Pike County Democrat, Volume 29, Number 43, Petersburg, Pike County, 3 March 1899 — Page 5

SOME CURRENCY FACTS. True Volume of Money at Close of Civil War. OntOULAllOH, $80 PEE CAPITA. Moser Was Then Plenty. an< Hleb Prices and 9 Prosperity Prevailed. Contraction Brouaht on Pall of Prices and Panic of XST&—Pallias Market Continues Lnder Gold Standard.

No reason existed at the close of the war far misstating the actual volume of money then existing, and there is no reason to believe that incorrect statements were at that time officially made, hut official statements have more recently been given out changing the original treasury statements as to the volume of money at the close of the war by leaving out certain classes of currency, 6ome of which performed at the time all the functions of money, and others of which took the place of reserves in banks, and thus as much cod tributed to form the effective volume of currency as they bacT been kept in actnal circulation. The volume of currency reached its maximum in 1865, and, accorip^ to the report of the secretary of the treasury of that year, consisted of the following items: Gold..*180,000,000 co Bubsidiary silver.. 0,aOU,UUO 00 State bunk circulation... 142,919,688 00 Demand notes.. 4?2,e00 00 One and two year notes of 1800.. 42,X}8,7J0 UO Compound interest notes. Htt,7a6,680 00 Fractional currency.. 25,005.828 76 National bank notes. 146,l;i7,8»50 00 Greenbacks ..........4.... 481,066,428 00 Total....... .*1,180,197,147 76 The volume of national bank notes given is for June 30, 1865. By October they had increased to 1171,000,000, and by JuljfflSee, were $281,000,000, which shows bow ?apidly hanks increase the currency when it is their in- „ terest to do so. The above does not include the $829,992,500 of 7-30 notes issued under the acts of July 17, 1861; ^ June 30, 1864, and Marob 3, 1865, which were legal tender and of which . over $182,000,000 were of denominations below -$100—the lowest beiug$10. Mr. McCulloch, in his report for 1865, said of the 7-30 notes, “Many of the small denomination of which were in circulation as money and all of which tend in some measure to swell the inflation, etc.” If these 7-30 notes are added to the above table, it givee a total volumeof $2,101,896,470. Besides this, there were temporary loan certificates, certificates of indebtedness, 5 per 1 cent treasnry notes, etc., all of which, to a greater or less extent, took the place of m$ney in daily transactions. The above figures are taken from official reports made when there was no reason to mislead the public as to the true condition of the treasury, which is not the case with the statement put out in 1891, claiming only $770,129,755 as the total money in the United States, out of which $714,702,995 was in circulation, and fmt a population of 85,000,000. The war bad scarcely ended June 30, 1865, and the states that had been in rebellion bad hardly begun to share in this currency. This volume, therefore, was at this time used almost exclusively in the north aud by a population of not more than 24,000,000. instead of by 35,000,000. which, leaving out the 7-30 notes, gave a?per capita circnlatioh of nearly $50, or, if the 7-30 uottSS be included, it gave a circulation of utmost $80 per capita. Therefore the oft repeated, statement that at the close of the war the circulation amounted to $50 per capita is well within the bounds of truth. Indeed the recollec ^ * tiou of the plentifulness of money aud the high range of prices daring and at the close of the war is still vivid in the minds of too many people to permit contradiction of the facts here again. The first contraction consisted in the retirement of the state bank notes under the 10 percent ta*. and the extension of the existing currency^over the southern states, distributing iT among a population of 86,000,000 to 40,000,000 instead of 24,000,000. Then came the retirement of the interest bearing notes, and, lastly, the retirement of the greenbacks down to $346,000,000. By 1869 the volume of currency had been reduced to less than $700,000,000 for 42,000,000 ofe people and was no larger in 1879 ior 48,000,000 of people. The fall of prices as a consequence of the contraction of the currency and the pan&oof 1873 is yet vivid in the minds of tb* people and need not be rehearsed \ here. The fall of prices still goes on tinder the single gold standard as gold beoomes scarcerand dearer. The present liquidation is but a readjustment of prices to a diminishing volume of mou•ep and an increasing money standard, and must be repeated as long as gold continues to increase in value.

