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ticularly in the case of the beef trust. 4 Since the
injunction was issued against that trust it has bo
come more oppressive than ever. The prices to
the consumer have increased, while the prices
which the trust pays to the cattle xaiser have been
generally decreased. Tho testimony of the coal
barons delivered before the interstate commerce
commission not only justifies, but requires, crim
inal proceedings; and in spite of the fact that tho
coal barons have admitted that they are in a con
spiracy against the very lives of the people the
Roosevelt administration shows no disposition
whatever to proceed against them in an effective
way.
Long ago" Mr. Roosevolt's attorney general
announced that on the trust question the admin
istration did not intend to "run amuck," and
newspaper readers know that when H. C. Prick,
the steel trust magnate, selected Attorney General
Knox to be United States senator from Pennsyl
vania, Mr. Roosevelt promptly added his indorse
ment and expressed tho desire chat tho choice
of the steel trust should represent Pennsylvania
in the senate.
Undoubtedly, the luncheons given by Mr.
Roosevelt to tho great financiers are very pleas
ing affairs. These affairs are not necessary, how
ever, to convince, these "Napoleons" that Mr.
Roosevelt is "entirely safe" from the standpoint
of tho trusts. The record of his administration
is sufficient guarantee on that line.
Measuring Gold by Itself.
There are a few gold buss so ignorant of the
money question that they talk about tho gold
dollar being unchangeable in value. It must bo
apparent to any one that if we measure a dollar
by itself it cannot change in value, and it must
also be apparent to any one that the bullion valuo
'of -a dollar must be the same as the coinage value
so long as the bullion" cdh. bo converted into coin
without cost or loss of time. In no other way and
in no other sense ban the gold dollar be called an
unfluctuating dollar. If there is a charge for the
coinage of gold, this charge will necessarily make
the coined dollar more valuable than an equal
weight of gold, for no person would pay for con
verting bullon into coin if the coin was not worth
enough more to pay for the conversion.
It is also obvious that the melting of a gold
Coin would bring a loss to tho holder If he had to
pay anything to have tho melted bullion converted
into coin again. Even with absolutely free coin
age there might be a difference between the valuo
the bullion and tho coin unless the bullion could
instantly be converted into coin. Suppose, for in-.
stance, a man needed $100 in money and had suf
ficient gold from which to coin the amount of
money needed; if he could instantly convert his
bullion into coin he would not sell it to any one
lor less than tho coinage value. If, however he
had to have the money at once and could not have
his gold coined for a week or a month, he might
sell his gold for less than the coinage value in
order to get the money at once.
' The difficulty with the advocate of the gold"
standard is that he is constantly measuring an
ounce of gold by an ounce of gold or comparing
One gold dollar with another gold dollar. As The
Commoner h'asalready pointed out, the- melting
pot test is a farce and a fraud, so far as it is re
sorted to to ascertain an honest dollar. Tho test
of a dollar is in its purchasing power, and that
dollar most nearly approaches honesty whose
purchasing power most nearly approaches absolute
stability. But stability in the purchasing power
of the dollar is only possible when the supply of
money and the demand for money remain in ex
actly the same proportion to each other. An in
crease in the supply of money, the demand remain
ing the same, reduces the purchasing power of
the dollar, while, on the other hand, an increase
in the demand for monoy, the supply remaining
jthe same, raises the purchasing power of the dol-
The Commoner.
lar. As both supply and domand are subject to
constant variation, It Is impossibleor at least
has been in tho past to secure an absolutely sta
ble dollar.
The effort of the sincere and intolligcntlu
dents of tho subject has boen to secure as near an
approach to absoluto stability as human wisdom
could doviso, but tho editors of tho gold standard
papers make no effort to secure stability in tho
purchasing power of tho dollar, and many of them
seem to have no comprehension of the principles
which govern in tho science of monoy.
There has been no change in the weight or
fineness of the gold dollar since 189G, and yet tho,
lncreaso In tho production of gold, supplemented
by an lncreaso In tho volume of monoy from other
sources, has reduced the purchasing power of tho
dollar In the United States and raised prices.
