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About The independent. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 25, 1902)
6 THE.NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT DECEMBER 25, 1902. FOINT IN POLITICAL ECONOMY What Would bo f lie Effect of Contracting; tli Currency $600,000.00 by Elimi nating Mirer Dollar? Editor Independent: Upon nearly all economic questions, so ably dis cussed by you in The Independent, you and I are in agreement. Hut in your last issue in an editorial entitled "The Fall of Silver" you repeated a statement on the money question that was often reiterated in the campaign cf 1896, that need3 a careful re-examination by aii populists). You baid: "The $000,000,000 of silver dollars in circulation reduces the value of the gold dollars by one-half. If they were blotted out of existence every gold dollar would buy twice as much as it would now, or, in other words, prices would fall one-half." The fault in this is that internation al commerce and the influence upon our prices of the gold in circulation in foreign countries are ignored and left out of the calculation. If we were" isolated entirely from other nations, so that foreign prices of commodities did not affect our prices and so that a stringent money volume here '.-oii-Id not be relieved somewhat by a full supply of foreign countries, then the j proposition that to cut our supply o money in two would cut prices in halves, might be true. But under ex isting conditions it is impossible'. In order to cut prices in two by reduc ing the money supply, it would be nec essary to blot out of existence one-half of the legal tender money of all the nations whose commercial relations are close and who freely exchange gold and silver. Our $600,000,000 of legal tender silver constitute less than 10 per" cent of the legal tender money in the great commercial nations now sus taining close trade and financial rela tions. Hence upon the quantity theory, if our $600,000,000 of silver were blot ted out, the legitimate effect upon prices would be to red'-e them about 10 per cent. I say the legitimate effect. But I am not forgetting that the secondary effect, following the. tremendous panic and financial collapse that would en sue, would for a time reduce prices much more than 10 per cent. But this would be the result of the panic; and after the recovery, and without a restoration of the $COO,000,000 of "sil ver, prices would legitimately rule no more than 10 per cent lower than be fore the silver money was taken out of the world's circulation. I know, Mr. Editor, that you can quote plenty of political economists to the effect that, other things being equal, and barring other extraordinary influences, prices of all commodities in a country dependent upon the vol ume of money in circulation in that country. Authority is good only when it rests upon reason. The reason for the above rule has largely disappeared. Prior to forty years ago, when those political economists declared the quan tity theory as above, international commerce was a tiny dwarf, whereas now it has grown to be a giant Then, prices upon the continent of Euiope. or in Great Britain, .even, had little influence upon prices in the United States. Not so now. Commerce flows between the nations with almost the same mobility as between the states of our union. Every influence af fecting prices of staple commodities in one of these great alliod commercial nations is felt in them all. Every important change in the money sup ply in one of them is immediately felt in all, and almost to the same ex tent. Hence, the quantity theory of money, as written out by the old political economists, can no longer be followed. It needs to be modified to suit mod ern, existing conditions. . The closing of our mints to silver in 1873 did not cut prices in two in the United States, nor anywhere. The legitimate, primary effect upon our prices was never greater than a 30 per cent reduction; and I doubt if it was so much as that In the same editorial you grant it. as true that "the market value of the sil ver as bullion held in the United States treasury has declined about $100,000,000." How can this be un less we have about $800,000,000 of sil ver certificates in circulation? The recent fall in silver has been only about 12i per cent. If you go back to 1873 you will find a fall in silver of about 63 per cent; in which case you would be right, but not if you have reference to any recent fall in silver. Is there any considerable amount of silver held in the treasury except to redeem silver certificates, amounting to $467,000,000? I do not raise these questions for the purpose of criticism, but only ii order that we may all get right on these important questions. W. HAND. Kearney, Neb. (The eastern dailies are again us ing the term "intrinsic value," and against that doctrine the item criti tised wao written. The elimination of $000,000,000 of silver would add one half to the value of gold. A value that could be so increased or diminished could not be 'intrinsic." The criti cism that. Mr. Hand makes occurred to the editor's mind when the article was written, and ?.lr. Hand himself ex plains why prices would fall one-half. He divide" t:io effect of the elimination of silver into "legitimate" and "indi