Under a Dictatorship. Tibe only way to overoome tbe present dictatorship of congress is to elect a majority of tbe lower boose that will give some heed to fair play. There was a* time when a Republican speaker asserted the dignity of the chair without autocracy, but that period is now forgotten and its lessons unheeded. A dictatorship like Reed's mast be abolished unless tbe oonntry intends to substitute violence for deliberation in tbe proceedings of congress.—ColumbuB Press-Poet. Falllnif Prices. The gold basis means falling prices-' moire products for the- dollar. Those who have products to sell should vote to get rising prices, to get as ^nany dob Kirs as they possibly oan for their prod--vote. Those who have the dollars want than to boy as many products as possilain. Bee the point? Then why should -you farmers and workingmen who have Tprcduot8 and labor to sell vote for the -gold basis—to lower the price of youi own products and labor?

A FIFTY CENT Dt LLAR. lonr PallarloM Statew - ante Con* ceralaas Colottat.

The chief and coostati y repeated argument against free coim te is that it would “min the country.* How? we ask Why, it is replied, v e would at once slump to a silver bai l* and oor dollars would only le wo: h 50 cents each. This, of course, ass rues the entire case. We deny that l e free coinage df both metals wools cause the United States to slump tc e silver basis, and we demand the procl. We challenge the geld people to e- m give one good reason for so believin . They cannot point to a single cas in history which is st all parallel in support of their clain# But let us oncede for a moment that the result jrould be a "slump to the silver basis.’ How would that ruin ns? The answer is that the dollar would only be wore a 50 cents. This, however, is another assumption, not only on warrantable, but involving an impossibility. What a meant, of course, is that the dollar w Dnld only be worth 50 cents in gold. I ibody denies that the silver dollar wou Id be worth 100 cents iu silvier. Bnt tl e silver dollar hammered into a piece if bullion is worth more than 50 cents now. If we were to go to an exclusively silver basis, it would oert;i inly increase tb? demand for silver and lise its value Compared with gold. If ve lost all of our gold, we would certainly obtain a very considerable nmoouE of silver to take its place, for it is « fundamental principle in economics that every nation must have its distributive share of the world’s money. The free coinage of silver would certainly not diminish the aggregate sapply of money in the wor I. It would increase it. So, as we h ive no more than our Share now, if w i should lose our gold we must get sil er to replace it, and more. .The effect of i .11 this would be to increase the demaud or silver and lessen the demand for paid. A man who knows enough torais an nmbrella when it rains ought to bja able to see that this must necessarily enbauce the valne of silver and lowe: the value of gold, thus bringing them rearer together than they now are; he ace the “50 cent dollar" would be an impossibility t DON’T GO TOGETHER. The Gold Standard and i Protective Tariff Conflict, standard do Protection and the gold not go together aud cant it be made to Iready shown the United to make, a9 mg in cornwork together. We have a that a debtor nation liki States, having payments Mill says, "not original merce," is at a disadvantage in the straggle for gold, and, therefore, can not permanently maintaia the single gold standard; also that prices of all commodities that go to j:vy debts or to pay for imports must bt as low in the United State# as auyw iere else, or lower, in order to iuduce (. her countries to buy of ns rather than hay elsewhere, and, this being the one 1 as to a large percentage of the produc tions of this country, that the prices cjf other things cannot be permanently ke pt at a higher level by protective tariff:' and at the 5 same time be made tocoi orm to a common gold standard. As c view, Professor Nicbolsc versity of Edinburgh, mfiriniug this i of the Uniu his recent work, "Money and Monetary Problems,” 6ay8: , “By an extensive protective polioy a country may keep up a high level of prices compared with t mt of a free trade country.” But he intimates that the case would be different if such couutry had a permanen : tribute to pay. Mill says the result, where a country is indebted to other count ies, is "that a country which makes regular payments to foreign countries, Desides losing what it pays loses also s maething more by the less advantageous errns on whibfi it is forced to exchange its productions for foreign commoditie and, again, "The paying country wi 1 give a higher prioe for all that it buy i from the receiving country, while the latter, besides receiving the tribite, obtains the exportable produce of the tributary country at a lower pric . ”

