The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1877-05-17
WHOLE NO. l49

ter. German silver. aud other inferior
metals and alloys
This is yielding up the whole argu-
ment. If gold and silver, when de-
monetized, came into general use
among the million, for tea pots and
trying pans and cooking pots and
grldlrons, it would only be because
the price of those metals had fallen so
low that the poor could afford to pur-
chase them. and, if you admit that,
you admit that their present high
price is due to the fact that they have
value as money not inherent in the
things themselves. If John, the hod-
carrier, has a gold meat dish or sill
yer frying pan, it will simply be be-
cause gold and silver are worth but
little more than old iron. re you
admit this, why should the laws Of
the world base the prosperity Of man.
kind and the happiness Of millions
upon couple of accidental metals,
made venerable by the traditions Of
mankind, mere s'relics nfbarbarism?"
Here, to-day, in America men are
starving and cutting their, throats,
and whole country is ruined, trying
to force the business of the people to
accommodate itself to the supply of
yellow metal because Agamemnon and
Artaxerxes recognized it as money ;
and in the midst of their tribulations
war breaks out 5 ,0OOmiles distant and
presto, your carefully coined gold is
shipped out by the million, and the
cutting of throats proceeds. The
whole thing is fallacy and folly.
What is wealth? That which sup
plies the wants of man, food ,raiment,
tools, weapons, herds, lands, fuel, etc.
These wants are perpetual and uni
versal. Gold and silver are valuable
only because, By iaw, they are inter-
changeable for these things; repeal
, the law and the Pioneer Press admits
that they would degenerate into pots
, and pans, into ssvessels Of honor and
dishonor.' And yet society has got
itself into such shape that the men
who produce those things which sup
ply the universal wants Of man areas
a rule, poor; while the fellows wht
hold the pot-metal are masters of the
world.
We hold to this proposition: these
! United States are rich in everything
required by the human family; the
commerce of the world groans under
: the bulk of our productions;our taxes,
: municipal, state and national, amount
J annually to at least thousand million
of dollars. Let the United States
money, greenbacks, if you please, adj
equate to the necessities Of trade and
: business, direct to the people, in pay
J mentof salaries, contracts, pensions,
7 etc.; and let it stamp that paper with
the faith and credit Of this mighty
republic, representing billions Of
property Of all kinds, and make it
receivable in payment Of all debts,
: public and private, and all taxes, du-
! ties and imports then letit purchase,
as rapidly as possible, the outstanding
. bonds Of the nation, and substitute
: new bonds bearing interest i'm green
! backs. 1t would thus cut lose, at one
blow, from the whole pot-netal delu-
sion; prosperity would revive; the
I country would grow; the laborer
: would cease to starve and all Europe
!. might 90 to war without affecting US
!, in the slightest.
And why notl Because,-it will
.. be said,--the paper dollar has little
/ intrinsic value. Granted. But the
gold dOllar,if gold ceases TO be money,
! would have less. The one would make
! print paper, the other tea-pots.
= But, says another, it would not be
/; received in Europe at par. Why not!
. If the merchant in Liverpool knows
i that with that paper he can
buy American wheat, flour, pork, beef,
/ wool, lumber, coal, salt. textile fab
, RIGS, and other things which the insa-
+ table wants of men require or with
i it can pay import duties or domestic
! taxes, he UiU take it at par. The
/ wants Of men are, after all, the only
! real, tangible fact in commerce all
/ the rest is mere matter of form.
!. Something has got to be done. We
q have tried DR.. Shylock's golden elixir
!, and Sangrado McCullongh's bleeding
t process long enough and the patient
Il is perishing, despite the richest soil
g and the most energetic people in the
!, world.
Ell Wouldn't it pay to give the green,
- ~ art . f0fr ard fill -; o.