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THE CONYERS WEEKLY, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1895. «TI1E CAT AND THE FIDDLE." \ <S\\ * ■«* 3% __ W" r IVHM V V'-' § : ____ytrCTV s '/) m ■N it t £2 ’ (i /> } y -- ss^ Tgwogp r a Hev, diddle, diddle. The mine owner’s fiddle. SMALL CHANGE. Silverites claim that the adoption of their scheme would “make more work.” In the sense that men would have to work harder to get the things they need, free silver would certainly make more work. So would burning down houses make more work for car¬ penters. But that is no reason for abolishing fire departments in our towns and cities. The progress of civilization in any country is best shown by the use of superior tools and labor saving inven¬ tions. There is no doubt that if the skilled American mechanic were com¬ pelled to work with the crude tools used in China and India, it would take him far longer to make an arti¬ cle, and he would thus have to work harder than he does now. Does he want that kind of “more work?” In the same way the adoption of an inferior metal like silver for a^stand ard of value would make the process of production and exchange of com¬ modities more difficult, and thus the working classes would have “more work.” Biit since it is not merely work in itself, but the products of labor, which workingmen really want, their best interests are served by the use of that standard of value under which production and exchange are greatost and easiest. There can be no question that it is in the countries which have deliber¬ ately adopted the gold standard that the intelligence of the people, as Bhown through their superiority in methods of production, arts, sciences, literature, etc., has reached its high¬ est level. Since this is tho case it is reasonable to infer that their use of a particular metal for a measure of value was guided by the same wisdom which they have shown in other direc¬ tions. The silverite idea, that all the civilized Nations are inferior to th» semi-civilized countries on the one point of their monetary standard, while excelling in all ether respects, is too ubsurd for serious argument. All attempts to show how free coin¬ age would, increase the demand for goods, and, therefore, create a busi¬ ness boom, have dismally failed, and the silver cause is rapidly losing the supporters who were attracted by the promise of better times under the sil¬ ver standard. The proof that cheap money does not encourage consump¬ tion, and therefore would not increase the volume of exchanges of goods, is found in the undeniable fact that in all countries using only silver money the avirage consumption is much smaller than in the gold standard coun¬ tries. As the production of goods must be limited by their consumption, it is evident that a scheme whioh merely looks to an artificial stimula¬ tion of production could not bring any increase in industrial prosperity. In the silverite arguments intended to Bhow the farmer that he would be richer if he received moro “dollars” for his products, it is taken for granted that the dollars he would get under free coinage would be worth jnst as much as those he gets to-day. If the farmers once understood that the value of the money they are paid for their crop depends entirely on the quantity of goods which it will buy, and that v with free silver a dollar would willnow.tney only’purchase quickly'cease half of what it would their agitation for cheap money. When the eilverites claim that free coinage will double prices of all products, they practically admit that their silver dol¬ lar would be worth but fifty cents. What the farmers need is more 100 cent dollars, and not a lower measure of values. The money question has been laid away, and instead the farmers are dis¬ cussing and devising ways to take care wi their big corn crop. A BITTER EXPERIENCE. That of tbo Wage-Earner With De¬ preciated Currency During Our Greenback Period. Perhaps there is no better or clearer demonstration of the effect of a de¬ preciated currency upon wages than that offered by the experience of the United States during the Civil War. Prices advanced as soon as the Gov¬ ernment began to issue legal tender notes. Wages advanced a little later bat less rapidly. At no time during the period from 1861 to 1867 had wages advanced sufficiently so that the wage-earner could purchase as much for his day’s labor as in 1861. In spite of the fact that about one fourth of the best workers were serv¬ ing as soldiers and withdrawn from competition with their fellow wage earners, so groat was the decline in the purchasing power of wages that, in 1865, the workingman found him¬ self working for four-fifths of what he had received in 1861. Since 1865, and especially since the resumption of specie payments in 1879, the purchas¬ ing power of a day’s labor has been steadily increasing. In the following table (taken from “Quality of Money and Wages,” by Frank L. *McVey) the average nom¬ inal wages paid in leading occupations in 1860 was taken as a normal—100 per cent. ; the prices for the leading necessaries of life in 1860 were taken as the normal for prices; the amount of these necessaries that could be pur¬ chased by a day’s labor in 1860 was taken as the normal for the purchas¬ ing power of wages. TABLE OF WAOF.S, PRICES AND PURCHASING POWER IN THE UNITED STATES, 1860-1891. [Aldrich’s Senate Report, Part L, pp. 13, 93.] Year. Currency Wages. Currency Puichas’g Prices. Power. 