The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1900-11-03
The Cause of Free Silver.

n "AA
able the laborer to demand and re.
ceive his just share, q condition that
brings increased wealth and content
ment to all.
Next, in order to understand the
cause of the improvement in indus
trial conditions that has been uni.
~versal, it is necessary to understand
the cause of a universal rise in price.
This is found in an increased money
supply. Money is the value denomina.
tor, but, unlike any other measure, IL
measures value and records prices
through itself being exchanged
Therefore, as m grain Of gold is al
ways the equivalent of another, an in.
crease in the quantity of gold changes
the relation that gold bears to other
things in exchange. An increased
gold supply means that an increased
amount of gold must be given in ex.
change for other things until an
| equilibrium is restored by an increase
of the things to be exchanged. If .
great increase of golo be sudden, Q
rapid advance in prices will take
place, and If it continues through .
long period, an era of great prosper.
ity will ensue. On the other hand, Q
diminution of money supply causes
falling prices. and, if long continued,
universal bankruptcy will be followed
by a general paralysis of business.
For a score of years prior to 1895 .
condition of falling prices was general
throughout the world as the result Of
curtailing money supply through leg.
i~slation adverse to silver, without any
increase in the worlds gold output.
An acute stage was reached when
England sought to extend the gold
standard to India and the Sherman
silver purchase law was repealed in
the United States. Had there been no
increase in the worlds output of gold
during the past four years the worlds
price level would have continued to
sink lower and lower, and the indus.
trial depression that hung like a pail
over all civilized nations would have
grown more severe.
But an all-wise providence directed
the ~prospector to hidden treasures in
the frozen north and science revealed
a new and wonderful cheapened pro.
cess of extracting gold, so that the
annual supply which began to mater
tally increase in 1896, is now three.
fold what it was then. Money supply
has been so augmented during the
last three years, through the in.
creased output of gold, that the gen.
eral price level has materially risen
in all gold-using countries. This has
been the cause of the universal i'm.
improvement, thus making the claim
The whole world has shared in the
improvement thus making the claim
Of Hanna and Mckinley, that the
share of this universal improvement
that came to us was the result of re.
publican policies, absurd ard ridicu.
lous.
The United States has been blessed
with extraordinary crops for a mum.
Der of years in succession, which we
have been enabled to sell abroad al
famine prices, but Mckinley and Han.
ma cannot lay claim to the bounty Of
God, neither were they the cause Of
the famines. We have a natural mo
nopoly in the production of one of the
worlds great staples, cotton, but Han
ma and Mckinley can hardly claim
the credit for this. The Dingley bill
is their product, but the Dingley bill
while it had nothing to do with bring
ing prosperity, enabled the trusts ant
monopolies to become the chief bene
, f~ciaries in this country of the i'm
proved condition that was universal
II the people have shared in any de
=, gree in the improved condition result
: ing from the increase of money sup
, ply and rise in prices, It has been Il
spite of the Dingley tariff bill, an
; because it's provisions could not b
=. so extended as to enable monopoly t
take all.
Hanna and Mckinley presume to
much upon the ignorance and credu
ity of the American people when the
ask to be given credit for prosperit
IS that came to the people throug
ID sources they knew not of, and by til
schemes of the gold contractionist
sc being defeated by the discovery of ne
g gold deposits and the cheap cyanit
lie process of extracting that met
lie which has SO greatly increased none
K supply.-National Waterman.