The Coeur d'Alene press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1892-1907, 1900-09-29

Of the property Of being intrinslcaIly
valuable, while everything else Is
only accidentally valuable; that gold
~ immune from all the fraIities which
attach 70 every other earthly substance;
that whether We have much or little;
whether we have II or England has IL,
u u al 1.-The same, the intrinsic value OF
II ~ all the same, the intrinsic value OF
tifui, nigh or low. here or absent, abso-
tutsiy inyariabie.
Now, my friends, ia that campaign
l used a little illustration which 1 will
visit upon you tonight, with your kind
permission, as substitute for a long
discussion as TO what intrinsic value Is.
or rather, what IL is not. We Will sup
pose you have piece OF gold the size
OF your hand. Now, then, IL you VIII
examine the dictiopary, you will ma
that the word intrinsic means Inherent
IN thing, necessary attribute OF IL
that cannot be separated from IT, For
example, this piece OF gold, the size OF
your hand. wiii be intrinsIcaIiy yellow
ana intrinsicaily heavy, and az long as
remains gold IL cannot help being
heasy and cannot help being yellow.
Suppose this piece OF gold Is taken by
a man In boat 10 a distant island ia
the sea, uncharted by the navigator, OF
which DobOdy knows: that he digs a
hole IA the sand OF the desert island
thar he buries this piece OF gold, covers
u np, takes his boat. leaves in the dark
ness and IL drowned, leaving with no.
BODY any Information as TO where this
GOLD II. Down IN the hole Ia tue SAND
the gold Is as heavy as IL ever was.
Down In the hole in the sand this gold
ls as yellow as u ever was. How much
~ u worth7 daughter and applause
Down In the hole la the sand the gold
~ NOT worth a cent. IL never will be
worth anything until somebody finds
II, ana then II won't be worth any
lining until the man who finds Il has IL
where there Is somebody else, ana then
II won't be worth anything unless that
somebody else wants IL, and then how
much IL Is worth WllI be determined by
what the other fellow viii give for IL.
tApplause) Ana what he Will give for
IL viii depend upon how badly ne neds
IL and how badly he needs IL, VIII
depend upon wha he can do
with it, That IL the only law OF value
IN this world. Value ia exchange is the
only kind OF value there Ii. Go back to
Aristotle. more than ZOO years ago, AZ
you are curious in this matter, ana
come down through all ages, in ala Ian
guages. In every country. ana you Miu
not ma one single political economist
That ever wrote, OF taught, or Claimed
that there ~ any such a thing as m
trinsic value. Not one. That In rather a
broad statement, but 1 VIII stand by Al:
! know IL IL true. Take the case oI
Mcleod. Of England. the greatest
writer Tor the gold standard, probably,
In Europe. Get his book ON the ms
tory and theory of banking, OF his book
on the theory of credit and you win
fnd that he has examined with a thor
ouEhness and learning. never parallelea
Ia political economy, the history of this
idea OF intrinsic value, and he shows
that IL is conceded by all great think
eTs OF all time that there ~ not any
such thing rs intrinsic value: that the
only value that political economy
knows anything about ito use his own
languageD IL value IA exchange"
Now. how small. how slight a tale puts
down this absurd gold standard idea
OF intrinsic value. And yet Secretary
Gage. and other alleged statesmen,
and the penny-a line writers Tor the
gold standard have ben babbiing thls
Jargon OF Intrinsic value during the last
four or nve years. IApplause.)
Now. my friends. IL value IN exchange
IL the only value there is. is IL not true
that the use To which you can put a
thing viii determine. on your side. how
much you will OfIer for 1t. and that the
value set upon IL. because Of the Use he
can put IL 10. viii determine The pos
SCISSOR OF II AZ TO how much he wall de-
mAnd that you gave him Tor M That
6eing true. the law OF supply and de-
mand regulates ats value. Increase
the supply of wheat. and, other things
remaining the same, wheat will be
cheaper: decrease the supply OF wheat
and. other things remaining the same,
the price OF Dushei OF wheat wan be
higher. The same rule applies 10
money. Let wheat remain the same
Increase your supply OF money, and a
bushel OF wheat viii call for more OF IL.
let your wheat remain the same and de- .
crease the supply OF money and the
price OF busheI OF wheat will fat.
Now, then, while IL Is true that a mix
ture OF circumstances, diiIicult TO fol-
low, viii determine variously the little
rises and falls OF commodities in price;
II is true fundamentally that general
I1Ees and falls OF all prices, on the
average. are possible only ia case OF q .
variation OF the supply OF money that
reckons their price. When. other things
the same. money is scarce.
prices will be low. When. other things
the same, money is plenu-
ful, prices viii be high. Now, what
Is the result OF a continued regime OF
falling prices? Disaster, always. You
get men 10 invest money in
things falling In price, because they
know, that by and by, with falling
prices. they will take out less than
they put la. So when prices are fall
ing, the men with money, instead of
putting his money to work m manuTac-
turing things. 20 that he will lose his
money, will look around FOR a Hilt-edge
Investment somewhere. some Rold
bonds, some government obligations,
hat cannot fail. 80 that whether prices
20 up or down. the blood and sweat OF
some great people will so on earning
his increment OF profit. loud APP
This is universal experience. In 1856
money was more valuable than things
Ind men would not risk It. as is al
ways the case when the prices of things
ire falling; but when prices are rising,
hen whatG Why, It becomes profitable
o put your money In the things whose
prices are rising, because you can at
forwards, by selling the things, take
'ut more money than you put in.
Therefore, under rising prices things
ire worth more than money, and every
nan with any money wishes to put his
money to work making things, SO rls-
np nrices ARE an encolirn cement IN