Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1898-09-22

The Republican party has thrown ASIDE
the mask OF international bimetallism
which it won two years ago ana now
comes out boldly for the gold standard,
saws the ColfaX Commoner. The gold
standard means: dollars which will buy
the most Notwithstanding demands
and evasions this is the inevitable con-
clusion. 1t was the argument which Mr..
Mckinley and his supporters made in the
last campaign to the laboring men. 'l on
want to be paid in dollars which will buy
the most" they said and the lahoring
men believed them and did not stop to
think that the dollar which buys the most
is the dollar which costs the most and
that the men who possess the dollars can
combine much more easily and effectively
than the men who have labor or products
to give in exchange for the dollars.
Do the people of the United States
want 10 use dollars which will buy the
most? That is the question which must
be settled before the silver issue is set
tied. The weight OF evidence, that the
demonstration of silver caused an appre-
citation in the value Of gold, and that this
appreciation of gold resulted in depre-
citation Of the value OF everything measured
in gold, is overwhelming. Some OF this
evidence is furnished by Il royal commits
sion appoin*cd by the parliament, gold
standard body, OF England, a gold stan
dard nation, to inquire into the causes OF
agricultural depression. 1t was composed
Of II OF the ablcst statesmen and polltl-
cal economists Of England. After con-
sidering and investigating the subject for
TT days, 10 Of the members signed a
report in which they said:
For this complaint, so widespread, so
unanimous and prolongad it sccms TO us,
proceeding as it does from both protected
countries and countries which adopt free
trade alike, that, apart from foreign com
pcttion, there must be some other and
general cause which is common to them
all and such cause, it is suggested by
many Of the witnesses, NAV be found in
the great monetary changes which were
made in certain countries in Europe end
in the United states Of America in 1873
and 1874" Again, this commission says
".Agroulture has sutherland is suffer
ing severely from both OF two lcsults
which have followed on the monetary
changes which have been referred to:
"Frst, from the general fall in prices,
which is expressed in the term 'appieci-
alton OF gold;' and
"Second, from the divergence in the
value Of the metals, which gives an arti-
fetal advantage 10 producers in silver
using countries"
In support OF this view, the roy val COM
mission quotes from the report OF another
royal commission, that upon the depres-
sion in trade and industry, published in
1856. That report, signed by Chairman
Lord Iddesleigl and II out OF the %
commissioners, said:
eve desire to give it (the appreciation
of gold) a leading place in the enumera-
| tlOn OF lilc lUllUcHCtS NIllCil have tellucu
to produce the present depression.
Speaking OF the recent spasmodic rise
| in wheat, which it attributed to famine
conditions in India, the report adds
But in all the information we have
before us, we are unable to find anything
which points to the conclusion that the
recent rise in prices will he permanent
in character, and in the case OF wheat, it
/ has already been succeeded by Il con-
siderable fall"
( The Republicans have been honest
enough this year to say that they want
the gold standard. Now let them be
honest enough to say that they want it
because it means dollars which will buy
the most. On this proposition the money
question will eventually be fought out
and settled.