The News' Mistake

The Detroit Eventng Xews. whicli is usually sound in its reasouing tipon economie subjeets, coiitends fliat a Iftrge incrense ín tbO production of gold would. under present conditinns. derroase the vaiue oí Bilver more than it would decrease the value of gold, or in other words, tlrat the ra lic between the metáis wouíd become largeirather tbau smaller. réasons for tliis conclusión are that the policy of 80 tnauy aclive ccaiunercSal natu ns has discouraged the use of silver t!i;u Bhe (lismand for it is lessened and thai an iaerease in the production of gold will deerease rather than aerease the denwnd fpr silver. With Nall due deference to the opinión of the Xevvs we will suggest some pomts in wnic-li its conclusions are open to erftleisin. While it 'is true that the value of both metáis are Iargely determined li.v tluir employment as mediums of exchange, it ja also true tl, at the bulk of both metáis now in use and in denaud eaeli year for use in the nts is a considerable factor i:i reguatlng their relative value and -)11 becoine of more importance as ne o ■ übe other beeomes relatlvely more abimdiint. Nor can an atoundance of oíd displace to any great exeiit tlie s;iver now in eirculation. The hostile egislation of the last quairter cintury ma reduced! the silvor circulatlon, 'or the most nart. to a subsidlary uaturo. The place that is now oceopied ! iy silver in cotaage of the world I ■an r.ever be taken by gold to any ippreelatde extent, nntii their relative ■ali'.es 'have very greatly enaiiged, for the reason tliat from its extreme value gold .is not physically adapt( d o take the place of silver in su) sMiary coinage. Gold dollars, qnari -i's or dimes, would, from their diuinutive size. be extremely incenvenn-iit. even on a basis of a 16 to 1 rain. If we calcúlate en a ratio, of .'!() to 1 the sufbstitution is out of the Huestion. The first effect of plentiful gold would be foimd in its substitution for notes of the smaller denoniinitions. Whieh are now based upon gold. The increased production of gold, therefore, will not increase the demand fcr that metal. Nor will it to any appreciable extent dterease the present demand for silver. Eren in he arts cheaper gotld wiU not. mean a substitution for silver. The present prefeeiïce for gold over silver for ornamental purposes not, to any gre.it e.xtent, due to the greater utility of ihe y -ïiow metal, but to that peculiar whim of ïumanity which lead-s It to choose that in which resides tiia most vailue, for purposes of display. It is more thaii likely that the slump in the gold priee of silver .luriug tiie last few weeks is due to the unsucc( saful attesnpt of l'resident MeKinley's ■birnetallie conimission to secure an international conference, tXDi in the face of this failure a genei-al disposition to discredit the fabuleus stories whieh come from Alaska. But be thai ns it may the advocates of biimïtailism are advocates of a principie and not of the use oí anj particular metal. If the effect of the Alasktin gold discoveries shall be to cheapen gold they wïll, to the extent that it is c'beapened, 'have won their point. 'ShouM gold "become so oheap ■as to drive sflver entirely out of use as rnoney, the boasted infallibly honest yellow dollar will have become so cheap that the dreams of the wildest greembacker will be realized. Let the good work go on. 'To so shape the course of leglstation. to so manipúlate the cowrae of trade, to so comliino and (-ontrol the produc-tio-n and clistribution of the necessartes ot' Bfe that the people may li." robbed with in.punity is called business eíegacity and comes under the protecting wlngs of the eourts e'ien when Xorbidden by law. But to eiHle;iv;! by tlie peaceful raerhod of persuasión, to effect a conibination on the parí oí' those whose only safety from a degrading peonage lies in a uarted front .against thc aiggfessioua of these other combinations. is a "d'angeTous meoace io law and order" mul the eoorts must assume new powers to successfr.lly suppress it. The growtng feeliug that there is otie la-.v Por the trusts and corpora tions anü aiiother for the people, bodes )!1 for tlu; existonee of the present order oí tilines. But: when the crisis comes, as it must come if t'his kind oí business continuos, and these rnsUtnUous which have been reaiid vith sncli pi i se ot' treasure and blood go down like reeds before the hurricane, rer.H-n'.ber that it is not the result of the aiMi-chy of the poor, but of the thous:ind-folii aiuirchy oí the rich. The case of Grover Cleveland is eprnewliaá analagous to the Fuited States eru-iser wh-lch is uow benig repaired in an English dry doek. because we bad 110 dook Iarge onougii to aecommoëate it. Cleveland needed consideratie repairing to mate iiim a representalive American and the country was töo small to undertake the ob, ano so tost hls distingulsihed services. The most serious aspect of the co.ilStrfke is the miwaiT.intrd atrisr.pt. of the eóurts to exereise tíie pólice powe", for the Injuaetlons restrainiog vario as h idies of mraers Prora gathering and tnarching along the hihrways amounts to nothing less ttian 511 ássxrmptiori of the powers wlrieh are law vosted ín Hie ehertff, the ixiiice and ether conservators if the peaee. Some of these days some of our Fciieral eoiirts wHJ fiud tli:it as the Bei'i Mu-:i]i party told' tliem in 1S60, and aa the Democratie party told tiiciii n iS'.üi. they are the creatures of the people- m&i the preTalllng idea tli.it the peoplè are the creatnrea of the eourts is all a uiistake. Tlu' tenor of all legjslation has been to fortify the power of wealth. It is qow time to leglslate a llttle for the people v.iio need it. A-jcording to the Pingree school oí pWlosophy t!ic rieh dou't neerl it. They can tako care of thetnseives. We are suTprised that 'iioremor Pingreé should allow Ilie troops uñaei his c;)iriiMiid at Island I.ake to whüe away !ie time chasing traanps when Ihere are so many recalcitran.1 eorporationa to be hurabled. Duriog the corttinuous perfopjniaiice that enlivena life fcr our warriore luild. at Camp Pingree our war correspondent lias not yet reported a fatality - lun even a eanip lounger hit with a cork. There is a seasonable prop of weeds matüriag 011 the otitl.viu.ir atreets of chis city, whk-h i.f, 10 say the least. snggsstive,