Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-08-14
GOLD AT ITS WORST.
RUINS OUR FOREIGN CON-
MERGE IN EXPORTS.
Gives to silver-Usius Countries Vast
Advantage-Something About Value
as Related to Money - Pointers for
Producers.

?
tries among themselves there is still
standard of values of remarkable sta
bility, but the value of gold coin has
become so unstable, both in COM
modities and silver, that there is nc
longer a standard worthy of the name
for gold-using countries or the world
at large. This may be good for gam.
blers, but means loss and sorrow fol
i men of business. Toledo News.
| There is no one point involved in the
silver controversy quite so unaccounta-
BILE as the idea which is lodged in
many minds that the gold standard is
based upon this fundamental error
The color of gold dollar is ALWAYS
the same, its weight the same, the
marks upon 1t the same, the number
OF cents in 1t the same; and therefore
the illogical and absurd conclusion
that its value is always the same.
| Time and again the mis-. AIKEN and
even ridiculous character OF the claim
has been exposed. and in almost every
imaginable way, only to have it re-
peated whenever the silver question is
| the subject of debate. The difficulty
Is to get people to understand that,
commercially speaking, value" Is
| merely term Of relation or exchange.
The value" of thing is what it will
| exchange for. Whether the article be a
| gold dollar, pound of putty, or a
bushel OF clans, makes no difference.
Its value is what it will exchange for
| IN other things. A man can take a
pound OF gold to the mint, have it
stamped into coin, and get in return ALL
the dollars that it will make. but this
proves nothing with reference to the
value OF gold. He simply gets the
same thing back in a different form.
or the mint may give him other coin,
already struck, for his gold. In such
case he exchanges one pound of gold
for another pound of gold. and hence
IL throws no light upon the question
or Its value" If the government
should establish public bakeries and
stand ready to bake all the wheat
hour offered into bread, without delay
and without charge, it is perfectly
plain that 100 pounds of flour would
be equal in value to all the bread it
would make, but it would give no in
dication whatever of the value of
either flour or bread compared with
pork or beef. That would depend upon
how much -four there was, how much
Of the other things, and the relative
demand for each. Just so 1t is with
hn
of charge, and a pound of crude gold
Is for that reason of the same value
as the same gold in the form of coin
But how much 1t is worth of other
things depends upon how much there
is of it, compared with the quantity
of other things to be exchanged for
1t, and the strength of the desire for
each. If there were only a thousand
gold dollars in the world, any one will
admit that a gold dollar would buy
or exchange for more of other things
than 1t will now. If gold should be-
come as plentiful as coal, 28 $40 grains
of it would still be worth a dollar"
because 1t could be coined into a dol
lar, but 1t would require a great many
of them to buy hundred pounds of
flour. A dollar" is purely the creation
of law. Law makes the dollar. and de-
termines the material of which it
shall be composed. But after it is
made its exchange value depends upon
the law of supply and demand, the
same as other things. 1t is the cir
cumstance that money Is always ex-
pressed in fixed denominations that
mystifies SO many people and leads
them to the conclusion that when the
prices rise or fall the change is in the
commodity alone; that the money
! stands still. They overlook the sim
pie fact that an exchange of money
for goods involves exactly the same
principle as any other exchange. No
matter what kind Of money may be in
use, this idea is always prevalent. In
greenback days the paper note was the
universal money except on the Pa
cific coast At that time gold and
silver were regarded as doing all the
fuctuating. and were always quoted at
premium. But in California, where
gold and silver were used exclusively,
the greenback was said to be at a
discount" Every silver-standard
country today regards gold as being
at premium-that is, as having ap-
preciated-and there can be no ques-
tion of the correctness Of that view
Their silver money will buy as much
as IL ever would of most things, while
gold will buy twice as much. The ex-
tract given at the head of this araicie
states the situation as it actually is.
Gold has fiuctuated wildly, but always
with general upward movement, un-
til 1t has doubled in value, thus cut
ting prices in two. doubling the bur
| den of the longtime debtor, running
the producer for the benefit of the
| annuitant and interest gatherer, and
giving silver-standard countries, with
their stable measure of values, an in
calculable advantage in the worlds
commerce. When the masses of the
people come to understand this sim
pie proposition. they will be perfectly
amazed at their stupidity in not get
ting their eyes open sooner. Not only
I