Show DEGRADED DIVY MONEY 11 THE MOCKING CRY OF THE BENEDICT benedic r ARNOLDS aft the Amer iraa tran douar doll of its it honor thy call ft a dis dl oi d a piece of money national bimetallist the advocates of the gold stand standard d sua malize the movement for the restoration of silver to the place it occupied in our oar currency prior to 1873 when the coinage of that metal was stealthily suspended as an atte attempt ampt to degrade the peoples medium of exchange they mean by it that the value or purchasing power of money will thereby be lowered or as they say degraded the value or purchasing power of money is the quantity of a commodity commod ity or other form of pro property erty a given sum of it will exchange tor for for instance it one dollar will exchange tor for two bushels of wheat it has a high value or purchasing power if it will exchange for only one buz bushel bel of wheat the dollar is degraded abed hy by having its purchasing power lowered in the first instance one half of the labor expended in producing the wheat is sacrificed tor for the benefit of the o owners ers of 0 money in the second instance the producer of the wheat reaps the benefit and the owners of the money who live in idleness are deprived of its gain there can cam be no tall fall in the value of money without a corresponding rise in ba the value or prices of other forms of prop erty including wages paid for labor and no rise in the value of money which is not accompanied or rather manifested by a tall fall in the prices beg of other forms of property money and other forms of property as locke said many years ago exactly counterbalance each other and it if the word degrade is used this term will apply as well to other forms of property as to money and the question is whether money or other forms of property including wages paid tor for labor shall be degraded for this effect cannot be visited upon both at the same time tor for the two scales ales of the balance never rise and tall together but always alternately the relation rela tica between one quantity of money in which values ar are e expressed and other forms of P property is about as 1 to 40 that is tor for every dollar in money there are forty dollars in other forms of property consequently for every dollar given to the owners of money by increasing its purchasing power forty dollars in falling failing prices are taken from the owners oer of other forms of property Is thu this a wise and just policy for a young and vigorous country which is already struggling under an increasing weight of indebtedness and whose wealth is not in its accumulated riches rich es but in its productive energies a policy policy that is enriching the drones at the expense of the worling bees of society what causes the fluctuation in the relation of money to other forms of property in other words in the value of mone money until this is understood we can make no progress iu in our knowledge of this subject it is not in the character of the substance or material of which money is made that its purchasing power resides but in the quantity of it in circulation As this quantity is increased other things remaining the same its purchasing power falls as this quantity diminishes its purchasing power rises A whole page of a daily newspaper bould be filled with extracts fr from 0 m the whitin writings of eminent economists affirming the truth of this proposition and furthermore it is attested by the experience peri per lence ence of all the ages julius paulus said in the third century of our era the power of money asides esi des not so much in the substance as in the quantity and three centuries later this M ying was waa repeated in the Pan pandects deetS of justinian ricardo and no higher authority can be quoted said that commodities modi ties would rise or fall in price in proportion to the increase or diminution of money I 1 assume as a tact fact that is incontrovertible if this Is true it A matters not whether our money is made from gold or silver stability in its value in other words a stable currency can only be secured by adjusting its quantity and keeping it adjusted to the wants of trade human wisdom alone cannot accomplish this object experience tells us that to do this we must resort to natures treasury and mate make our gold and silver mines our banks of issue it if we use gold and silver as our primary money upon which all credit rests its quantity will be increased ed and the value of the unit or dollar wm will fall and prices will rise it if we use gold alone as primary money the volume of it will be diminished the purchasing power of the unit or dollar will be increased and the prices of other forms of property including wages paid for labor will fall HENRY G MILLER A FL M may 1896 noamy answers bauor journal in the heralds issue ia ca the governor altgeld is charged with I 1 not answering carlisles caresie s to estion to the workingmen which was as fol follows lowi SOT gov altgeld does doea not answer the th e ot of carlisle addressed to the laboring trian man and that is this N atter I 1 BUTz struggling gling for more hebor than ilan a aunte jr of si a ceu labor organizations and otherwise co to jeaure secure a 0 rata ot wages which would malce make the proceeds of a days W aoa equal to the cost b a ft nays s subsistence forr for the sand hs family Boily you j babe ked alced by the advocates