1860 100.0 100.0 100.0 1861 100.7 95.9 105.0 1862 103.7 102.8 100.8 1863 118.8 122.1 97.3 1864 134.0 149.4 89.7 1865 148.6 190.7 77.9 1866 155.6 160.2 97.1 1867 164.0 145.2 112.9 1863 164.0 150.7 109.4 1869 167.4 135.9 123.2 1870 167.1 130.4 128.1 1871 166.4 124.8 133.3 1872 167.1 122.2 136.7 1873 166.1 119.9 138.5 1874 162.5 120.5 134.8 1875 158.0 119.8 131.0 1876 151.4 115.5 131.0 1877 143.8 109.4 131.4 1873 140.9 103.1 136.6 1879 139.4 96.6 144.3 1880 143.0 103.4 137.6 1881 15J 7 105.8 142.4 1882 152.9 106.3 143.8 1883 159.2 104.5 152.3 1834 155.1 101.8 152.3 1885 155.9 95.4 163.4 1896 155.8 95.5 163.2 1887 156.6 96.2 162.7 1888 157.9 97.4 162.1 1889 162.9 99.0 164.5 1899 168.2 95.7 175.7 1891 168.6 96.2 175.4 The wage-earner’s loss is shown in a more striking form in the accompany¬ ing diagram, also taken from Mr. Mc Vey’s pamphlet: 1861 m m 1657 18 69 •>- J87I IS 73 1875 m (879 1881 1883 1885 1887 1889 183 i l&RSIIF ms 700 — »»c urren cy W ages -'1 c urrency P ncea j i\ ; urcl-sgsmgV power ilo Taken from tables avera^iid acc ord.na .mooHanco ' I Jk-/ y\ J i i ) K. (i Nsn !//? ■ _ ' ! KJ \ 150 . If/) ; s . . ■ 17$ T f . | M- • ! / 4 ( U . v 109 Ik *- L c k ■ j' 00 k .1 * ’! & i/kjDRlCHS i 5lNATtlRlPMk'ffc?lP ! P*« • l ; l t ' i J ; j ■ -> Ik IHORIT l. W" | ; 13.14 93 * It# I ! • <S63 4668 -ISP, 1669 >«7K_4873 -16 75 1877 1875 8ii BS3 1385 IBS7 1889 It seems strange, with such a history and such an experience before him, that any wage-earner would be foolish enough to agitate for depreciated sil ver oi any other kind of cheap dollars, SO SILVER IS CIRCULATION IN 1873 . The plain truth is that this act of 1873, which has been the subject of so much misapprehension and denuncia¬ tion, was simply a legal recognition of a monetary condition which had ex¬ isted in fact in this country for about thirty-five years, or ever since a short time after the passage of the coinage act of 1834.* From about the year 1838 until after the passage of the Bland-Allison act in 1878, no silver dollars were in circulation in this country, and our whole currency con¬ sisted of gold coins and bank notes, except from 1862 to 1878, when our active circulation, outside of Califor¬ nia and its neighboring territory, was all paper. There was during the lat¬ ter period about $25,000,000 in gold in circulation on the Pacific Coast, and the United States was collecting customs dues in gold and using it in the payment of interest on the public debt, but there was no silver in circu¬ lation anywhere in this country, not even the light-weight subsidiary coins. The value of the United States note or greenback was always measured by gold and not by silver, and commodities had a gold price and a paper price, but never a silver price, because silver, except the half-dollars, quarters and dimes coined under the act of 1853, had been out of use here for more than twenty years before the commencement of the war, and even these subsidiary coins had not been in use for eleven years prior to 1873. Our own monetary history had already furnished two most striking illustrations of the operation of the natural law under which the coins which are over-valued by statute always drive out of circula¬ tion the coins which are under-valued. Our own experience had again demon¬ strated what the history of the world already showed—that whenever the coinage laws of any country permit the free coinage of both metals with full legal-tender qualities at a ratio of value which does not conform sub¬ stantially to their intrinsic or com¬ mercial ratio in the markets of the world, both kinds of coin cannot be kept in circulation at the same time. The reason is that, both being full legal tender, the least valuable coin will always be used in making pay¬ ments, and will become the sole meas¬ ure of value, and the most valuable will be hoarded or sent out of the country into the markets where its real value can be obtained.—Hon. John G. Carlisle. A “Bimetallic” Paper’s Blunder. The Philadelphia Manufacturer ex¬ presses a common Populist error when it says: “It is exactly true that the commercial prosperity of a country depends upon the presence of metallic money in large abundance.” Instead of being true this statement is exactly the reverse of the facts. The produc¬ tion, distribution and consumption cf large quantities of goods, which is what is meant by commercial pros¬ perity, depends on the honesty, in¬ dustry and intelligence of the people of a country; on the natural condi¬ tions of soil, climate, etc.; and on the mineral and other resources which furnish the raw materials for manu factured goods, The presence of metals which will serve as a measure of values, and a means for exchanging goods more readily than by barter, will be of material aid in the general machinery of industry and commerce. But to say that commercial prosperity depends on the means of lessening the friction of exchange is equivalent, to use an illustration