The Globe-republican., 1890-02-19

years and SIX months; ana money ~ SIX
per cent. doubles in sixteen years and
eight months.
Sixth.-Under the plan here proposed
men can help themselves by aseociating
together and combining their forces. By
adopting the warehouse system they can
store produce and help one another In
trying times. and they can take advan-
tage of the state of the market. The
alliance movement is now tending in that
direction.
Seventh.-It is the power which wealth
gives that enables men to manipulate
markets in their own interest. and it is
this gambling in the products OF labor
which affects the profits. If small cir
culating medium reduces prices. and If
money changers are responsible for our
present shortage In circulation and con-
sequent low prices, these conditions will
change if the plan here proposed Is put
in operatiOn-mOre money. and bet
ter prices. Further. If it be true that
profits on money are larger than those on
products generally, it follows that if
charges for the use of money if put down
to actual cost, profits on commodities
will soon regulate themselves.
Eighth.-Governmen savings institu-
tons would necessarily follow, because
this plan would eventually do away with
private money lending as irregular bust
ness.
Ninth.-If the reader will but consider
the office which money does actually fill
| in the ordinary business affairs of life,
he will set out on a new line of thought.
More than a hundred years ago Adam
Smith wrote: 1.-The gold and silver mon
ey which circulates in any country and
by means of which the produce Of its
land and labor is annually circulated and
distributed to the proper consumers. is.
in the same manner as the ready money
of the dealer, all dead stock. 1t isavery
valuable part of the capital of the coun-
try which produces nothing to the coun-
try. The gold and silver money
which circulates in any country may
very properly be compared to highway
which while it circnlates and carries to
market all the grass and corn of a coun-
try, produces itself not a single pile of
either" Francis Bowen, of Harvard,
1865, in his excellent work on American
political economy. quotes approvingly
the comparison of Smith and adds to it
that money is quite as much public me-
cessity as are highways. That is what is
asserted in ''The Way Out" 1t is
strange that these learned men did not
see the necessary conclusion of their
premises. If money in circulation may
be compared to public road, and If its
function is similar to that of the road,
its function must be to serve public use.
Money is to serve the people in their bus
mess affairs; it is a general convenience
universally employed in effecting the
peoples exchanges. By the use of mon
ey labor may be exchanged for food, fuel
clothing, shelter-for any article no mat
ter what or where produced; by the use
of money, corn which is to be used a
thousand miles away, may be exchanged
at home for goods which were manufac-
tured a thousand miles away in another
direction. Money is an absolute neces-
sity. Society cannot exist without it..
But, like the public highway, 1t is for use.
Everybody may use the road but nobody
may obstruct it. Close the public roads
and traffic ceases; society is disorganized,
suffering, starvation and death inevita-
bly, follow. Without money the condi-
ton would be little, If any better, and in
the end is the same. But of what use is
money not in circulation? 1t is like a
road that has been closed. 1t is of no
use to the public. Roads to be useful
and to serve the purpose for which they
were intended. must be kept open. So
it is with money. If it is not in circula-
ton it ceases to perform its proper func-
ton. ceases to be money, and the people
suffer in consequence. Low prices, hard
times and general distress follows a
scarcity of circulating money. We all
remember the troubles we passed through
from 1869 to 1879. and we are now going
through a still more dreadful experience,
because of our greater indebtedness now
than then. These troubles come because
of the small amount of money out among
the people. Lend $500, OOO, 900 to the
needy farmers of the country during the
year 1890, and gloom would disappear
like morning vapor. 1t is money in
circulation that we need and that lent to
the people at cost is the way out.
This scheme proposes perfectly safe
and proper use of national banks. A
treasury note, a gold coin. silver coin
a coin certificate. is good as a govern
ment bond for an equal amount of money
Then it is as good security to bill-holders
The bank deposits lawful money instead
of bonds, receiving bank notes therefor