Silver Right S bool*. ]■■■].. The organization c silver night schools is extending rn pidly A number of publishers are j rinting leaflets for use in these scboc s, and supplies for a large school may a obtained for a trifling sum. The probl ms are prepared by a committee of pro linent bimetallists and explain the [uestion in the simplest way by meaf of the familiar rules of the common sc ool arithmetics. The object is that tht students of the schools shall be en bled to unit;e thoughtfully and earn stly upon a line of political action which will correct the wrongs which havis been and are fc now suffered by those who produce the nation’s Wealth and \ bich will insurej to the workingman cl the future a rightful share in the ujoyment of the wealth he assists to % oduce. In order that there may be urrtyof action all persons who are inter sted in or have been engaged in the organization of ' schools of this nature should report to the local silver oomi itteeor to headquarters of the silver night school department, Unity built ng, Chicago.

Labor Federation a d Imperialism. The American Feoratiou of Labor numbers Dearly 1,000, >00 members, and these members are, wi: It few exceptions, all voters. It compri » far the largest fraction of the Air ricau electorate known to ezi&t with % the bounds of one ooropaot organize ion. That so vast a body of voters si mid now speak through their chow i representatives with praotioal unau nity against this “new, farreaching a d dangerous policy," is a fact oalou! ted to give pause to those imperialist ] iliticiiane who are guiding their oourse t t what they guess to be the popular se timent —Springfield {Mass.) Repuioli up ,

THE SMALL DEPOSITOR.' ———_ .. t How Free Silver Would Affect Labor’s Savings. APPAREIT LOSS, POSITIVE GAIfl. 1 _ i

Tfc* Gold It* « Distress For thr Poor j Moo Who Hu o Small Sna of | Money la l ook to Rank Hypocrisy. ! Whot the Worker Wants la Steady Eia»i»loyaieat. * The goldite is always distressed at tho thought of tbe poor hod carrier or tbe poor washerwoman who has $200 or $290 in the bank haring it scaled i down in value by the free coinage of silver. Why, be says, if money is made i 25 per cent cheaper* the $300 will only j be worth $225, and tbe $200 will be , worth bnt $150. If anybody thicks that ■ the chambers of commerce, boards of j trade and tbe great bankers of the world i are opposing the free coinage of silver in the iuterest'W the washerwoman, he most be credulity itself. This objection is easily met In tbe first place, comparatively few laboring wen and women have any deposits in bank, and they are constantly becoming relatively fewer. Those who have are exceptionally fortunate. Just uow a .Very large proportion of tbe laboring mien of the conntry are looking rather anxiously for work with which to provide themselves with tbe bare necessaries of life. Secondly, it* must he remembered that $200 or $300 in bank is bnt a very small item in the economy of a working man's life. What he needs is steady work at good wages. Let ns do a little figuring. Suppose he has $300 in bank and ie working at $2 a day. Suppose, further, that in consequence of the low price of the product tbe factory in which he is employed is on short time, and he has to lose one day in' each week. In a year he is short $104 on wages account. Now take the opposite condition. Snppose, as before, he li^s $300 in bank. Times are dull, and he is losing a day each week—say $104 in a year. Silver is remonetized and money becomes 25 per cent cheaper. His deposit shrinks to $225 ,in purchasing power He loses $75. Bnt this means higher prices for goods. His factory starts up in full blast, and he works every day. In a year tbe extra time amounts to $104. He is $29 ahead. But with the increased demand for labor wages are certain to rise. Keeping within bounds, let Us suppose that 25 cents a day is added to hia w ages. This amounts to $78 a year. When the whole account is balanced at tbe end of tbe year, we find that he has lost $75 on his deposit and gained $182 in wages, so that be is $10? better off. But this is not all. The sum total cf his loss cu tbe deposit is $75 He does not lose anything on that account the next year, bat his increased earnings go right on, and tbe second year he is $182 ahead. Under the changed conditions he would be better off without the $300 deposit tbau be was before with it. It would take bnt- a little over two yea^s for the increase of his earnings to amount to more than the entire deposit Tho 'ftxkiugman’s capital is his capacity for labor, and his interests are on the side of rising prices and business activity, which always bring his labor into greater demand. Going a step further, it may be laid down as an axiom that APPRECIATING MONEY (WHICH MEANS FALLING PRICES) IS ALWA YS PRODUCTIVE OF BUSINESS DEPRESSION AND “HARD TIMES,” WHILE WITHIN THE LIMITS OF MODERATION DEPRECIATING MONEY (WHICH MEANS RISING PRICES) INVARIABLY STIMULATES BUSINESS ENTER* PRISE AND LEADS TO GENERAL PROSPERITY.

