Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1878-02-14
The Way out.

81 owe $4,000. have land under
mortgage tosecure its payment, which
in these times will only sell for about
$1,000. II ! do not soon begin to re-
duce the debt will lose my land. #
the Government will say that a dol
lar is 2oe4 grains of silver my land
will be worth 1000 of these dollars.
! can give q new mortgage on my
land to the amount Of 5000 of these
dollars and as they are made legal
tender by the new law, 1000 of them
will pay off the old debt, / viii have
81 900 in hand and my land will be
only lightly encountered. Another
way: Let the Government issue one
to five hundred millions more green
backs. Let it issue enough so that
it will take two green dollars to be
equal to yellow one. suppose
they would somehow get out among
the people. ! could do with them as
/ proposed to do with the cheap sill
yer. I would have my debt paid, ST.
600 in pocket and my farm only three
fouiths mortgaged."
We are told that debtors actually
reason after this manner. It is dis
honest 1t is thievish. Logically we
might say that whoever would vote
himself out of debt in this manner
would, if he could, steal the money
from his creditor to pay with. But
we doubt whether the logic would
prevent any man who likes the method
from adopting it. He will have to be
cured some other way. Convince him
that his method will not work. This
can be done if he will allow his mind
to be disabused of all conclusions it
has reached through falsehood. Men
profess to believe that if the old dol
lar is remonetized it will be again par
with gold. If so the farm will still be
worth only $4,000 of that money.
The debt will be no easier paid than
before. They profess to believe that
if 1000 millions of greenbacks were
issued they would be worth dollar for
dollar With gold. If so the farm would
be worth no more greenback than
gold dollars, and the debt is no nearer
cancellation, Nor would it be any
easier for the debtor to get the silver
or the greenbacks than it is now. Sup
pose the bonanza silver men would
get all the bullion Of the mountains
stamped into coins. The money would
be theirs. They would not give it to
6. W. Lee, Goodpel Lampson, or Al
fred Palmer without value received.
ooh, it would do to redeem Govern.
ment bonds with" Would it? How
would the Government get it to re-
deem Government bonds with? No
man, no Government can get money
without rendering an equivalent un-
less by stealth. So the way out of
debt is by industry, not by giving
S25 day to Cary or subscriptions to
Pomeroy or to some "middle-man" to
to peddle Chicago patents.
Simply printing or stamping money
will not make times easier. There
must, as we have often said, be chan.
nels through which it will flow to the
people. In 1854 the Government had
million men in the field. 1t printed
money then. AS soon as printed it
was paid to the soldiers; the soldiers
passed it TO the people at home. II
money is made by printing or stamp
ing now the people will be no better
off unless in some way it is destrib
uted among them. How will they
make wayp They do not want
war. They have driven all the sur.
plus men out of office. They have
frowned down all public improve.
ments that might give employment,
and circulation medium to thousands.
Every act the complaining people
have committed in their economizing
and retrenching fever of the past four
or five years has tended to make
times harder. The economy ia right.
But if we have got into a condition
requiring disagreeable medication OF
painful amputation, patience is need
ed. Let US "grin and bear it," Home
economy, national economy, honesty
and industry, will be sure to bring US
out right.