rect" effect. Whether he classes it legitimate' or indirect, the fall in prices would be as seated in the arti cle criticL-od. The "standard money" of tho United Stales consists at the present time of gold and silver. If one-half of it were eliminated, there would be a convulsion to which the affair of '93 would be insignificant. American securities of all sorts, except bonds secured by the power of lax, would decline enormously! That would reduce the power to buy of many mil lions to almost zero. The power to buy being gone, the manufactories which, supply the present demand would close. That would reduce the power to buy of many hundred thou sand of workingmcn and where the end would be no man could tell. The fail might be more than one-half. When prices got down to the right point to suit the British, Germans and French, they would send gold in nere to buy our property. When enough of it had come, prices would begin to rise again, t'.en they would gather in their profits and take them over the ocean. That is what has been going on for the last hundred years under the British management of American fi nances, and probably will occur once more. The old economists on this question of the quantity theory of money were right. They always say "Other things being equal," that prices will rise or fall as the volume of money is increased or diminished. Remember "the other things." Loss of confidence, a psychological impulse created by falling prices, everybody calling for payment at the same time, these were the things the editor had in mind as well as the contraction of the currency one-half. The amount of silver doing duty in this country as money is estimated by all the authorities at about $594,000 000. That of course includes what is held in the treasury and represented by certificates and what is in the hands of the people outside of the treasury. The estimate of the decrease in the bullion value of silver money was made by one of the most careful and competent writers in New York city, where he had every mean? at hand of arriving at a just estimate. Of course he included all the silver, whether held by the government or by the people at large. Ed. Ind.) r.-i. - "A 1 I 1 VMUL111 11 ii r -i rlitu in ii iwjmww "i u mm We NATIONAL CORNSTALK REMEDY The Greatest Oisccvsry of the Age, : Prevents stcck from dying of Cornstalk Disease. The rem" edy is a real preventive. We have such absolute confidence in it that we require no mo ley from buyers until they have fed and tested the remedy. If it is net as represented you pay nothing. We want every farmer to try our remedy. It never fails when fed with salt as directed. Order today. $10 00 will protect Go head for the sea on. ADDRESS: National irn nrtir RAMGE OUILDING, OMAHA, NEB. OOib i I Clay county receives a large rai!oad tax, because of large mileage in the county and no very big towns. Her people were frightened over the de mand for any change in railroad tax ation, fearing that they might some how come out losers. So they whooped it up for the republican state ticket. But they come out losers anyway. They receive $3,534.60 of school'mon ey this apportionment, as against $4, 767.92, the smallest December appor tionment ever made by the fusionists. Of course, $1,233.32 isn't much but it's something, and that's what it cost them to give "our man Mickey" 231 plurality over such a man as Billy Thompson. What Wall Street Wants Wall street has announced, through resolutions of the chamber of com merce,' what it wants and what it ex pects congress to do. These demands may be summarized as follows: That the national banks be per mitted to retire circulation at will. That new bank circulation should rest on the commercial and industrial credits of the banks. That the silver dollar be made re deemable in gold. That provision be made for the de posit with the banks of any public moneys in the treasury, including re ceipts of customs. Gage county has always been a great refuge for mullet heads. Twelve hundred is about the republican ma jority. The smallest warrant for school money ever sent her by a fu sion state auditor was for $8,221.27 (in December, 1S99). This December she gets $6,550.36 or $1,167.11 less, about a dollar apiece for the excess of mullet heads, and they're dear enough at that WHAT IS YOUR REMEDY FOR THE TRUSTS? The Indkpknijent, during the next six months, desires to receive and print the views of 'on thousand teople regarding the cruse and cur. fi r ti e trust evil. Hate votir idens pointedly. Tell the whoh story in in t more than two hundred word-:. Write j lain, "what causes tiUhts trr IT ircight di.