To the extent that prices have been raised by the
enlarged production of gold and by other in
creases in tho currency, the affect upon business
Is exactly tho seme as if this increase had come
wholly from the coinage of silver. The gold stand
ard advocates, who until 1896 pointed with prldo
to a rising dollar and claimed that it brought
blessings to the country, now point to the very
reverse condition, namely, rising prices, and claim
that their systom has been vindicated. Insofar as
prices have risen as a result of an Increased quan
tity of money, bimetallism have been vindicated
and their arguments verified. It must bo remem
bered, however, that conditions have been abnor
mal for several years and that this country has
been receiving more than Its share of the world's
metallic money. There is evidence that we have al
ready reached Ine summit and are on the de
cline. The scarcity of money Is such that our
banking business is not done on a safe basis.
The scarcity of money is also evidenced by the fact
that the banks are clamoring for an' asset cur
rency which will increase the volume of money
by tho issue of unsecured bank notes, and tho
financiers are also demanding tho Aldrich bill,
, by means of which more government money is to
be deposited in the banks. Secretary Shaw has
deposited more government money with the banks
than any previous secretary, and republicans at
tempt to defend it on the ground that business
conditions require that the monoy held by tho
government should not be withdrawn from the
channels of trade.
Therje is also a scarcity of money in the vari
ous money centers of the world, and in spite of
this fact the great financiers are even now at
tempting to force India, China and Mexico to tho
gold standard. If this effort succeeds it means
an increased demand for gold that is likely to out
run the . increased supply, and bring us again
face to face with the evils of an appreciating
dollar.
The man who says that the monoy question
in settled ignores facts that are patent to all.
Any one who understands human nature or the
financial history of this countrr, knows that tho
monoy question is not a contest between gold and
silver, or between gold and sil . ir on the one side
and gold on the other. It is a contest between tho
money power and the rest of the people. If the
money power is victorious any financial system
that can be devised will be turned to tho advant
age of the money magnates, and against the in
terests of the people. Just as our form of gov
ernment, the wisest ever devised, can be made
oppressive, if conducted by a few in theJr own
interests, so the best flnarcial system ever con
ceived can be converted Into an Instrument of
Injustice if administered for the selfish interests
of a particular class.
The gold standard is really beneficial to com
paratively few, but these few have great promi
nence in the business world, and their represen
tatives in the press and on the platform are con
tinually deceiving the public and leading them
away from the real issue. No falsehood is more
persistently relied upon than that which presents
the melting pot test as the test of honesty in the
dollar, and no fundamental principle is more stu
diously ignored by the advocates of the gold
standard than that self-evldonE prlnclplo that tut
test of virtue in money Is its stability. When on
understands and who can deny it? that that i
tho best dollar which changes least in purchas
ing power, and that stability in purchasing power
can only bo secured by having a quantity of mon
oy that will keep in pace with tho domand for
monoy whon ono understands these principle
ho Is able to meet any arguments which th
advocates of tho gold standard can prcsont
Tho dollar is not to bo measured by itself,
but Is to bo measured by othor property. The ad
vocates of the gold standard iusist upon measuring
the gold dollar by itself.
JJJ
A Republican President.
Did tiio republican platform writers lntond to
censure President McKinloy by contrasting Mr,
Cleveland's failure to onforce the anti-trust laws
with tho "fearless enforcement" of those laws by
" 'A' republican president?" Thoro havo been two
republican presidents since tho country's lamont
ablo exporlcnco with G rover Clovoland and one
of thorn, President McKinloy, did nothing to dis
turb the trusts. Tho fact that only ono republi
can president Is praised for his fearlessness while
Mr. Cleveland's Inactivity is censured must be a
little galling on Mr. McKinley's friends. Tho con
sure of Mr. McKinloy Is as plain as if tho son
tonco had read: "Laws enacted by the republi
can party, which Prosldont Clovoland and Presi
dent McKinloy failed to enforce, and which wcro
intended for tho protection of tho public against
tho unjust discriminations or the illegal encroach
ment of vast aggregations of capital havo been
fearlessly enforced by President Roosevelt."
For this tardy acknowledgement of President
McKinley's failure to enforco tho anti-trust law,
thanks; but what do tho admirers of tho late
president think of this veiled condemnation of his
administration?
The praise of Presidont Roosevelt's "fearless
ness" Is entirely unmerited, but this plank an
Bvors at least, one purpose: it shows that Presi
dent Roosevelt's satelltes regard hlra as a much
more courageous man than his republican pro
, decessor.
K
JJS
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