The Hyder Weekly Herald
Established 1924
Published Saturday at the Her
ald Building in Hyder, Alaska.
Chas. F. Sandford
Owner and Publisher
Entered as second-class matter
at the postoffice at Hyder,
Alaska, under the act of March
3, 1879.
Subscription price $3.00 per
year in advance by mail or
carrier.
Advertising Rates
on application
An Independent Newspaper
MONEY AND THE
PRICE LEVEL
Continued from Page 1
each dollar were identical a3
long as it operated within its
own country. It was only when
the dollar crosses from one
country to the other that the
difference became apparent.
The factory cost of production
in the Toronto factory and in
the Boston factory was $2 per
pair of shoes measured in the
dollars respectively of each
country But see what happens
when trade crosses from one of
these countries to the other.
An American merchant goes to
fhe Canadian factory and finds
that one American dollar will
purchase one pair of $2 Canad
ian shoe?. This seems like a
good bargain to the American;
so he imports his shoes from
Canada. But let us suppose
that a Canadian merchant
comes to the Boston shoe fact
ory to purchase American
made shoes valued at $2 a pair
in United States money. He
finds that it will cost him $4 of
his Canadian money to buy one
pair of $2 American shoes, and
the chances are he will not
purchase them.
Now if you will multiply that
simple illustration by many
thousands you will understand
the great commercial advan
tage enjoyed by countries with
a depreciated currency and
why Japan is able to flood this
country with her products at a
cost delivered here in the Unit
ed States of less than one-half
our cost of producing them.
As the price of silver decreas
es in commodity purchasing
power in silver countries the
cost of production in silver
countries must a loo decrease
but as the commodity purchas
ing power of gold increases in
gold- tandard countries the
cost of production on the farms
and in the factories of gold
standard countries will in
crease accordingly . The Unit
ed States is therefore handi
capped in the production of
raw materials as well as in
manufactured products where
a surplus exists, by the de
creased cost of production in
the silver-using countries as sil
ver declines in purchasing
power, and alto by the in
creased cost of production in
the gold-standard countries as
the purchasing power of gold
increases. If wages and pro
duction cost3 increased in sil
ver using and depreciated cur
rency countries inversely as
their currency depreciated,
and if wages and production
costs decreased in gold-stand
ard countries inverooly as the
commodity purchasing power
of gold increased, this would
tend to neutralize the advan
ages of lower production costs
enjoyed by countries with a de
preciated currency, but it
would in no wise enable those
who live in gold-standarc
couni ries to pay their debts,
norwould it restore the price of
real estate, city property, and
tceke and bonds.
All schemes for inflating the
rurrency cf the United States,
vhethe rit be by the purchase
of government bonds by the
Federal Reserve banks or the
printing of several billions oi
additional paper money, unless
it is to the extent of going off
the gold standard, will not
aise the price of wheat, cotton
and manufactured articles of
which we have a surplus, be
iaure of the fact that such in
ilation will not laise the work'
commodity price level, nor will
uch inflation take from nat
ons whcoe currency is now de
oreciated, the advantage they
low enjoy of low production
josts, Avhile the enactment o:
he Wheeler bill would immed
ately increase the price of sil
ver from about 25 cents ar
iunce to $1.29 and 29-100 pei
:unce, with the result that the
endency would be to raise^the
living standards of the silver
using nations up to our stand
ard of living instead of lower
ng our standards to the level
of theirs.
The fear cf some gold mono
metallists that the enactment
if the Wheeler bill would
cause China and the Oriental
lations to dump their silver on
.he market of the United States
and that they would voluntar
ly sunender their only med
ium of exchange with which
hey conduct their domestic
and foreign commerce, is not
.vorthy of serious consideration
oy any Well-informed person.
