The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1890-10-23
GOVERNMENT LOANS.
NATIeNAkisM THAI To. PRAcffE
cAk ANb KioHT.

piHgie Ga4efS ana natipiialiStS. are
both upon record lii pint. as desiriRe
the same ehd Or object, This object
Or desire, simply, Stated, is that. labof
shall derive The full Product Of Its ef-
1crtss as It's fair Wages"o or jHsttecoih-
pense. The factors which atipresent,
under the present system Of Iaissez fare
or let alone, anarchistic government,
combine to absorb from productive
labor a portion of Its product, and
from all other labor a portion Of IT'S
earnings, may. be classified as. rent, In
teress. profit, Individual 0#hershfp Of
and distribution.
1t may be stated at the outset that
productive labor will never, under any
system, receive its full product, as 1t
must always inevitably part With a
portion Yf such product to pay for the
transportation and redistribution Of the
residue, and also to pay for the labor
OF service, such as: that OF. doctors,
preachers lawyers and all such labor
as does not either produce, transport
Or distribute, but yet renders a useful
service to the community. All labor
Is alike subject to this drain, and cam
not therefore expect the full amount
OF their product or earnings.
now as to transportation of either
merchandise or news: The extent to
Which this factor robs labor Is Just
equal to the net interest received Upon
Ine amount Ct rnot1sS ACTUALLY invested
course in addition to the entire cost
OF operation, maintenance and sink
ing fund, and is taken from the people
under the name of interest upon
money. Here we find that, as in every
thing else, interest is the root Of the
evil. If a set of individuals we're pre-
sented, free of cost, with a right of
way, they must either borrow money
at s Of I per cent. to build a road with
or use money they already have, which
they could loan out at 6 or I per cent,
The Farmers Alliance and the
knights of Labor, In their St. Louis
demands, solve the matter or question
OF transportation by demanding "that
the means of communication and
transportation shall be bwted by and
operated in the interest of the people,
as Is the. Uhited States postal SYSTEM"
The sihgle-taxers, hot having the
courage Of their convictions, straddled
the question, and, declaring that rail-
roads and telegraphs SHOULD be con-
trolled and managed by and for the
whole people concerned, through their
proper. governments" virtually leave
matters just as they are at present.
Government ownership Of the rail
roads and telegraphs, and their opera
ton at the cost of service, is what the
people want and ultimately will have.
Now as to competition: We now, at
this time, have our Knights of Labor
and trade unions with their demand
for shorter hours of labor. Whenever
the days labor Is so shortened that it
Will require the whole number of
workers or laborefs to perform the
necessary amount of labor, then the
competition with itself is eliminated
and destroyed. But it must hot be
forgotten that each store and place Of
business, factory, ETC., etc., must run
two or three shifts of hands, from
superintendent down, and that rail-
roads must put on as. many shifts as
there are days work in the twenty
four hours. So much then for trans
portation and distribution.
what then about rent, usury Tor in
terest) and profit: These three terms
are simply distinctive names to dis
tinguish similar operations of the
same factor in and through different
channels. Rent is net interest upon
money invested in buildings and lands.
1t is the current rate of interest upon
the actual cash or rentalyalue Of land.
The rental valuation of land is that
value or price upon which the rent
will pay the current rate of interest.
Bodies Of unimproved suburban or
farm lands, held for speculative pur-
poses, have no 'srental valuation
The Knights of Labor propose to take
the whole of the "unearned incre-
ment" as a tax. This would simply
'hatiohalize" the land, as all land
value is uhearned increment. If not.
what Is the basis or normal value
above which all value is unearned in
crement? The single takers propose
to take as a tax the current rate of
interest upon the cash value of land
only. We will notice this as we pro-
coed. Profit is net interest upon
money invested in merchandise and
goods; and such profit is in addition
to a living for the merchant, trader,
eXpl01ter; ETC.. ETC., and family: and
the payment of all expenses, including
rent. The laborer, under the present
Iron law Of wages " can new expect
any profit, and free access to land.
alone, will not better his condition.
Interest is rent or usage paid for the
use of money. All monopolies, includ-
ing the monopoly of land. are based
upon the individuals monopoly of the
issue of money. In other words. Con-
gress, by misunderstanding or not ap-
pretending the full meaning of the
words "shall have sole power to coin
(issue) money and regulate the value.
thereof" is responsible for all the
monopolis that have fastened them
selves upon the people.
And now a few words as to the D
erations Of usury or interest, and an
explanation of what is meant by the
value of money:
The value OF money is a legal fiction
Tan ideal thingn-and is based upon
certain properties or attributes in
herent in money only, created by fiat
OF Jaw. These powers may be formu-
lated as the power to represent, meas
ure and exchange values, and the
power to pay debts, or legal tender at
tribute. This legal tender attribute
is arbitrary and authoritative and.is
not affected BY f~uctuating volume or
value. The three tirst.named powers
are legal and mandatory: but the pow.
er to measure values, unlike the other
three, is not fixed or arbitrary, under
u present monetary system, as are
the measures of weight or length, and
varies and fuctuates with the increase
or decrease in legal tender currency.
Money measures values, not by reason
Of any intrinsic value it possesses, but
because of its possession of the legal
attributes mentioned above. Hence
we lind that the amount of silver that
a silver dollar contains will, ifbullion,
buy ninety cents worth of wheat, but
If coined and made a dollar by the.
stamp of the government will at once
buy lO0cents' worth. Morris the value
of money affixed or declared by def1n-
ing and limiting the number of grains
Of gold or silver that shall constitute
a dollar, because if thatHwere the case
the price Of labor and its products
would remain stationary. The Consti-
tuition of the United States says shat.
Congress shall have the sole power to
coin money and to regulate the value
thereof" Now Iafirmsthat Congress
has never attempted to regulate the
value" of money. TheYalue of money
is Its purchasing power. An increase
In the purchasing power of money
simply means a decrease in the nrice