After the Gold Sharks. Governor McLaurin of Mississippi has taken a bold aud very commendable stand regarding the insertion of “gold payment clauses” in the bonds of corporations seeking charters in that state. In every instance of that kind he attaches what is known as a “silver rider,” aud declares that he will adhere to that policy to the end. The law authorizing this course says that “the governor may require amendments or alterations to be made previous to signing the same, or, if deemed expedient by him, he may withhold his approval entirely.” Corporations asking charters have provided that their bonds shall be payable in “gold coin of the present weight and fineness.” Governor McLaurin has substituted the provision that such bonds shall be payable in legal teuder money. The governor is right, and the time is not far distant when this provision will be a national law. Legal tender money is good enough for corporations as well as the people, regardless of the material of which it is composed. If we rnn ont of other material we will take the scalps of the goldbugs and stamp them legal tenders and make them circulate “as good as gold. ”

A* it Banker Seva It. A country bunker, subscribing to the fund of the ways and means committee, expresses himself as follows: “Inclosed please find my subscription. When the time for aotion arrives, I may do more. The cause of .bimetallism must speedily triumph or the mass of our population will be reduced to a condition little better than the peasantry of feudal times. The sturdy manhood of a few decades ago is giving way rapidly to servility. I have been a bimetallist a long time— notwithstanding that for the last 17 years 1 have been a director of a national bank. Let me make this prediction—that in the fight in 1900 we will have over half of the country bankers with us* for the reason that they are now simply the custodians cf money that cannot be safely or profitably invested Congestion will even kill a country banker. ”

AN HONEST DOLLAR.

Tke Term Hypocritically CsM t# Xm Gold. When (iferring to obligati one to pa; money, an honest dollar is the dollar of the contract. In general, that is an honest dollar which maintains “parity’* with the things it measures in daily transactions or that preserves stable relations to commodities. That, too, is manifestly the best dollar and the best kpnd of money. The term “honest money,” however, is a easily hypocritically nsed to mean gold, or the dearest money. By “honest” money is nsnally meant that which will bay the most, and, of course, in that view of it the dearer it becomes (he bon ester it gets. The “honest” way to increase the value of money would he to increase the weight cf the coins. Thou all coaid understand how it waa done and what it really meant. There are two ways to double the value of metallic money-—one is to double tbe weight of coins, the other to destroy or demonetize half tbe metal oat of which money can be made. Tbe latter was the way taken to make money “honest” in 1873 By destroying half tbe world's money they doubled tbe value of the other half. The effect of this may be illustrated by a single fact. It is now everywhere admitted that (he price level of things generally has fa lieu folly 50 per cent since the demonetization of silver in 1873, which is the same thing as an increase of 100 percent in the value of money, for when a dollar will buy in general twice what it would formerly buy it has doubled in value or increased in purchasing power 100 per cent Tbe total debts of the people of tbe United States of every kind aggregate not much under #25,000,000,000. It takes tbe same number of dollars to fay the annual interest on this debt that if took 10 or 15 yeara ago, but with a scale of prices indicated by wheat at>$l a bushel, wool at 25 cents and cotton at 10 cen ts a pound and other things in proportion, which would be tbe bimetallic 6cale,:it would take some 8,500,000 men, working every day, to pay this interest. But by a scale of prices indicated by wheat at 50 cents a bushel, wool at lft cents and cotton at 5 cents a pound, on the single gold standard scale, it will take at least 5,000,000 men, working every day in the year, to pay interest ou this debt, and if a bushel of wheat or ten pounds of cotton on the average equal a day’s labor it will take much more labor if expended in raising wheat and cotton to meet tbe interest on this immense debt. And generally a money that is itself constantly increasing in value must necessarily produce widespread and unending injustice. * No oue would undertake to justify the “scaling down” of the dollar, but common honesty ought to prompt the equal condemnation of a standard of value that by constantly increasing works always to the advantage of the creditor and ixm producing class and against tbe debtor and the producer. Such money is not houest, and no arnoQnt of pions cant about it can make it so. Besides the infinite injustice caused directly b.7 a money standard that is constantly increasing in value, as the gold standard is, tbe indirect effect upon trade and industry is benumbing and deadening. As money rises in value prices fall, trade becomes hazardous, productiou is checked and labor is forced into idleness; hence the truth of tbe observaticn made by Home long ago that an increasing volume of money is always attended by activity of business and the increase of wealth, while a contracting volume of money is attended always by stagnant trade and restricted production. It is therefore perfectly safe to conclude when one is heard prating about “honest money” that he is either not sincere or does not understand what ho is talking about

