The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-11-24
AROUND TO THE TRUTH.

valnc in the period following 1873, The
mildest word that they could apply tC
this assertion was lunacy. their usus
word being robbery. With R positive
ness which approached the sublime they
| insisted that the value of gold was i'm
movable; ii was the one fixed point In
all human affairs; other things might
have their vaaarics, but gold-immortal
sanctificd gold-was stable, unchancing
as tho immutahle God
Now some of those learned pundiss
are in another kind of spasm After
| having confessed that the quantitative
| theory of money is correct, by their
! assertion that imitation of prices has re-
suited from the large output of gold in
the world, they admit in plain words
that the value of gold has greatly fall
en-. Some of them are accepting the
argument of Professor John Pease Nor.
ton of the economic department of Yale,
and have begun an active contention
for some other kind Of standard than
gold and for a system of currency which
shall not be dependent for its stability
upon that metal, with its dangerous
fluctuations Of value.
Professor Norton SAWS that if gold
shall continue to follow ''the recalcj-
trant sister metal, silver, and shall fall
as preclpitately in the immediate fu-
ture as in the last eight years, the
nations must face money problem Of
absorbing interest
What means this horrid sound of
alarum? Is the peace perpetual which
was predicted for a recognition of the
gold standard to he thus carly dis
turbed7 What treason, what sacrileee,
is this that condemns gold in less than
len years since IL was set up on high
for all this country and all the peoples
of the world to worship as the Lord of
our safety, as the Redeemer Of our hon
or, as the Savior of our morals7
An answer 10 these questions may he
found in the arguments adduced by the
bimetalists in the great campaign of
1896. There 1t was shown that the
same objection then raised against sill
Yer as a money metal had been made
against gold in previous generation,
when the yellow metal was flooding the
world with its beneflcence, aud would
be made again in case Of a plethora of
production Of gold, II was there dem
onstrated by history that the controllers
of finance had ever been at war to pre-
vent any large increase in money vol
ume, except as that increase might he
created by themselves and maintained
in bondage to them; it. was demonstrat-
ed that they set their interest against
the blessing to humanity which had
como in various ages Of the world from
the gift of nature when her treasure
houses OF the money metals were
opened. And now the word is fulfilled;
for silver is no longer the terror, and
the attack upon gold is beginning with
the same violence which characterized
the assault upon the white metal.
Professor Norton does not stop with
his prophecy of evil if gold shall con.
tinue TO food the channels of trade, and
if the nations shall continue to accord
to it the right of free and unlimited
coinage into money: and he makes the
following suggestions of possible rem
edv:
l. Government ownership Of the gold in.
dustry.
.. Government tax levied as specific duty
on every ounce of gold produced and adjusted
in amount so as TO produce stability by limit.
ing output
3. Abandonment of metallic standard and
tho adoption Of tabular standard. supple.
sEI kxs
ing system and international as 70 place and
10 variations in discount rates by system
OF deferred clsarings as TO time.
And, amazing to say, some of the
gold standard papers of the East ap-
prove the last suggestion The Chi
cago Chronicle, in expressing a modi-
fed preference for the third over the
other two, says:
The idea is TO provide by law that II
man ipcurs an oblgsti TO nay money
gold money, ssy-at the end OF certain
time he shall be required 10 pay not tho
same number OF dollars, nor the Same weight
IN gold money, that he received, but the
same value in such money when the debt
falls due.
And yet ten years ago, when the BIZ
showed that through the de-
NAL of the right of coinage TO silver
and the striking down of one half of
the worlds metallic money there had
been an unjust disarrangement which
could only be remedied by a restoration
Of silver SO that men might pay their
debts III dollars OF the same value as
when the debts were incurred; the gold
standard press and the gold standard
hnaDclers denounced the doctrine as
said that it was first
a scheme Of the silver miners to secure
q double price for their metal, and sec
ond that 1T was q scheme of the debtor
class in the West to pay their obIiga-
lions In fifty.cent dollar. Now some
Of the leaders of gold cult--devotcd TO
the denunciation of bimetalists ten
years ago-adopt the same idea that IL
is necessary for man TO pay debts in
dollars Of the same value as when the
debts were incurred. However, they
are not lacking in selfish enlightenment.
In the former time they wanted debts
paid In the gold dollar, which was ap-
of twice the value that it
had IN 1873, and therefore was a two
hundrcd.co dollar; but now that gold
has fallen they want the debt paid