Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1878-10-30

own government any more than yO
& could live upon the notes Of your hil
. ed man, any more than you could liy
upon bonds issued by occupants q
the County Poor House. You car
not live upon that which you have /
support. The government cannot b
law create wealth. And right here
wish to ask one question, and woul,
: like to have it answered some time
: II the government can make money
! If 1t can create money, if by putin,
Its sovereignty upon piece Of papei
1t can create absolute money, WHY
should the government collect taxes
We have in every district Revenue
Collectors; we have at every
y port custom houses, and We are col
lecting taxes day and night for thu
support Of this government. We are
making those who are hardly able te
pay contribute. Now, if the govern
ment can make money itself, why
should it collect taxes even from the
poor? Here is man cultivating q
farm-he is working among the stones
and roots and digging; why should
the government GO to that man and
make him pay $40 or $50 or $40 taxes
when tho government, according to
the theory Of these gentlemen, could
make a 81 600 note quicker than that
man could wink? Why impose on
industry in that manner? Why
should the sun borrow q candle ?
fAnd if the government can create
money, how much should it create.
and If it should create il who will
get it! Money has great liking for
money. A single dollar in the pock.
ct of q poor man is slonesome; it new
er 10 satisfied until ii has found its
companions. Money gravitates to-
ward money, and issue as much as
you will, the time will come when
that money will be in the hands of
the industrious, in the hands of tho
economical, in the hands of the
shrewd, In the hands of the cunning !;
in other words, in the hands of the
capitalists. Another thing: If the
government can create money simply
by stamping what they are pleased to
call Its sovereignty upon piece Of
paper, why should it waste that SOW
ereignty upon one-dollar bill, why
not create en-dOllar bill, a hundred.
q thousand, = million? Why should
We stop? The other day had con-
versatioD with one Of the PRINCIPAL
gentlemen upon that side and l told
him, Whenever you can successful
ly palm off on u man bill of fare
for a dinner, shall believe your doc
trine; and when / can satisfy the
pangs of hunger by reading a cook
book, shall join your party. Only
that is money which stand for labor"
Only that is money which will buy in
all direcrions the result Of the same
labor expended in its production. AS
a matter of fact, there is money
enough In the country to transact the
business of the country. As a matter
of fact, there is more money than is
needed to transact the business, New
or before in the history of our gov
ernment was money so cheap, that is
to say, was interest SO low; never.
There is plenty of money, and we
could borrow all we wish had we the
collaterals. We could borrow all we
wish 1T there was soine business in
which we could embark that promis-
ed sure and reasonable return. If
we should come to man who kept a
ferry, and find his boat on sand-bar
and the river dry, what would he
think of us should we tel! him he had
not enough boat? He would proba-
bly, reply that he had plenty of boat
but not enough water. We have
plenty of money, not enough business.
The reason We have not enough busi-
ness is we have not enough conf
dence, and the reason we have not
confidence is because the market ia
slowly falling, and the reason it ia
slowly falling is that ii has not quite
resumed, that we have not quite
touched the absolute bedrock Of val.
uation. Another reason is because
those that left the cultivation of the
sail have not yet all returned, and
they are living, some upon their wits,
some upon their relatives, some upon
charity, and some upon crime.
The next question is, suppose the
government should issue thousand
millions of fiat money. How would
It regulate the value thereof? Every
creditor could be forced to take 1t,
but nobody else. If a man was In
debt I'll for bushel of wheat, he
could compel the creditor TO take the
fiat money, but if he wished to buy
the wheat, then the owner could say,
.."I will take 81 in gold or $50 in fiat
money, or ! will not sell it for that
money at any price" What will
Congress do then? In order to make
this fiat money good it will have to
fix the price of every conceivable
commodity, the price Of painting a
picture, of trying q lawsuit, of chis-
cling a statue, the price of days
work-in short, the price of every
conceivable thing. This even. will
not be sufficient. It will be necessa-
ry to provide by law that the prices
fixed shall be received and that no
man shall be allowed to give more
for anything than the price fixed by
Congress. Now do not believe that
any Congress has sufficient wisdom
to tell beforehand what will be the
relative value Of all the products of
labor. When the volume cf currency
10 inflated, 1t is at the expense of the
creditor class. When it is contracted
it is contracted at the expense of the
debtor class. In other words, infla-
tion means going into debt, contrac-
tion means the payment of the debt.
LET THE MONEY FADE OUT
Another remedy has been sugg st.
cd by the same persons who advocate
fat money. With consistency per.
fectly charming, they cay that it
would have been much better had we
allowed the Treasury notes to fade
out. Why allow fiat money TO fade
out when simple act of Congress
can make it as good as gold? When
greenbacks fade out the loss falls up-
on the chance holder, upon the poor,
the industrious and the unfortunate.
The rich, tho cunning, the well-in.
formed manage to get rid of what
the happen to hold. When, howev-
er, the bills are redeemed they are
paid by the wealth and property of
the whole country. To allow them
to fade ont Is universal robbery, to
pay them is universal justice. The
greenback should not be allowed to
fade away in the pocket Of the soldier
or in the hands Of his widow and
children. 1t is said that the Cont.
mental money faded away, and il was
and is disgrace to our forefathers.
When the greenback fades away,
there will fade with it honor from the
American heart, brain from the
American head, and our flag from the
nir of heaven.
BONDHOLDERs. t-
A great cry has been raised against
the holders of bonds. They have