We are told that the single gold standard has caused a disastrous fall
in the prices of commodities; also that it has put an unjust burden
upon those who have borrowed money on mortgage. I have seen no proof
that the adoption of the gold standard by Europe and the United States
has caused a decline in prices of commodities, nor can I admit that
such a decline would be a bad thing. None of us, when we go to market,
complain that prices of food, fuel, clothing, etc., are too low. Mr.
David A. Wells has written a book entitled “Recent Economic Changes,”
which accounts for the fall in price of all staple articles of commerce
which really have fallen during the past twenty years, accounts for it
by the increased facilities for producing and transporting the same. He
has not grouped them all together, as our bimetallist friends commonly
do, but has taken each one separately. I commend his example in this
particular to their imitation.
As to mortgage debts, I have learned by inquiry of the leading mortgage
companies in New York that farm mortgages are generally made for the
term of five years, and that about 25 per cent. of them are paid at
or before maturity. Consequently, any wrong which mortgagors are now
suffering, in consequence of the gold standard, must have accrued
since 1888. To redress their supposed wrongs we are asked to turn the
whole business of the country upside down and change the rating of
all other contracts perhaps 35 per cent. But the average duration of
mortgages is considerably less than five years. The Topeka _Capitol_
newspaper a year or two ago made a special investigation of the records
of a number of agricultural counties in Kansas, and found that more
mortgages were paid off than were put on within the period covered by
the investigation. Hence the presumption is that the average life of
the farm mortgage in Kansas is not more than two and one-half years. I
am aware that many mortgages are allowed to run for indefinite periods
after they fall due, but these, after they fall due, are call loans
on real estate security. I am not aware that borrowers on call are
complaining of the gold standard. At all events, if they are oppressed
by reason of that standard they can relieve themselves at any time by
paying up. If they do not pay and are solvent, it must be because
they find it to their advantage to endure these so-called oppressions
a while longer. It is safe to say that all these mortgages would be
called in on the first sign of a change in the monetary standard. The
tightness of money in such an event may be imagined, but can hardly be
described.