Cotton Export*. ^This country exports more cotton in proportion to tbe quantity it prodnces than of any other crop. In the years of 1872 to 1894 inclusive, according to tbe bureau of statistics, the smallest percentage of export was 64.68 in 1886 and the largest 71.23 in 1878. In 1894 it was 71.20 per cent, so that more than two-thirds of the crop is annually sold abroad—sometimes nearly threefourths. In this latter year we exported 5,397,509 bales, weighing 2,683,282,325 pounds, o( which 2,628,220,828 went to Europe and 1,485,451,425 to Great Britain. In this great Liverpool market our cotton came in direct competition with the cotton of the world grown in East India, West India, Egypt, Smyrna, Brazil aud elsewhere. When all this cotton met in this open market, th.e lowest price at which any considerable part of it oould be sold, due allowance being made for grade and class, fixed tbe price for the whole. That price was paid in the home money of the shipper—in gold if he raised his cotton in a gold standard country and in silver if he sent his cotton from a silver standard country.

Creating I’aBeeeiMirr Offices. In the entire United States there are bnt eight military departments, where* as Cuba, with a total area and population not greater than Alabama, is to be divided into seven departments. There is no occasion lor this ondne multiplication of places held by appointment in the military service, unless* indeed, the leeches, ignoramuses and sons of fathers who came to tip surface by war office favor in the recent war are to keep positions of advantage at the public crib.Philadelphia Record. McKinley oa a Pert I User. The growth of trusts is the marvel of the age. They are entering every field of industry or productive or commercial enterprise. Protection builds them up and maintains them, crushing ont competition, combining on higher prices for products and lower wages and more hours for labor. —Pittsburg Post. , •'

"K,o\» vs \Yve lime c

' . i- . * ■ ■ V Every citisen of Pike County should be a reader of one or more of the local papers,to keep posted on the affairs of County, State and Nation, that you may readily converse on the subjects then before the people. . It is always necessary to have the best to keep posted. It is necessary that yoif subscribe for a local paper that publishes all the local happenings of the county. To secure that which you desire you should become a subscriber of the j ^ 1 ■\ - C ' ‘ '

It is the largest pap6r published in Pike county. It contains more reading matter—more local news. It is the cleanest and neatest printed paper. It is up-to-date m all departments and printed from a clear cut face of type, which makes it readable at all times. If comes gt the same price 6f small 4-page publications. Remember that the Democrat is an eight-page paper and contains 48 columns each issue. The subscription price is reduced to the low price of $1.00 Per Year in Advance. Send in your orders by mail accompanied by the cash and the Democrat will be mailed -to your postoffice address regularly each week. Don’t delay the matter, but send at once. We want 2,000 subscribers by the 1st of July, and in order to secure that number the price of subscription Ras been reduced to the low price of Si.00 per year in advance. TRY IT FOR A YEAR

In connection with the publishing of the Democrat we have a thoroughly equipped Job Printing department. We have added new machiney and many geyv series of type faces, which insures our patrons § las nice work as can be secured at any city office. | Give us your next order for jML.*. i Sob WvxvUno. We employ firstclass printers; use the best stock on the market, and guarantee satisfaction. Business *- men, see our fine line of Stationery before placing an order elsewhere. Stock Printing of every description. Fine selection of cuts. Send m your orders to DEMOCRAT OFFICE ■atPETERSBURB, INDIANA*mm