of free co coinage to f esa them in destroying one half the 7 7 at i which you are pal pali pah I and imp impose P ose 1 yourselves vours elves the task of f dou doub d doubling u T lini nominal amount of your our baj after that la Is to struggle eggl tor for blk 1 l er quarter of a century or P perhaps hapa lc to raise your wages in a depreciated currency to a point which will enable you to purchase with them as much of the necessaries of life as you can purchase now and U f after yrs ars of contention privation sud d disorder you should ra et floreed in so adjusting wages that 0 tty w wald auld secure cw at the higher price of just what they will procure now at the existing prices what would yon have gained by the change from the old to the new conditions it does not require a governor to answer the question under the present condition money is so valuable that the products of labor are rendered al moet worth worthless legs under the now condition with gold and silver tree free coned coined into legal tender dollars on a ratio of 16 to I 1 carlisles En glands and the money powers depreciated currency labor would command a living compensation pensa Penza tion the volume of money would be in exact proportion to commercial requirements and the hand of greed would fall from the throat of industry money kin kings 98 would not crave or corner the cent dollar as they now do the or cent yellow jacket dollar business would be stimulated in all its branches the workingmen would again take up the burden of life and with joy and gladness bear on their broad shoulders this s great go government v ern ment to a grandeur and supremacy unparalleled in the history ot of r nations iati ons old time workingman prices price th the average price of commodities declined 1 per cent in april and the stall jall since october 1892 has been 16 7 per cent during last week wheat fell wool was lower lard sold at the lowest price known tallow is down to a bout about the lowest price and corn leather oats turpentine and sugar fell slightly cotton was a little stronger As compared with 1888 hides leather and boots boota and shoes are more than 19 per cent lower philadelphia press may 4 this is is a statement of fact concerning a downward movement of prices which has been in operation with few interruptions for a long series of years whether all prices be high or low may be a matter of indifference but it is of first importance that high or low they should either have stability or a small upward movement A falling failing market must have a deadly influence upon business the inevitable consequence of continuous decline is to check enterprise to discourage investment to impel buyers to supply only pressing wants andio and to enlarge the fixed charges of all producers no more important obligation is imposed upon the press and upon our public men than to discover disc diec over cover what is the cause of this astonishing toni shing unprecedented and destructive truc tive shrinkage of values and then with a bold hand to apply the remedy the theory of overproduction will not meet the requirements of the case it is merely absurd to insist that all the necessaries of life are produced in excess quantities and particularly is this theory insufficient in presence of the clearly perce perceptible fact that multitudes of idle and half idle men cannot supply their wants there is one cause ause which never fails to drive down prices and as that cause at tilis this moment is discoverable in the practice of the government why should any other be looked for it is the contraction of the volume of the currency needed by the people for the business of exchanging the products of their industry commerce is starving for want of money while men and women are starving for want of bread the manufacturer indiana gold men yield in the democratic party of indiana the sentiment is for sliver as it is everywhere in the west and south but in that state the gold power and the cuckoo influence are not able to stifle the voice of the people and the gold leaders have bein been forced to surrender A special to the chicago record 11 cord says the situation has come to a head rapidly since thomas taggart announced that under no circumstances would he allow his name to go before the state convention the tree free silver democrats immediately demanded benjamin F shively of south bend and now every democrat of prominence says shively will be nominated by acclamation cla clax mation nation he is an out and out tree free silver man at one time he was tinged with greenb greenback acklam ism and when that passed away he became an advocate of the independent coinage of silver he has served his district three full terms and one short term in congress he is a lawyer representatives of the gold wing ot of the party say they will not put up a candidate ex attorney general A G smith who is one of the most earnest advocates of the gold standard was asked why he did not become a candidate tor for the nomination of governor on OB a sound bound money platform because I 1 should be defeated said he be the democrats will win in indiana this year they will win on a tree freo allver platform I 1 am as radical on the money question as I 1 ever was but the party will wid adopt a tree free silver platform and mr mount will be defeated for governor the democrats will nominate rk IEL F shively 1 ex |