from ex-Secretarv of the Treasury Fairchild, to saying that the transportation of goods de¬ pends on the amount of grease used on car or cart axles. Does the Manu¬ facturer pretend that with a large abundance of metallic money Iceland or Greenland would be prosperous, while without such money Holland would be a poverty-stricken country? It will now be in order for some of our “16 ter ones” to kick on the gold¬ en streets because they are not paved with silver, and swear that the whole plan of salvation is a scheme of the gold bugs to put heaven on a gold basis. Unsafe. Teacher— “Now, Dick, you may re peat the golden text. ” Dick Hicks—“I don’t dost; me fad der is a silver man.” THE SILVER DISCUSSION. Disputed Points Definitely Settled During the Past Six Months. During the past six months the country has been turned into a vast debating society, and the proposition for the free coinage of silver at a ra¬ tio of 16 to 1 has been eagerly dis¬ cussed in the magazines and newspa¬ pers, on the platform and in political conventions. At the outset the advo¬ cates of free silver appeared to be in the majority, and as their movement was well organized it seemed a9 though the 16 to 1 issue would sweep the country. But the advantage of the cheap money shonters was shortlived. Real¬ izing the danger of the business in¬ terest of the country from the threat of a depreciated staudard of value, the believers in a sound currency and an honest dollar joined in exposing the fallacies and delusions of the free coin¬ age scheme. Through the sound money press, and in a large number of books and pamphlets, the folly and dishonesty of • free silver was clearly shown, and by facts and statistics, which left no room for controversy. Now that public sentiment is strongly inclined in favor of maintaining our present sound financial system, a brief review will show the main points which have been definitely settled during the free coinage discus sion. 1. It was asserted by the silver¬ ites that by “the crime of 1873” sil¬ ver was secretly demonetized. It has been proved beyond dispute, so that the charge has been generally dropped, that the coinage laws of 1873 were adopted after being three years before Congress,and with the full knowledge of the members of both Houses. 2. It was claimed that the free coin¬ age of silver at 16 to 1 would establish a bimetallic standard of values, where¬ by both gold and silver would be used as standard money. It has been proved that in reality free coinage at 16 to 1 would mean silver monomet¬ allism, and this is now admitted by such eminent advocates of bimetallism as President Andrews and General Francis A. Walker. 3. It was urged that there was a scarcity of money and that free silver would give a larger volume of cur¬ rency. It has been proved that there is now more money per capita than at any time in the history of the country, and that the adoption of the silver standard would lead to currency con¬ traction by driving out all our gold. 4. It Tfras said that since 1873 one half of the money of the country had been struck down. It bas been shown that while in 1873 there was less than $100,000,000 of silver money of all kinds in the country, there is now over $500,000,000. 5. It was charged that the gold sta'ndard was adopted and maintained at the instigation of a small creditor class, against the interests of a large debtor class. It has been proved that the number of creditors far exceeds that cf the debtors, and that the only way in which free silver could benefit debtors would be by aiding them to repudiate part of their debts. 6. It was said that the passage of a free coinage law would raise the com¬ mercial value of silver from 30 to 1 to the ratio of 16 to 1. It has been proved that it would be impossible for the Government’s stamp on silver coins to increase their real value, which, a3 in the case of all other com¬ modities, depends on supply and demand. 7. It wa3 claimed that free coinage would benefit workingmen by giving t,hein higher wages. It has been proved that under the silver standard the prices of everything the working¬ man buys would at once be doubled, while any increase in wages would be slow and much smaller in proportion. 8. The cotton planters and wheat growers were told that the decline in the price of their products was caused by the gold standard. It has been shown that during the past six months cot¬ ton has advanced 50 per cent., and that wheat rose from 55 to 84 cents per bushel, without any change in the standard or volume of money. It has also been shown that prices of corn (our greatest staple), oats, butter and eggs, and of many other farm pro¬ ducts, as well as of the pxice of labor (wages), are higher now than in 1873. 9. The business depression of 1893-4 was asserted to be due to the alleged demonetization of silver. The present widespread industrial revival, with factories running on full time, new mills being built, and general evidence of prosperity, is a complete answer to the calamity bond which was the main reliance of the silverites. Disaster With Dishonor. National dishonor is the dishonoi of every citizen; and any change in the standard of value, or anything done which shall dep.v.ve any creditor of the United States of payment in full in money recognized as valid by the leading commercial Nations of the world, will not only be dishonorable, but will result in the pecuniary loss to every citizen in the United States.