Silver And Wages

The following is an extract from the clear, forcible and unanswerable speech of Sccretary John G. Carlisle at Chicago on April 15: Money reeeived for wages, like money received on every other account, is valnable only to the extent that it eau be exchanged for other coinraodities, and it is scarcely necessary to . suggest that a dollar -worth 50cents will not purchase as nmch in the markets as a dollar wortli 100 cents. To-call a dime a dollar would add nothing whatever to its intrinsic valne or to its purchasing power. If these propositions are correct, it is clear that when wages are paid in a depreciated currency the rates of wages must be increased in proportion to the depreciation of the money and in proportion to the increase in the prices of other things or the laborer will suffer a loss. But I affirm that it is the universal rale that the rates of wages do not increase in proportion to the depreciatiou in the value of the money in which they are paid, and that when the currency is depreciated the rates of wages do not increase in proportion to the increase in the prices of the commodities the laborer is compelled to purchase. Wartime Wages and Prices. In 1862 the wages of labor, paid in depreciated paper, were less thaa 3 per cent higher in paper than when paid in gold, but the prices of the 223 articles used by the laborers and other people in the maintenance of their families were nearly 18 per cent higher than they were when paid in gold. In 1863 the wages of labor paid in depreciated paper worth about 69 cents on the dollar were 10 per cent higher than when paid in gold, but the prices of the articles the laborer had to buy with his wages were nearly 49 per cent higher. In 1864 the wages of labor paid in depreciated paper dollars worth 49 cents each had advanced 25}L per cent, but the prices of the necessaries of life had advanced 90} per cent. In 1865 wages paid ia paper currency worth 63 cents on the dollar had advanced 43 per cent above the rates previously paid in gold or its equivalent, but the prices of commodities had advanced nearly 117 per ent - that is to'say, had more than doubled - and in 1866 wages paid in a urrency worth 71 cents on the dollar ïad advanced a fraction more than 52 per cent from the previous rates iu gold or its equivalent, but the prices of commodities had advanced 90 per cent. The rise in the rates of wages never corresponded with the rise in the prices of other things until the year 1869, fonr years after the close of the war, when the value of our currency was 71 cents on the dollar, and it was quite certain that no further depreciation would occur. The wages of labor, meaured bygold s they were in 1860, when we had a ound currency, had fallen about 24 )er cent in 1863, more than 19 per cent n 1864, and nearly 44 per cent in 1865, when we had a depreciated currency. Silver and Wages In Chile. The recent experience of the republic f Chile furnishes another irnpressive warning to the wage earner against the vils of depreciated currency. In 1875 ie peso, or dollar of Chile, was worth bout 88j cents in our money, but in 885, ten years after gold went out and silver came in, tho peso was worth less than 53 cents in our money. Silver continued to deprecíate, and besides large amounts of paper currency were issued by the government and the banks, and in 1895, 20 years after the change from the gold basis to the silver basis, the peso was worth only about 34 cents in our money. Let us see now what effect this cheap money, or, in other words, this system of silver raonometallism which you are asked to adopt here, had upon the wages of labor in that country. In 1875, when the peso was worth 88} cents, a inechanic, a boiler maker, a blacksmith, a carpenter, a fireman and an ordinary laborer reoeived together for a day's work 18 pesos, or $16.37 in our nioney. In 1885 the same persons received for the sanie work 20% pesos, but, owing to the depreciation of the cnrrency, this was equal to only $10.93 in our money, and in 1895, 20 years after the country had descended to a silver basis, the same laborers received for the same work 25. 95 pesos, bttt the value of the peso was less than 35 cents, and consequently their wages amounted to only $8. 34 in our money, or just about one-half of what they had received 20 years before. Our minister to Chile, after a very careful examination of the entire situation in that country, says, "It may be taken for granted that in Chile, as in all other countries which have a like financia! experience, the consequenees of cheap money have weighed most heavily upon the classes that are least able to support the burden. ' ' The evils of si 1 ver monoinetallisni and a depreciated currency finally became intolerable in that country, and it has recently adopted the gold standard of value. Meiico's Object Lesson. Our neighboring republic of Mexico has the silver standard of valne, gold not being in use, and if cheap money is a blessing to the laboring man he ought to be prosperous and happy in that country. The Mexican dollar contains 877.17 grains of pure silver, or nearly six grains more than is contained in our dollar, and yct, not being sustaincd by a monetary system which keeps it at a parity with gold, it is worth only about 55 cents in our money. Wages are paid in silver and are very low in cornparison with the wages paid in this country fir the same services, in many instances pot being half as mach, while the pricos of cornmodities generally are muoh higher than they ai'e here. The prices of imported articles especially are exorbitantly high in Mexico, because they have to be paid for abroad in gold, and the depreciation of thcir mouey is so great that it requires nearly $2 in silver to pay $1 in gold. Although oar own silver dollar contains less fine silver than the Mexican dollar, one of ours is nearly equal in esshiiugeable value to two of theirs, because here the coinage is limited, and the gcvernment issues the coin on its own account and has pledged its faith and credit to keeptheni asgood as gold, a pledge that has been faithfully kept up to this time, notwithstanding the complaints and denuaciations of our free coinage opponents. If we are to have free and unlhnitcd coinage of legal tender silver for the benefit of the owners of the btilliou, the value of our dollar would be no greater than the intrinsic or commercial value of the silver contained in it, and its purchasing power in the markets would be diminished about one-half, but the wages of labor would remain, for a long time at least, substantially at the present rates, or, if they should be nominally increased on account of the depreciation of the currency, experience in the past shows that they would not increase in proportion to the increase in the prices of commodities. Rises in the rates of wages take place very slowly, while the prices of commodities move rapidly, at some periods changing several times in the course of a single day, and these movements are always more frequent and more harmful when the currency is in án unsettled condition.