The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1907-01-22
One Hundred Millions Added 70
Wroh's Stock.
DID YOU GET YOUR SHARE Of m
TALE OF HOW NATURE HELPED
"sUsT" THE EPhEMERAL
SILVER PARTY.

One factor in the expansion of bust.
ness and the stimulation OF prices
which has been more or less over
looked is the rapid increase in the
worlds gold production. In 1906. &C.
cOrding to the estimate of the director
of the mint, the United States alone
added almost $1OO,O0O.OO0 to the
worlds stock OF gold, and the output
last year of all countries probably
amounted to nearly $4O0,OOO.0OO
These figures tell their own story
the story of an enormous replenish.
ment of our supply of primary money.
Twenty or twenty-five years ago eco
nomists were expressing alarm at the
shortening of money stocks, and agi.
tation for return to the double
standard derived some plausibility
from the fact that the output of the
worlds gold fields was actually de-
clining. Gold production shrank
from 1874, 100000 in 1860 to 100000
in 1875, and after slight recovery
fell in 1883 as low as $95.0O0.00O. Be-
tween 1883 and 1891-the height OF
the bimetallic crusade-it slowly
climbed again to 100000, 900. But in
recent years the world has passed the
$500, 100000 point in production. and
the OO,OOO,O0O mark has now been
closely approached. Since 1900 nearly
$4,000, 100000 has been added to the
volume of money of ultimate redemp-
tion-an increase which would have
seemed incredible 20 years ago.
1t pleases the silver agitatOrs of
1896 to say that nature by exposing
new sources of gold supply and en-
larging our monetary stocks, only ac-
complished fortuitously what they
meant to accomplish by legislation
rehabilitating silver as money metal.
Hindsight is easier than foresight.
and Mr.. Bryan and his associates.
conveniently forgetting their prOphe-
cies and their famous argument that
wheat and silver were linked together
by some mysterious tie, SO that one
could never rise or fall in value with
out enhancing or depressing the
value of the other, now plume them
selves on having planned to do in one
way what Providence decreed should
be done in another. The point is that
their way was the wrong way and the
dangerous way. They wanted to do
by fiat and by violence what could
better be left to the slow operations
of natural law. They would have ar
bitrarily deranged values and robbed
the creditor to help the debtor. They
would have Disseminated between
classes, while nature, knowing no
class interests or prejudices, has acted
as a blind goddess of justice, leaving
no one with ground for complaint that
prices have risen and the purchasing
power of money has been forced
down, because the process has been
gradual, automatic and impersOnal
There are those who are seriously
disturbed by the steady augmentation
of our gold, supply and the steady
climb in values which has accom-
panied it. These observers hold that
prosperity has encouraged Over-spec-
ulation and the expansion of credit
beyond the danger line. They would
like to see the upward movement in
values checked and would welcome
curtailing of risks and debt. There IS
not little to be said on that side,
but SO long as We dig relatively larger
and larger supplies of gold out OF
the earth and increase our holdings
of bars and coin the present processes
of readjustment must continue.
Values of other things than gold will
probably go on rising, and We shall
find the industrial and business
world pretty steadily in that state OF
activity, confidence and cheerfulness
which are the earmarks of what We