The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1890-01-07

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We your committee on the none
tary system, beg to submit the follow
ING report. and recommend that fifty
thousand copies of this report, with
complete arguments in support of the
same, be published and dist diluted to
the members of u order and to the
country, under the supervision of the
National Economist provided the
printing and distribution shall be done
at actual cost by said journal, to be
paid on the 10th day of November,
1890. G. w. MACUNE.
L. l.. Polk.
l.. f. LIVINGSTON.
H. S. P. AsHBY.
W. S. MORGAN.
REPORT OF H COMMITTEE ON H NONE
TARY SYSTEM.
The financial policy of the General
Government seems today to be peculi-
arly adapted to further the interests
of the specializing class, at the expense
and to the manifest detriment of the
productive class, and while there are
many forms of relief offered, there
has up to the present time been no
true remedy presented which has
secured a support universal enough to
render it's adoption probable. Neither
of the political parties offer a remedy
adequate to our necessities, and the
two parties that have been in power
since the wal have pursued practi-
cally the same financial policy. The
situation is this: The most desirable
and necessary reform is n that will
adjust the financial system of the
General Government so that it's pro-
visions cannot be utilized by a class,
which thereby becomes privileged and
is in consequence contrary to the
genius of our govern ment, and which
is to-day the principal cause of the
depressed condition of agriculture.
Regardless of all this the political
parties utterly ignore these great evils
and refuse to remove their cause, and
the opportunities of the privileged
class have no doubt often led the exec
utive and legislative branches Of the
government to believe that the masses
were passive and reconciled to the
existence of this system whereby a
privileged class can, by means of the
power of money to Oppres, exact from
labor all that it produces except a
bare subsistence. Since then it is the
most necessary Of all reforms, and re-
ceiyes no attention from any of the
prominent political parties, it is highly
appropriate and important hat our
efforts be concentrated to secure the
needed reform in this direction, pro-
vided all can agree upon such meas
ures. Such action will in no wise con
meet this movement to any partisan
effort, as it can be applied to the party
to which each member belongs.
In seeking a rue and practical
remedy for the evils that now flow
from the imperfections in our financial
| system, let us first consider what is the
greatest evil, and on what it depends.
The greatest evil, the one that out
strips all others SO far that it is in
stantly recognized as the chief, and
known with certainty to be more op-
pressive to the productive interests of
the country than any other influence,
is that which delegates to a certain
class the power to fix the price of all
kinds of produce and of all commodi-
ties. This power is not delegated
directly, but it is delegated indirectly
by allowing such class to issue a large
per cent. of the money used as the
circulating medium of the country,
and having the balance of such circu-
lating medium, which is issued bv the
government, a fixed quantity that is
not augmented to correspond with the
necessities of the times. In conse-
quence of this the money issued by
the privileged class, which they are at
liberty to withdraw at pleasure, can
be, and is, so manipulated as to con-
troll the volume of circulating medium
in the country sufficiently to produce
fluctuations in general prices at their
pleasure. 1t may be likened unto a
simple illustration in philosophy: The
lnfexible volume of the government
issue is the fulcrum, the volume of
the bank issue is the lever power, and
price is the point at which power is
applied, and it is either raised r low
cred with great certainty to correspond
with the volume of bank issue. ANY
mechanic will instantly recognize the
fact that the quickest and surest way
OF destroying the power of the lever
to raise or lower price is to remove
the resistance offered by the fulcrum
the infexible volume of government
issue. The power to regulate the
volume of money so as to control
price is so manipulated as to develop
and apply a potent force, for which we
have in the English language no name;
but it isthe power of money to Cypress,