Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1890-11-05

oSbudl property cOu nave lUS leg6I
representative issued by the Govern
ment for money purposes, can be readi-
ly perceived.
Through the influence of financiers
the issue by Government of the legal
representative of property is at present
confined to:
1. Owners of gold or silver bullion; to
whom coin certificates are issued, with
out interest, upon deposit of bullion
with the Government
q Owners of Government bonds; to
whom National bank notes are issued
for banking purposes at one per cent.
interest per annum, upon deposit of the
bonds as security with the Government
s. With these two exceptions, money is
now obtainable by the property-owning
citizens of the United States only from
private corporations or individuals, who,
as spectators in restricted supply, are
enabled to exact high interest rates for
its USE
Thus does this simple restr ction of
the issue of money by the Government
constitute a cleverly conceived agency
by means of which "inanciers" main
tain themselves in luxury by charging
that which under a correct money sys-
tenn, would be the legal representa-
of their own property furnished by
Government at actual cost of issue.
To an inadequate supply of money do
the industrial classes of the world owe
their present and past enslavement
Safety to Government by unques toned
security upon property by law declared
suitable for the purpose, should regu-
late the issue of the legal representa-
tive of property, or money. Were
money issued by the Government upon
undoubted mortgage security, to owners
of productive real estate, as we'll as to
owners of bullion and Government
bonds, unjust rates of interest would be
impossible, and capital that is now
loaned at excessive interest rates would
be driven to investments in enterprises
that would give employment to unem-
ployed labor.
AS the need Of an adequate circulat-
ing medium is the chief cause Of the
condition known as hard times, so, only
in lesser degree, are producers of
wealth and the consumers of their prod
ucts impoverished by the enormous
tribute which is now legally exacted
from them by the private owners OF the
great public thoronghfares (the Amer
lean railways, by which the surplus
product of labor Is transported to the
consumer.
The abuses which are inseparable
from the private ownership Of these
great public necessities can ben
ured only by an appreciation of the fact
that the prerogatives which are by law
conferred upon those who now legally
enjoy an unjust advantage at the ex
pense of society, practically enable
them to prescribe the conditions upon
(which the fruit of industry shall be
transported to market The effect of
the exercise by them of this unwar-
ranted power is aptly illustrated by
comparison of the relative condition of
the agricultural and transportation in
forests of the country at the present
time
As result of unjust legislation.
American farmers are rapidly being
evicted from, or becoming tenants upon,
the land they once owned
The present idleness is enforced idle
ness, due to the inability of property
owners to obtain at other than ruinous
rates of interest the legal representa-
tive of their property; they are thus
prevented from utilizing, for the bene-
fit of themselves and society, the accu-
mulated product of their industry. The
continuance of these advantages by
which the individual is enriched at the
expense of society is discre tionary with
those who are wronged by the National
policy permitting them. BY sufferance
only do they exist
The ballot is the arbiter of National
policy.
Whether or not we as a people shall
provide ourselves with that which no
civilized nation has yet been permitted
to enjoy-an adequate supply of money
lis simply question of ballots.
Whether or not the great transporta-
tion lines of the country shall become a
public convenience as they are now a
public necessity, rather than continued
as instruments in the hands of indivld-
uals for private gain, to the injury of
society, is simply question of ballots
| A judicious exerc SO of the ballot,
| however, is necessary to correct exist
ing evils, and to divert the disasters
that inevitably follow the centralizat ton
of wealth in the hands of those who con-
troll the machinery of government BY
| an independent exercise Of the ballot
only can threatening dangers be averted
Loyalty to party is costing the Amer
lean people their property and their
| liberties.
The enslavement of labor by capital
is accomplished through the control by
the latter of the machinery of political
parties The control of the party ma.
Oh merry carries with it the support OF
the party membership, while the decree
of the party caucus that shapes Con-
gressional action, is in effect but the
edict of able political leaders who hold
4 their official positions as reward fol
serving the interests of capital
The subserviency to the interests ot
capital of those holding the highest of
fical positions under the Government
is manifested in various ways. The dis
cretionary powers that are conferred up
on the Secretary of the Treasury by the
financial legislation of recent years, are
invar ably exercised in the interest o.
capital,
Under both Republican and Demo
cratic Administrations this great Dolit
ical agency is used to restrict the volume
of money
Since 1873 the various Secretaries o.
the Treasury, although possessing dis
cretionary power to coin four millior
silver dollars per month, have, in the
interest of capital, coined but two mil
lions per month. the minimum amoun1
( Yaarnn;tfnd ,pdar tho Iou
The exercise of this discretionary
power BIZ tho several Sanas te .iess s G.. ~ sasS
Treasury under the Administrations o.
Presidents Hayes, Arthur, Cleyeland
and Harrison, has alone deprived the
people OF the I'm ted States of a circu
) lating medium aggregating nearly 20'
million dollars, or gu te so per cent o
the sum now estimated to be in actua
| cireulatiou