Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1890-12-10

mediate step might be adopted with adj
vantage, and which would certainly be
vast Improvement on the act of 1884
The plan is to give all holders of con-
soils permission to depsit their certf-
Gates, thereby annulling their claim to
the 31Iper cent, and receiving in retur
legal tender notes, with further power,
II they choose, to pay in again those
legal tender notes and then resume
their character as fundholders. This
plan must go for what it is worth. The
tendency Of such a measure would be
to keep money always at 81 per cent,
toittch Is too high; still the enormous
fluctuations in the rate of discount I'M
der which we now suffer would be done
away with"
In our own United States of America
the highest official authority we have in
financial circles is considering the sub
ject of fiexibility of currency. The AS
ISOLATED Press reports of November %,
contained the following item:
Secretary Window Is going to explode a
homb she'll In his annual report to Congress.
Among the important recon foundations he
viii make Will De one asking authority to
Issue $4,000 900 of 2 or 2l2 per cent bonds to
standing bonds, ay or Az per cent. These
new bonds ire to be redeemable in currency
by the holders at their disposition. The OBJ
Ject OF this Is to take the first step t. ward
preventing the possibility of a further strln-
gency In the money market. Secretary Win
dom fully realizes the opposition he will
meet with from the National banks. but he
a so realizes the n , cessity for relieving the
money market
IL Secre tary Window intends by the
above measure to clothe our system of
National currency with the attribute of
flexibility, he is cropping blindly in the
dark. 1t is more than likely, however,
that true to his capitalistic instincts
he is scheming to still give the capital
istic power the advantage of the people
A measure in the interests of the peo-
pie would provide that these bonds
should be redeemable also at the option
of the people (the Government. Aside
from the question of flexibinty, how q
ever, this measure is faulty in that it
makes no provision for an increase in
the volume Of money, beyond the nat
ural supply of the precious metals
gold and silver But we may certainly
assume that if gold and silver, which
constitute but small portion of our
products of material wealth, form a
good basis for gold and silver certifi-
Gates, or money, then, most assuredly,
the land, which is the basis of all
wealth, must be a good and sufficient
basis for money. We must coin the
land-that Is, issue paper money direct
to the people, upon the security of their
land, at one or two per cent interest
But we need not go to England or to
foreign financial wisdom for our Ma
tional American system of finance.
That clear-headed thinker and logical
and forcible writer, Edward kellogg,
the friend and companion of Horace
Greeley, more than forty-fve years ago
formulated perfect system of finance
in work published by him, entitled,
Labor and Other Capital"
The monetary system evolved by this
greatest of all political economists is
simple and can be explained very
briefly. 1 call Edward Kellogg the
greatest of all political economists"
because he was the first man to point
out:
First-That money was for public
use and not for a private snap
Second-That the interest drawing
power of money in the hands of indi-
viduals is 'the power of money to OBJ
press"
Third-That the individual owners of
money loaned at interest equal to or
greater than three per cent must inev-
itably eventually own all the wealth
in the Nation.
The flexible or safety fund system of
finance may be described as follows:
The money to be loaned to the people
on real estate security at one or two
per cent interest will read thus:
No.. Money Dated
500 S5O)
The United states will pay to the bearer
$500 in n safety fund note on demand at the
safety und office in the city of -
The safety fund notes will read as
follows:
No Safety Fund Note. Dated
$500. One year from date or at any time
there fter the United States will nav to A.
b. or order, In the city Of --, $500. and
until such payment is made will pay interest
thereon at the rate of per cent per an;um
Result: When money is needed in
the avenues of business trade or spec
ulation it will be kept in the hands of
the individual in active circulation.
When more than the legal per cent can
not be made in business, the money will
be invested in safety fund notes, and
will be in the hands OF the people, sub
joct to the demand by the individual
upon safety fund notes or real estate
mortgage bonds (bond secured by deed
in fee simple, with power of redemp-
tom. Fellow-citizens, think it out
Usury is the robber of industry and the
destroyer of mankind.
GEORGE c. WARD.
Kanooa C;4rv