The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-10
HonRrpI.E coNrE1rrr.ArroN.

euecL tHHI by anu m cOnnection Wttu tue discovery of the wonderful properties oi radtusn we are about to reach the trans. mutation of metals. As all readers are aware this was one of the dreams oi philosophers, alchemists and charlatans for ages. Many a life has been worn out many a searcher has gone hungry and cold till death claimed him, and many a fortune has been spent fin the vain en- deavor to find some method by which lead and other base metals might be transmut- time was the announcement made that the great secret had been discovered but 1t was not true. The secret remained un- discovered and the philosophers stone kept in hiding.
 Now comes this suggestion. for as yet 1t
 is only suggestion. that through radium
 the secret has been laid bare and that a pound of copper or iron. or other ordinary
 metal can be changed into an equal
 weight of actual gold-not a counterfeit or
 imitation. but tho pure metal without dif-
 ference between it and the product of the
 mines And. to begin with, radium itself
 Is what we might cali a concrete wonder
 or a solved impossibility. It possesses
 qualities and gives out effects which are totally incomprehensible and utterly un- explainable, even to it's discoverers. These have been written of and exploited till all newspaper readers are familiar with them Mat ~<, with. fha olaiv. ,.,i,ao, is .yat rou, and which is advanced with becoming timidity and hesitation.
 But suppose it is true and that the transmutation is feasibie-what then? It is difficult to even imagine the effects of a complete upsettal of money values. There are several metals so exceeding scarce that they are more valuable than gold. as there are others which arc really more. indispensable because they are used in tho arts and industries and nothing can take their place. Nevertheless. as an or namental as well as a money metal gold is yet the king of them all. Even a metal just like it might not drive it from its throne but in this case it is not 6 metal like 1t that is to become as common as iron. but the actual gold itself is to be without limit.
 What would be the result of such an utter subversion and substitution? The value of gold as money would go down to nothing With 1t would go silver and with them would go all other values. We could have no gold standard, no silver standard and no bi-metalism. And if money should lose its value all other vai- ues would necessarily plunge into the chaos. In fact. 1t seems that if this re- ported discovery is an actuaIity it is des- tined to knock all the props from under our commercial and industrial system and leave the edlfice a hideous ruin.
 Some might at first think that such a discovery would make everybody rich but the reverse would be the case If the stones which are scattered over the uni- verse should suddenly become as valuable us diamonds would any one be enriched by it? Would not every one who chose to do so pick up all he wanted and thus no one would want to buy and no one could sell? So, if every man could make gold 1t would no longer have any value, for
 there could be no price. no standard and no demand. It would be "chaos is come again. for a certainty in business, com ! merce and all else.
 It Is almost humiliating, come to think
 of 1t, to reflect that we are so entirely de- pendent upon dollar or a dollars value
 We human beings think we are a very in-
 dependent, self-sustaining people, yet we
 live, move and have our being in the
 shadow of the almighty dollar. The in-
 fant, just opening its eyes to worldly af. | fairs B not more helpless than mankind
 would be if that prop were taken from
 him. True, there have been people who
 knew absolutely nothing of what we cal { money, and there are perhaps yet those
 who are ignorant of it, but it is because
 they are and have always been ignorant
 of anything of the kind and have no con ception of it's use. Some system of barter supplies their needs and fills all the re- quirements of their existence because they have never known anything else.
 Of what use would be bales of cotton tc tho farmer if there were no money stand ard? Whether We believe in gold or sill yer VIC are so welded to a money system, founded on gold and silver. that we would be worse than at sea without one or both of them. The farmer could put no price on his products, the merchant on his goods, the lawyer and the doctor on his services-even the thief and the robber would have no incentive to ply his trade, for the money that he would steal would have no value. We could have no trade, no commerce, no railways, no nothing. The very government itself would tumble down about our ears.
 It may of course be suggested or argued that We would find something else to adopt as a standard, or that we would fall into the habit of transacting all our anairs through some system of barter. but how long would it require? Through what tedious and vexatious maze we would have to pass before arriving at anything satisfactory. and what a cumbersome bus iness barter would now be to us. Really the moro We think of it the worse 1t gets
 and we think somebody should get out an injunction against the proposed innova-
 tion on one of our dearest rights. If we
 are to lose our faith in the dollar we nav
 as well prepare to go out of business.