— R. Weissinger, in “What Is Money?” A (Question. Quericus—“What do the silver peo¬ mean by 16 to 1?” Jollicus—“Those are the odds against their winning. ” MILLS’S POSITIOS, OUTSIDE THE SILVER CAMP. He Finds It Impossible r JOno er , Lf®' * -He lleve in the Free Coinage” D e °" Gives Most Excellent r sons for His Change of Front Senator Mills, of Texas, bas d ; the past six months ar n of the renewed his 2 the money question, and has eo to conclusion that free coinage silver at a ratio of 16 to 1 with gold I a delusion. His recent letter to Chairman of the Democratic ^ Committee of Texas has State sternation in the created con camp of the silver ites. Why it should do so will folio" b 8 derstood after reading the wing extracts from his letter: “The proposition is not to be dis puted all other that things the increase being of currency' rml's prices wherever the equal, But prices not money affected circulates are in any country where the money does not circulate. The opening of our mints to the unlimited coinage of silver will increase prices in the United States but m>t in Europe. As the prices of commodities rise here, the value of the dollar falls here in precisely the same proportion. The price of the gold dollar, which is the common measure of value, remaining the same in Eu¬ rope, it would go to Europe, because it would buy more commodities there than here. “I object to the silver standard be¬ ing adopted in lieu of the existing standard because it will defraud all creditors out of one-half the value of their debts. Every debt contracted since January 1, 1S79, wag contracted on the gold standard, The debtor honestly owes the value of 23.22 ! grains of gold for every dollar prom¬ ised, and the creditor is honestly en¬ titled to receive it. When it was pro¬ posed years ago to demonetize all the coined silver of the world and sup¬ press the iurther coinage of that metal, I joined with other friends of silver in denouncing the monstrous proposition, because it was an attempt to double the debts of tho world, and to bring all debts in this country Jeon traoted on a paper staudard, much of it at less than 50 cents on the dollar, to par with gold. Is not the propo¬ sition now to substitute the silver dol¬ lar on the silver standard for that gold dollar the same that we all con¬ demned, except it is the creditor now who is to be the victim instead of the debtor then? “No persons would receive the least benefit from the change of stand¬ ard to silver except the man who owes 100 cents and wishes to pay it with 50. He would under the silver standard be able to discharge his debt by paying one-half of what he prom¬ ised. This would be a scheme to en¬ rich one-half of a community by despoiling the other half. Wherever there is a debtor there is a creditor, and he is entitled to the same protec¬ tion as the debtor. Congress has the power to discharge insolvent debtors by a bankrupt law, but the adoption of the silver standard now would dis¬ charge all solvent debtors from one half the obligation of their contracts, even though as a class they might be the wealthier part of the commiinity. “Believing that the silver standard would prove injurious to the people of the United States, and especially to that part of them engaged in growing cotton, I am unwilling to take any steps in legislation calculated to im¬ peril that great industry upon which the welfare of my constituency so greatly depends. “The vast army of wage-workers will be injured, and seriously injured, by the expulsion of the present standard and the adoption of any depreciated stand¬ standard of values. The paper ard, as I have said, is the worst, be¬ cause the paper has no appreciable in¬ trinsic value to check its expansion. The silver standard is the next in or¬ der, but its mischief is limited by the market value of the metal in the Q4r lar. The most stable, invariable and the best of -.U moneys is that one ot the precious metals which is recog¬ nized as ‘the common measure of value’ of the commercial world. have that stable, invariable standari of value now—and there is nothing wanting for its improvement but the substitution of halves, quarters bans- am dimes in the place of National notes and a continued coinage of silver so limited in its amount as to keep R at par with gold.” A FROWZY FAD. Six months ago the free silver cv-i* was as popular in the South and as the Dolly Tardea and crinoline fashions were at fashions one time had among some >■ ts j women. These deeming traits about them, bn. as - are now gone and the women loo' pretty and are as sweet as ever beiO- . • The free silver fashion has no ret ee. ing traits. Take it up one side anu down the other it is about as giga * piece of foolishness as ever ° a people, bugged the American 11 popular and the demagogue r was But it for all it was worth. 8 • alack! You can fool the people some times, hut not forever. The Am* can people are honest, they are gent, they read and think.