People's voice., 1899-04-27
WHY GOLD STANDARD
HURTS THE FARMERS.
A Distinguished English Writer and Lee
turer Gives Historic and Economic
Facts Showing Cause Of the Existing
Depression in Agriculture.


To Editor of Mississippi Valley Democrat:
SIR: Like most Englishmen, was a
monometalist until about twelve years
ago, and considered our gold standard a
perfect one The remark, ''had l noticed
how prices of commodities were falling
with the price of silver" awakened me
to the fact that there was a currency
question. Since then l have studied it |
from all sides, and day by day my be-
lief is strengthened that only in its right |
solution lies the prosperity of agricul- |
ture and commerce, and in this paper l
shall try to prove that bimetalism is the
right solution.
From 1903 the mints of France, and |
later of five other countries forming the
Latin union, were open till 1874 to the
free coinage of gold and silver at a fixed
ratio of I5H ounces of silver to I onnce
of gold. That is anyone could take to
these mints gold or silver to be coined,
and with either he could pay his debts
to any amount, giving by weight I5H
times as much silver as gold. This is
no longer possible since these six mints
were closed to the free coinage of silver
in 1873. Observe, that while bimetal-
ism allowed the debtor to pay his debts
in either metal, it could not force anyone
say banker-to give silver for gold
or gold for silver.
In 1873 Germany demonetized silver,
that is, she would not coin it freely nor
take it in payment for debts; her exam
pie was followed by other nations for
various reasons, ignorant of what the
result would be, and silver, which had
for seventy years maintained the steady
value so necessary for standard now
deprived Of its legal status in the west,
began to fall. This was the origin of a
state of things which has today become
intolerable.
Some people say that the fall in the
value of silver is caused by its abun-
dance and over production; that this is
not the case is proved by past history.
From 1871 to 1920, while silver was as
freely coined as gold, the proportion
produced was I ounce of gold to 4S
ounces of silver. On the contrary, from
1850 to 1860 the proportion was I ounce
of gold to a ounces of silver; yet this
great variation in production did not
cause any hindrance to commerce or
alteration in the relative values of silver
and gold
That action of the government princi-
pally regulates the market value OF
silver is proved by the fact that its price
which was steady at God per ounce, for
70 years, when freely coined, fell after
demonstration and rose within three
weeks III 1890 from 42d to SAD per
ounce, after the passage of the Sherman
act. Again, when the English govern
ment closed the Indian mints i'll June,
1898, the price of silver fell 4d per ounce
with further fall of I'D OH the repeal Of
the Sherman act, followed by steady
decline till March 1894, when it touched
the lowest point OH record-27d per
ounce. From these facts it can be
clearly seen that silver has fallen in gold
value, not through excessive production,
but because the western states have by
law forbidden its free use.
1t may be interesting to note here that
the proportion of the production of sill
yer to gold during this century has been
I43l to I, not far from the old ratio Of
I5H to I.
do not approve of perpetually tam
pering with the currency; it should be
made as perfect and universal as possible
: and then discreetly left alone.
The question naturally arises-who
would benefit by the permanent adop-
ton of bimetalisrn? l reply: All those
who do not gain by falling prices-land-
lords, tenant farmers, farm and other
laborers, manufacturers, merchants and
business men. Only the few would lose
who have pensions or fixed incomes, for
to them higher prices would mean fewer
luxuries. Even they would benefit, for
higher prices would mean better OPEN
ings for employment and investments,
better opportunities would offer for
starting their families, and the problem,
what to do with their sons, would cease
to be so perplexing. If this were not SO
it would still be easier and wiser for e5
prosperous people to help five sufferers,
than for five prosperous people to help
e5 sufferers.
The agricultural and commercial de-
preston which has prevailed for more
than 20 years, has been accompanied
by continuous and steady fall of price
To what, then, is the depression p
of prices due3 l answer, to
the gold value of silver r I'D
traction of the curr The fall