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Wisconsin State Agricultural Society. 
costs a great deal more in Itaty than in England, and it costs much 
more in India than in Itaty. It costs to get an ounce of gold in 
India four, five, or six times as much as it does here, and that is 
the value of gold there, with reference to the value of commodi¬ 
ties, and with reference to the labor that is requisite to secure an 
ounce of gold. It seems to me, that if that be true, and the facts 
I have brought forward here to-day be true, gold does go up and 
down as much as any other commodity; a great deal more than 
wheat, a great deal more than pork, a great deal more than any 
other staple commodities go up and down. Of course, it can’t go 
up and down more than the whole mass goes up and down. When 
we can get an ounce of gold for so much at one time, and we have 
to give two or three times as much for it at any other time, why is 
it not as legitimate to say that gold rises and falls, as to say any¬ 
thing else in the world rises and falls. 
Mr. Clark, of Rock: I want to ask a question. I have not been 
able to understand the rise and fall of gold, and I have a different 
view of it. I supposed gold was uniform, and other things fluctuated; 
that it was greenbacks went up and down instead of gold. Now, 
in our own country, gold has been the only thing passed for the 
purpose of paying debts. For a quarter of a century, in one of our 
own States, it is passed in defiance of our law that greenbacks 
shall be the legal tender. The custom of the country will not al¬ 
low greenbacks to circulate there. I was there six years, and I 
have heard from there at other times, and I have not heard them 
say anything about gold going up and down there. It has been 
uniform there. 
Dr. Steele: It is a thing they don’t say anything about, but gold, 
notwithstanding, goes up and down. 
Mr. Clark, of Rock: I have been where it has been paid out and 
received, and never heard of its depreciating in value. Property 
maintains its value there, and all the articles of trade and com¬ 
merce seem uniform in price; and the price of it compares favora¬ 
bly with all the rest of the United States. 
Mr. Bentok: What have they compared gold with there, to 
know whether it is stable or unstable. 
Mr. Harris: I think the whole question centers on just this one 
point; what is money? There are gentlemen who go to school, 
teach, read books, and answer, money is a commodity. I have 