In the first place there is no
i uch flood cf silver in the
A'orld, and China is a buyei
and not a seller of silver. Tht
otal world production of silvei
j accoiding to official reports
from the United States Bureau
;f the Mint covering a period
;f 436 years, or since the dis
;overy of America, down to
1929, was only 14,729,598,697
ounces of silver, while during
the same period the production
| of gold was 1,041,232,774 fine
: ounces, or a production ratio of
less than 13 times as many
ounces of silver as there were
produced ounces cf gold. If
, we consider the ratio of value
j between the gold and silver
j produced during this same per
| iod from the discovery of
> America down to 1929, we find
that the total value of gold;
produced in the world figured
at $20.67 per ounce of fine gold
which is its present coinage
value, is $21,525,005,673
while the value of all the silver
produced in the world during
Lhsi same period and figured
at $1,29 and 29-100 as provid
ed in the Wheeler bill would be
only $19,044,329,616. At the
present bullion price of silver,
the value of all the silver pro
duced in all the world since the
discovery of America is only
about $3,700,000,000.
The free coinage of both gold
rnd silver in the United States
vas authorized by Congress in
1792 and was in force down to
he year 1973. At first the rat
o was 15 to 1 but thi3 was
changed to 16 to 1 in 1834 and
0 15.988 in 1837, continuing to
1873.
The gold-silver ratio of pro
luction throughout the world
from 1851 to 1875 was only 6.
1 to one, yet during this period
he average gold-silver price
atio was 15.5 to 1. From 1801
o 1850 the gold-silver priee
atio was 15.7 to 1 while the
world production ratio was 28
o 1, yet this did not overthrow
he price ratio , because the
United States had fixed a min
mum price for silver and gold,
reating an unlimited demand
.'or silver and gold, the pro
duction cf which is limited by
ts scarcity throughout the
world.
History has demonstrated 5
that bimetallism, the monetary i
system adopted by our fore- j
fathers, and which the Wheel- j
3r bill would restore to the |
United States, i's sound money
ind honest money, and there
fore a money system to which |
he Gresham law does not ap-'
ply, for the reason that neither
metal would be cheaper or
fearer under the free coinage !
)# both metals as provided for
n the Wheeler bill.
To thoise who hold that an in
ternational agreement on a
‘ixed ratio is necessary and
hat the Untied States could j
not maintain a fixed ratio inde-;
rendent of other nations, I will j
:all attention to the fact that |
in 1816 Great Britain adopted!
Told monometallism; France
continued on a bimetallic
tandard for several decades;
Germany did not demonetize
ilveruntil 1871 and the United
J ’fates continued or. a bimetallic
| tandard until 1873. which
j dearly demonstrates that unit-;
3d International agreement is
onnecessary. These historical 1
facts should outweigh the mere j
assumptions of those who as- j
lert that the United States i
should not take independent
action to remonetize silver as
provided in the W’heeler bill.
Th fact that Great Britain
adopted gold monometallism in
1816; France several decades
later; Germany in 1871, in con
junction with the abcve-ifated
average in gold and silver price
ratio, together with the world’s
gold-silver production ratios
from 1801 to 1876 prove con
Continued on Page 3
f
FRANK A. METCALF
CIVIL & MINING ENGINELR
U. S. MINERAL SURVEYOR
JUNEAU ALASKA !
******* * *
* Hyder
Methodist Episcopal
* Church
* Rev. F. Bushfield, Pastor.
f Hyder Methodist Episcopal Church
* Sunday Schoorat 10:30 a. m.
* Evening Service at 7:30 p. m.
* Everyone is cordially invited to
* the services.
PORTLAND CANAL LODGE
1218
LOYAL ORDER OF MOOSE
E. D. Haddon, Dictator
P. S. Jack, Secretary
Meets Second and Fourth Thursday*
Second Thursday in Hyder
Fourth Thursday in Stewart
NOTARY PUBLIC
HERALD OFFICE
CHAS
HYPER FUEL CO.
DEALERS IN
WOOD, COAL, HAY and GRAIN
GIANT POWDER AND EVERYTHING NECESSARY
t-§ FOR BLASTING §-t
Hauling and Storage —o— General Dock AgerU
PREMIER AVE. NEAR FIRST
Edgar Provinse
supp., General Merchandise sQ“<*'y
Anything Service”
THE HERA
JOBPRINTING
DEPARTMENT
BUSINESS STATIONERY
CARDS, LETTER H EADS, BILL HEADS,
STATEMENTS, ENVELOPES, INVOICES,
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scription Forms, Unit Agreements and all forms re
quired in the organization of Syndicates and Stock
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fi
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