The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1890-12-20
Financial Discussions.

Financial Discussions.
Upon full under standing of the
principles which should govern the
finances of nation, more than
upon any other single branch of
knowledge, depends the prosperity
or, its opposite, of great people !;
for it is here that speculation and
scheming is always rife, and here
that those vast fortunes are made
which enable their possessors to
dictate fiscal policy to their gov
ernment that shall rebound to their
upbuilding by the impoverishment
OF all the rest. That these benii-
Charles of their own wrongs should
seek to dupe their victims into the
belief that the system which en-
riches them is wise, beneficent and
in all respects the best devisable, is
to be expected. For this reason,
and for the sake of acquiring and
imparting knowledge upon a sub
ject SO vitality important, and so
indiferently understood, financial
dicussions should he encouraged
and kept alive among our people.
Among the numerous erroneous
propositions from time to time pro-
mulgated for the relief of the finan-
cial astringency that is bankrupting
80 many people, that of Senator
Leland Stanford, of California,
seems to have been specially singled
out, and properly so, its high source
being considered, for general criti-
cism. But, unfortunately, the shafts
aimed at it are not always wiser
than the proposition criticised. The
latest onslaught is by one Arthur
Melvin, who levels this sumner at
the Senator's plan: "Ir," he asks,
''every man who has piece of land,
big or little, can borrow money is
sued especially to represent that
piece of land, how long would it be
before such money was worth moth
ing?" That would depend, of course,
upon the total amount permitted
by the law to be issued. 1t is safe
to say that all property is worth the
price at which it is rated to the as
SCISSOR. Money, therefore, issued
upon American farms would simply
represent SO many mortgages and
if not issued in excess, their market
value would be equal to the market
value Of the land they represented.
But Senator Stanford's proposition
is fundamentally erroneous. Gov
ernments should in no instance
devote public money or capital to
the advancement of private enter
prises, nor accept a mortgage on
private property. Least of all,
should government become the
mortgage of the peoples homes;
for the reason that government aid
to private enterprises gives to the
parties assisted an unfair advan-
tage over their competitors, and
taxes production for purpose not
designed by the trainers of our Fed
eral Constitution, and entirely with
out the scope of legitimate and just
taxation. 1t also destroys the self
reliance of the citizen by teaching
him to rely on government, and is
an inducement to people to mort
gage their homes, which a wiser
craftsmanship would discourage, it
being akin to an axiom among the
best informed sociologists that the
ownership, by the people, of homes
is an indispensable requisite to
high order of morality and patriot
ism. Give a man a home and he
at once acquires personal interest
in the highest welfare of the coun-
try and its institutions, in which
his home is; deprive him of that
home and his interest flags. Deprive
him of the hope of ever being
able to procure home and he be-
comes a public menace and an
enemy to society, or a vagabond,
owing to his force or lack of force
Of character.
1t becomes, then, a serious ques-
ton whether it would not be wise
policy to exempt designated guam
tity of land and improvements to
each family from taxation and en-
forced sale, to the end that the
greatest possible number of our
citizens may have and be secure in
the possession of homes.