People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 November 1893 — THE GOLD STANDARD. [ARTICLE]

THE GOLD STANDARD.

Its Evils Set Forth In an Able Manner—Silver More Stable Than Gold. There is no greater source of wealth in the United States than cereal crops. The line of value has tended to faU farther and farther below that of erbp production. For instance, in 1878, though the crop production was 50 per cent, greater than in 1873, it sold for two per cent, less money. In 1888, which is the last year for which statistics are given, the crop was 109 per cent above that of 1873, but it sold at an increase of only 44 per cent What has caused the falling away in the line of value? The value of the crop is the product of the quantity by the price in gold. With the increasing scarcitj’ of gold there has necessarily been a diminishing price. Silver production, however, tells a different story. It will bo seen that silver prodncticu keens approximate pace with the production of cereal crops.-? 1 If our money needs grow at the same rate as farm produce, then silver and not gold furnis>«B the normal supply. There is as much re a *7. a for an outcry against an overproduction of cereals as of silver, for both increase at the same rate. Notwithstanding the increased cotton production, in nearly every year the crop has sold for actually less than did the crop of 1873. In 1890, for instance, though the crop was almost double that of 1873 it sold for only three per cent more, and in the succeeding year, though there was an increase of 38 percent, in crop production, the selling value increased only 18 per cent. There is the same striking parallelism between cotton production and silver production, showing in like manner that silver, and not gold, furnishes the natural and stable money metal. As measured by the gold standard, silver and wheat have steadily and quite uniformily declined in price. Silver stood at 11.004 when demonitized in 1873, and in 1892 had fallen to .074. The temporary effect of the Sherman law in 1890 is plainly shown. Wheat touched the 100 mark in 1874 at fl. 43 per bushel, reached its lowest point in 1890 at 58 per cent of the base price, or 83 cents per bushel. The course of the twenty staple commodities is instructive. It reveals where the “hard times” have come in. It is significant that these commodities also have shared the downfall of silver. An editorial in the June Century denies the appreciation of gold and claims that the fall of prices has been due to improved methods of production and distribution. It is impossible to wholly disprove a statement that is partially true. No doubt improved methods of production have lowered the prices of certain commodities.

The methods of producing steel rails have been greatly improved in twenty years and as a result the price has taken a veritable “header.” Yet butter and eggs have also declined in price, though there have been no improvements made in the ordinary cow and hen as methods of producing them. In other words, improved facilities may, in some cases, have augmented a fall that has been due to another and more universal cause.

The downward fall of values has been true of other values as well, land values and stocks of all kinds. Nothing takes the very spirit out of an enterprise more than a market that is constantly falling as a result of an appreciating currency. As Mr. Balfour recently said before an audience of London bankers and merchants, it “is, perhaps, the m-ait deadening and benumbing influonoD that can touch the enterprise of a nAtion.”

Vyhen the farmer has a mortgage on his land the appreciating dollar does him a three-fold injustice. It shrinks the value of his land, augments his indebtedness and at the same time by lowering the price of his produce takes away his ability to pay. The land value shrinks away under the mortgage and the mortgage spreads out over the land until there is no margin left for the original owner, and foreclosure is inevitable. The money brokers are entitled to their principal and interest They are not entitled to the unearned increment of their wealth, caused by the appreciation of the money standard. If the monetary policy of the country makes gold the most desirable and only secure form of property it is to be expected that men who have it will not invest it but will either hoard or loan it Until the monetary basis is broadened thete will be no enduring relief for the present depression of trade and enterprise. All our money is now referable to gold and appreciates with the appreciation of gold. Even our silver dollars must be represented by a gold dollar’s worth of silver bullion in the treasury. Issuing new forms of currency, payable directly or indirectly in gold, will afford no relief but will rather tend to accelerate the upward course of gold. It will be seen that gold as a money metal is in the nature of a monopoly which confers its favors on the few to the detriment of the many. The monometallists of congress understand this. They are willing to consent to any increase of currency provided it is redeemable in gold, but they obstinately oppose any measure that would broaden the money standard and skillfully eviscerate every real measure of relief by reducing it to some such nondescript as the Sherman law. The world has 84,000,000,000 worth of silver money and a little more than 13,500,000,000 worth of gold. Does anyone seriously believe for a moment that it is either wise or possible for the world to demonetize its silver? And if it is not wise for the world to do this, why should it be wise for the United States to take any further steps in that direction? After the necessity for using silver as money is admitted there does come in a perplexing question as to how it can be safely done in the absence of an international agreement Such an agreement would no doubt be a very convenient thing but at present not a probable one. The power of plutocracy is too strong in Germany and England to make it possible for many years to come. The only use of mono-

tary conferences hitherto has teen to postpone action. It is in the power of the United States to work out its own salvation in this matter without the help of other nations. Perhaps it would not be safe to declare for free coinage at the old ratio of 16 to 1. At the present time the market value of silver is seventy-three cents an ounce, while its coinage value is f 1.29. * A free coinage law at the old ratio would be equal to an attempt on the part of the United States to raise unaided the price of all the silver in the world from seventythree cents to f 1.29 an ounce in gold. AVe are a great people but hardly equal to such an undertaking as this. It is quite safe to say that wo would get more silver than we wanted and that we could not maintain it on a parity with gold. But the power and influence of the United States is great enough to raise and maintain the price of silver at a* point fur above its present abnormally low price. This point should be discovered end our opened to its free coinage at whatever ratio that would be. I believe that u free coin-, age law in the United States at the ratio of 20 to 1 would be an entirely safe measure and that it would absolutely fix the price of silver the world over at not less than f 1.03 an ounce in gold.

The failure of the Bland-. Allison law and the Sherman law to fix the price of silver is no criterion of the effect a free coinage law would have, for neither of these laws was intended to accomplish this result On the coif* trary they have both treated silver os a commodity, to be measured, like other commodities, by a gold standard. They have created a certain demand for silver and to this extent have benefltted the owners of silver mines; but they have done nothing to stop that steady appreciation of gold that has brought disaster to all kinds of values. Nothing short of a law that involves the principle of free coinage and makes silver full legal tender will accomplish this.

It is safe to say that when the people fully understand the question aud express their will the day of the present gold monopoly will be over. After the next popular election the congressmen who return to Washington will be in the condition of those who have seen a great light —Edward B Howell, in Review of Reviews.