The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-11-01


o,a credit against another, until onl
a small fraction remains to be settle
with actual money, leaves the publ
unite unprepared to think in the pre-
portions of the hade-volume when ey
nressed In terms Of currency. Sud
denly the country sees government Sc
eurities mounting into the billions, an
these represent a measure of commo
dities absorbed for the purposes G
war. The great buyer in this case i
not like ordinary buyers; Uncle San
engaged as he now Is in the propert
and life insurance business the buye
stands in the position at one and tn
same time of consumer and producer
he assemblies supplies and he again is
sues them, having served either t,
benefit them In passing through hi,
hands, or, presumably, to benefit thu
public as distributor. In either cast
there is an income and an outgo Of
commodities, the difference between
these being a charge for services rem
dered. When Uncle Sam buys copper
and steel and toluol, or beans and corn
and potatoes, the goods simply dis
appear. When goods go into the
quartermaster's department it is the
same as when they enter the wage
earners kitchen; they have reached
the hands of the ultimate consumer.
Therefore, just as the wage Garner
pays in coin and bills for the neces-
saries of life, so Uncle Sam must is
sue exchangeable currency for the
things consumed in this vitality i'm
portant insurance business in which he
is now engaged. Having no material
output to offer, the item becomes a
debit acknowledgment from Uncle Sam
to the producer that covers, not bal
ance, but the entire bulk of the goods
taken. Hence. of necessity, the vast
issues Of Liberty bonds stand as
promise to pay. not protected by a
metallic reserve, but based on service
rendered in protecting the national
existence and on the hope of future
peace and normal prosperity they are
u promote. Thus we suddenly see a
large part of the total of trade massed
before us in an aggregate of securities
that soar into unbelievable and incom-
prehensive billions. For one thing
it Is helping us to appreciate the mag
nitude Of trade and the immensely of
the interests that we have to protect
On the other hand, timid men are be-
ginning to worry about the volume of
metallic currency available, and a
clever manipulation of the silver mar
ket, based upon a real augmentation
of the demand both here and abroad,
which forced the price more than 100
per cent above the level of a year ago,
awoke the slumbering ogre of BIZ
metalism to again disturb the found
atoms of exchange. 1t is fortunate
for the financial sanity of the world
that the quotations fell as soon as
they did. Primarily our sympathies
are with the metal producer. 1t is to
his interests that we are devoted; but
it is not to the advantage of any sill
yer miner to have his output so mis-
used as to unsette national credits by
adding the strain of an uncertain med
ium of redemption, in consequence of
which he would have to buy his sup
plies with deprecated currency. AS
fact, we suppose that the cost Of
producing silver has grown so that
doubling of its former value in terms
of gold would represent an increase no
more unwarrantable than the enhanced
market value Of the other metals. At
SO cents we believe the silver producer
is proportionately underpaid, and we
would not be surprised to see another
upward movement of the market.
To the bi-metallsts, who so prompt
ly appeared with their old fallacy,
which the people Of this country once
rebuked with such unmistakable en-
phasis, 1t should be pointed out that
If all the silver of Potosi and Cerro de
Pasco once more could be collected in
to a national treasury, it would but
feebly suffice to guarantee the national
issues that would be needed to care
for a credit balance involving almost
the total volume of the original credit.
We must, then, If we can, think in
terms of commodities, and recognize
the dollar, whatever it's substance, as
a token after all, assumed as con-
venient evidence of an obligation to
deliver merchandise and service. The
commodities of the nation, and the
labor Of the people in producing them,
are at the command Of the govern
ment. It must have them, and VIII
have Them but the hardship upon the
people will not be lessened by compli-
eating the problem of ultimate liqui-
dation through disturbing the none
tary standard by adding the variables
inherent in the value Of silver to the
lesser variables that exist in the pur-
chasing power of gold.
Recently Professor Irving Fisher has
been quarreling with the gold standard,
and fundamentally he is correct in say
ing that the true measure of exchan-
geable value is unit derived from
commodity index number That Is
what money is always meant to ac-
complish; 1t represents token of ma