as it was from 1915 to 1919, from
the effects of the South American revo-
luton and English legislation, the
fate which crushed Rome in
ancient, and has all but crushed Great
Britain in modern times, would have
been that Of the whole family Of man
kind.
''All these evils have been entirely OBJ
Waited, and an opposite set Of blessings
introduced, by the opening Of the great
treasures OF nature In California and
Australia Silver Knight-Watehman.