-cr miiiations, or what? V) at is the remedy free trade, tariff for revenue protection' Kovuxineut ownership, pc pul sin, socialism, single ;ax, or JefFersonian democracj? Give your dea' 13 WEEKS' LDUCATICNAL SUBSCRIPTION, i0 CENTS. Enclose a silver dime with ycur manuscript, get The Independent on trial n weeks an4 study this subject. BOX2431. THE INDEPENDENT. Lincoln, Nebraska. A Fabls Once upon a time the wolves and the sheep assembled in mass conven tion and among other things brought up for discussion was the question of the most nutritious and desirable ar ticle of food for the entire animal kingdom. The wolves being non-producers professed to possess about all the scientific wisdom of the . animal creation; and especially did they loud ly profess a hungering and undying love and friendship for the sheep. And because of their loud professions of wisdom and honesty many of the sheep believed them. The leader of the wolf gang then offered the follow ing preamble and resolution: "Whereas; long ages of experience have finally demonstrated to our.satis faction that the double standard of meat and grass cannot be safely: main tained at a parity as articles of food unless properly so recognized by in ternational agreement; and, "Whereas, we. sincerely desire the double standard of meat and grass; therefore, be, it, "Resolved, That we favor both meat and grass, at the proper ratio, as ar ticles of food whenever the same is assented to by an international agree ment of sheep, wolves, lions, jackals, asses and hyenas; and that until there is such an agreement nothing but meat shall be recognized as the proper standard of fod.". All of the wolves howled in support of the resolution, and frantically de clared that the continued use of grass would drive all of the meat out of the kingdom. Many of the sheep, to ap pear smart, and being dazed and frightened by the loud professions of honesty and courage, voted with the wolves so that the resolution pre vailed. Thereafter the wolves lived bn mutton and the sheep eked out a miserable existence on thistles. The wolves declined to arrange for an international convention to change existing conditions so that the single standard mutton became so com pletely established that any sheep manifesting a desire for grass was charged with moral treason and marked . for slaughter. Moral: Those that couldn't become wolves hung up the fiddle and waited for the clouds to roll by. ALLEN SMALLEY. Upper Sandusky, O. D. F. Morehouse, of Fremont, had three cars of wethers on last Thurs day's market, that had been on feed only about six weeks and brought the handsome price of $4.35 and a big profit on his investment. Mr. Mor3 house expresses himself as especially well pleased with the work of the salesman, Mr. Martin Cullerton, who is v h the well-known firm of Nye & Buchanan Co. Perhaps it is to discipline Douglas county for giving Billy Thompson and G. M. Hitchcock such handsome ma jorities that the recent republican school v apportionment is $7,013.49 smaller than the smallest December apportionment ever made by the fu sionists. $33,252.82 in 1899; $26,239.3? this year. Dr. Mitchell's Lumpy Jaw Cure Dr. Mitchell's Lumpy Jaw Cure is guaranteed to cure or money refunded. One application is enough. One bottle is sufficient for 4 head or more. You can buy it at your druggists or he can get it from his jobber If he won'c, write us direct and we will send you a bottle for $1.25 delivered. Marshall Oil Company, sole sale agents for the United States, . MarshaUtowp, la. Illinois Centra! Chicago end New Orleans Lim- '.' ; ited. . . Exclusively a Pullman Train from Chicagd Faster Tii Effective December 7, the Chicago and Netf Orleans Limited fa t urihni tr-; .;n v i; out of Chicago, running trom Chicago to Mem phis as a Pulrman car iraiii only Train Nxj. V me limited, carrying only Pullman i sleeping cars, dining car and buffet-library car will leave Chicago daily at 7:00 p. m. for Meiriph s, Hot Spnngs, Nashville, Atlanta, Jacksonville, and arriving at Ntw Orleans at 7:40 p. m; the next day. jso coach passengers will be taken on i,, they being carried to the at ove points' oh new train No. 25 having coaches only and leavng Chicago at 5:25 p. m. daily and arriving at New Orleans at 7:40 p. 111. the next dav. This coaca train will also carry tvery Wednesday out of Chicago the San Francisco Excursion bleeping Car runn'ng via New Orleans. In addition, the New Orleans Special, fast dav train, with through slpenitior otirl V,i,fT.-i;K.. cars, and serving al meals in dining enr, wiil nave tnicago aauy at io:ooa. m. and arrive at New Orleans at 10:55 nt morning, connecting with the Sunset Lim ted of the Southei n Pacific for Houston, San Antonio and San Francisco, the Sunset Limited leaving New Orleans daily at 11:55 a.m. Tickets and further information of railroad ticket agents. A. A. HANSON. Gen'l Pass'r Agent. Kal! Rates For The Holidays Via the Missouri Pacific. On n. cember 24, 25, 31, and January 1 the Missouri Pacific will sell tfrkets r one fare for the round trip to all points witnip 2uo miles, good to return until January 2. Two passenger trains leave Lincoln daily at 9:15 a. m. and 10:05 d. m. for Nebraska City, Falls City, Auburn, Atchison, Kansas City and other p 'T.ts with ebair cars, sleepers, etc. Full information at city ticket office, 1039 O street, or depot, 9th and S. D. CORNELL, P. & T. A. 50 YEArc EXPERIENCE Trade Marks Designs Copyrights &c. Anyone sending a sketch and description may quickly ascertnin our opinion free whether an invention is probably patentable.. Communiro tionsstrictlyeonndeiitinl. HANDBOOK on Patents sent free. Oldest nizency for securing patents. Patents taken through Munn & Co. receive special notice, without charge, In the Scientific American. A handsomely illustrated weekly. Iireest cir culation of any scientific journal. Terms, $3 a year; four months, U Sold by all newsdealers. MUNN & Co.361Broada Hew York Braucb Office. 625 F 8U Washington, D, t