738 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



States " ; and that the per capita circulation there is less than 

 half what it is here. 



Having considered the most serious criticism urged against the 

 gold standard, let us inquire how a law providing for the free and 

 unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to i would affect 

 the interests of the farmer. That the immediate effect would be a 

 precipitate passage to a silver standard hardly admits of a doubt. 

 It is not a matter for surprise that, with nothing to check the 

 force of the fall, the proposal to drop industrial interests abruptly 

 to a silver standard should destroy the spirit of confidence, and 

 cause the business world to look forward with dismay and terror 

 to the readjustment of values which would follow. That the tran- 

 sition to this cheaper monetary standard would be accompanied 

 by rising prices in terms of silver is a proposition from which no 

 one is likely to dissent. Let us examine the effect of this move- 

 ment by comparing the cases of two farmers, A and B. We will 

 suppose each to have laid by a surplus of Si 500 in cash five 

 years ago, and that A invested that amount in farm land, while 

 B loaned a like sum to an enterprising neighbor. Any proposal 

 that would involve depriving A of 25 per cent or more of his 

 real estate would be promptly denounced as dishonorable. It is 

 difficult to see how a proposition which involves depriving B of 

 a portion of his claim upon dollars can stand ethically upon any 

 higher level. The force of the comparison is strengthened if the 

 farmer who invested his money in realty selected farm land or 

 city property that has since increased in value. On what ground, 

 therefore, does the plea of social necessity select as its victim the 

 man who has a claim upon dollars in preference to the one who 

 has a claim upon realty ? Moreover, 72 per cent of farm-owning 

 families own subject to no mortgage incumbrance, and of the 

 remainder by far the greater number are able to pay their debts. 

 Judged by immediate results, then, what is to be said of a meas- 

 ure that would disturb debit and credit relationships throughout 

 industrial society for the benefit of the few ? 



But perhaps the free coinage of silver would usher in an era 

 of prosperity such as would justify the immediate losses which 

 it would inflict upon individuals and society. On the contrary, 



