Hutchinson gazette., 1902-01-02
A STABLE DOLLAR"
WILLIAM ], BRYAN, IN THE CON-
MoNER, DEFINES IT.
liability IL the Test Of Honesty The
Average Purchasing Power should
Remain tho Same from Year TO Year
Comptroller Dawes Admission,

a reader Of The Commoner asks for
q definition Of an honest dollar Sta
bllity Is the test OF honesty, An abso-
lutely honest dollar would be one
whose average purchasing power would
remain the same from year 20 year,
The advocates OF the gold STANDARD are
In the habit Of speaking of the gold
dollar as an honest dollar, but one OF
the leading monometallIsta, Professor
Laughln, In his work on bImetallsm,
says; "Monometallists do not Gas is
often saIdD believe that gold remains
absolutely stable In value, They hold
that there Is no such thing as
standard Of value for future payments
In gold or silver which remains abso-
lutoly lnvarlNblo,"
This must be admitted by every In
telllgent student OF the science of mon
ey, The value OF tho dollar depends
on the number Of dollars and an in
crease or decrease in the volume Of
money tout OF proportion TO the change
In the demand for money! will affect
prices, For instance, II all the world
used the gold standard and the produc-
ton Of gold suddenly increased say
two or threciold, the increase In prices
would be very great, The same effect,
though in the opposite direction, would
be noticed II the supply Of money sud
denly decreased
Professor Laughlln, discussing the
subject further, says
AS regards national debts, It Is dis
tnctly ayerTed that neither gold nor
silver forms q just measure Of de-
ierred payments, and chat II justice In
long contracts Is sought for, we should
not seek II by the doubtful and untriod
eSpcdlont Of international bimetalllsm,
but by tho clear and certain method OF
u multiple standard, a unit based up
on the selling prices of number Of
articles OF general consumption, A
longtime contract would thereby be
paid at It's maturity by the same pur-
chasing power as was given In the be-
ginning"
Here Is clear recognition Of two
facts, first that justice lies In absolute
stability. and, second that human In
genuity can only approximate, never
reach, perfect stability, A dollar rest
ing upon two metals more nearly ap-
proaches stability and therefore, JUS
tlce, than dollar resting upon one
metal, According to tho Same process
of reasoning, a dollar resting upon n
hundred articles would make still
nearer approach to stability.
The multiple standard Is not, how
ever, deemed practicable Both gold
and silver iluctuate (thc production Of
gold has tluctuated more often and
more violently than the production OF
silver but they have not usually nuc.
tunted in concert When part OF the
nations used gold and part Of them
silver, so that all Of the product Of
both metals could find 4 place for coin.
age 1t did not make so much differ
ence which standard n nation had, for
both Of the metals contributed to
make up the standard money Of the
world, but with all the nations using
gold alone, or all the nations using
silver alone, the situation would be diff
ferent If the gold standard ever does
produce stable currency It will dis
appoint the gold standard advocates,
for they want rising dollar-The
Commoner,