Wichita eagle., 1890-03-13


Moses that we shall ever get to do US any
good Will be the Moses that led our vic.
torious forces through the wilderness
of Virginia and saved the union-the al
mighty United States note, bearing the
| omnIpotent autograph OF Uncle Sam.
But the '.coin basis fends burned up
Moses in the fiery furnace and compel
ed us TO knuckle down and worship their
golden idols, and all the plaques OF
Egypt have been visited upon our heads
since that time, and more too, and IL is
| an undecided question whether Moses
can ever be resurrected and induced TO
return to our deliverance again.
One of the most dangerous features OF
''coin basis and unlimited acquisition
of land is the subtle and mysterious
manner in which irretrievable damage
and loss can be inflicted upon the masses.
As evidence of this fact | have only to
refer 10 the conflicting and contradictory
theories advanced by the many intelli-
gent correspondents of the EAGLE IN the
last few weeks as the cayseS and RENE
dies for the present depression to show
that the people, as rule, are SO COM
pletely batfied and bamboozied that they
utterly fail to discover what hurts them.
While the victims Of this pernlclous
system rush into PRINT, and discuss their
grievances openly and above board.
The ''coin basis" fellows are connecting
their schemes in ''secret session.: they
are on the alert and ready to change
their tactics on the slightest danger OF a
flank movement by the enemy. They
don't fritter away their time IN idle Jaw.
Whenever the proper time arrives they
bull the money market, and make
property and produce cheap, until they
rake in all that they have mortgages on,
at half its value. " hen thai IS done,
they ''bull' the real estate market. and
unload on the suckers at double the
price it cost them. These booms IN
money and booms III land, and waves of
prosperity and ''troughs of depression
are conducted on thorough business
principles, and occur at regular
intervals as unvarying as the season: but
whether they boom the money, or boom
the land, they invariably get the
best OF it every time.
Some call this over-production: others
acredit it to supply ana demand. This
last class, however, have never been able
to fully explain why 1t is that the
greatest abundance of cheap food,
and cheap merchandise, and
the widest spread suffering
and want always prevail in the same
country at one and the same time.
Supply and demand are beautiful and
angelic principles. ''in horn, and the
more supply. and the more demand we
can rustic" up, the more the pirates
can accumulate, and the faster will the
millionaries increase in numbers. But
we have brought artificial means down
to such fine perfection that we can COM
pletely annull the natural laws OF supply
and demand, and take mighty good care
always that the suppliers and the de-
manders don't get very fat on the
benefits.
That good, innocent soul, W. a.
Caldwell. is 10th to believe-In his other
wise bright article-''a premediated
plan for the deliberate purposes of pro-
ducing depressions," and would rather
believe that the 'waves of prosperity
and the troughs of depression are the
result of mere accident. Let us see.
When it was proposed to shrink up the
volume Of the legal money, which the
government had been compelled to issue
for the nations salvation, "a blow which
the country has never been able to
recover from,) John Sherman, then IN
the senate, declared in language never
to be gotten, that ''the appreciation OF
the currency is a far more distressing
operation than senators suppose. 1t Is
not possible to take this voyage without
the sorest distress to every person except
a capitalist out of debt, or a salaried Of
ficer or anuuitant. 1t is period of
loss. danger, lassitude of trade, fall Of
wages, suppression of enterprise, bank
ruptcy and disaster. To every farmer 1T
is an addition of one-third to the burden
of his debts. and more than that deduc-
ton from the value of his property. 1t
means the ruin of all dealers whose
debts became twice their (business) cap
ital, though one-third less than actual
property. 1t means the fall OF all agri-
cultural productions. without any great
reduction OF taxes.
To attempt this task by surprise on
our people, by arresting them in the
midst of their lawful business, and APP
plvinr a new standard of value to their
property, any reduction to their debts,
or giving them an opportunity to cores
pond with their creditors. or to distrib-
ute their losses, would be an act of folly
without an example in ancient or mod
ern times"
The above portrays very clearly how
depression can be begun, and may De
taken os key to the cause of every de-
preston that we have to meet. Yet,
when another season of stagnation is
brought about: when every bank
has contracted it's currency to the
lowest limit. the coin boarded IN
the national, state, and private treasures.
creating an artificial scarcity "appre-
eating the currency. No adequate
! amount in circulation causing "a period
OF loss. Iassitwade of trade, fail of wages,
suspension of enterprise, the fall OF all
agricultural productions" Millions of
| people out OF employment, earning moth
| ing: one-third of the population of this
| land of abundance subsisting on half
rations. Then it is. that the over pro-
! ductioniSt' the free trader and the
supply and demand" delusionist swag-
! ger to the front with their balderdash.
Let any intelligent man divest his
| mind Of the prejudice and bigotry that
! has come down to him from a long line
/ OF heather ancestors and get ''up tree
and take birds-eye view of society as
/ she is. even under this. ''the best gov
eminent on the face Of the earth, the
best banking system that the world
/ ever saw" and he wont have TO occupy
! his position before he comes TO the con-
clusjon that to govern the people Of this
earth on ''coin basis, and the unlimit-
! ed acquisition of property IN land. is a
/ problem so complicated and tangled up
as to have defied the best brains
of the greatest statesmen OF
! this or other lands e
satisfactorily salve: or to establish code
( oe Iavvs that hos aver co1t1e within even a