The true northerner., 1890-12-17
.IvED BY
lLiANCE.
| drought Up
n Ever-His-
In tn Our Own


(which gold possesses; the issue OF govern
Rment currency directly To the people; the
equalization of taxes; the prohibition or all
alien ownership OF land; the ownership and
control OF transportation lines by the gov
ernment; the limit OF public revenues TO
the economical administration OF the gov
.ernment; graduated taxation OF incomes.
and the election OF United States senators
by direct vote OF the people.
Ii will be seen that this is substan-
tally the platform OF the st. Louis alli-
ance convention. In an interview had
at Ocala two days earlier President Polk
said:
am morally certain OF the reasons for
republican defeat In the late elections. We
shall have 10 look beyond the Mckinley
tariff bill-it was not that. We must look
beyond the Lodge bill-it was not that. We
must look further than any and all or the
political questions which have been obscur-
ing the real issue for nearly twenty years,
IL was the oppression OF the financial sys-
TEN OF this country upon the masses or the
people. They have just found out what the
matter is. They are thinkers to-day IL they
never were before. They have scratched
away all the rubbish OF the negro question,
of the bloody shirt, OF the tariff, and OF the
federal control OF elections, and they have
at last got down TO hard pan. IL Is the dol
lar that is keeping the people down to-day.
racy And the people will have no more OF
it. The slogan henceforth is TO be financial
reform. The national banking system must
go. The farmer and labOrer must be given
a chance 10 get what money they need upon
the security OF their real propcrty-a privi-
lege which Is denied them to-day. The is
sue from now on is TO be a square one be-
tween the manhood Of America on the one
side and the great American dollar on the
other. And l tell you right now that unless
the leaders OF the great political battles To
come recognize the real issue and make IL
there are going TO be terrible times in this
country,
This is simply the old grecnback fiat
idea 1t is another outbreak of the
strange delusion known as fiatism-that
a government by its mere say-so can
give TO piece of printed paper the in
trinsic value possessed by gold or silver.
This idea had full swing in the Ameri-
can colonies prior to and during the rev.
olution and also during the early history
of some of the western states. Wher-
ever tried, on large or small scale, il
has worked mischief. That il should
come up again backed by so many voters
is another evidence Of the eternity of
folly.
Mr.. Polk demands that the govern
ment of the United States loan the farm
ers all the money" they need on the Sc
curitY of their lands and crops charging
them l per cent. interest. AS the gov
ernment has no private resources, as it
has no vast hoard of heaped-up treasure,
and little more money than is needed to
pay current expenses. where is il 10 get
the billions the Alliance scheme calls on
TO loan out? There is but one
answer To that. The government
must get some paper, set the print
ing presses 10 running at full speed, and
turn out tons OF pretty pictures, which
it declares by act OF congress shall be a
legal tender for all debts. When il has
made lot Of these works of art-nOt
redeemable on demand in coin-it must
issue enough of them to every farmer in
he country to enable him TO pay or
is mortgage, his store bills and his
Xes. All the debtor farmers will be
lppy then. AS well might the govern
ent declare, without the Intervention
any currency at all, that all debts are
off, and Cancelled by proclamation of
the president.
lThe next thing on the program is the
izure by the federal government of all
le railroads and other transportation
nes, which will be operated thenceforth
y the politicians and their henchmen.
The number OF employees will be in
reased, wages raised, and the efficiency
|Of the service lowered. The present
owners of these properties are TO be paid
for them in fiat money or l per cent
bonds, the interest and principal of which
will be made payable in Flat"
In the next place, all farmers products
are TO be stored i'm warehouses built and
run by the federal government, and are
to be kept there free of charge till the
public demand for them forces up the
price to a figure satisfactory 10 the alli-
ance. Then the stuff is TO be sold at
famine prices or as near them as possi-
ble. That the producer may not suffer
while waiting for the sale Of his crops
the government is TO advance him so per
cent. of their fair value. OF course
these advances will have to be in fiat
money There will be none other avail
able, for gold and silver would have dis
appeared the moment the new order OF
things went into force.
What with carrying the crops, paying
of the mortgages, and buying the rail-
roads, il would not be long before the
country was deluged with shinplasters.
What would their purchasing power be
then? How long would il take that
sort OF stuff 70 drop TO 25, Is, 10 and
scents on the dollar? A year would see
gold quoted at ,000-ten fiat dollars for
one gold one. The worthcssness of the
confederate shinplaster would be rivaled
and outdone.
The test of the value of the pretty
pictures of the government would be
their purchasing power. creditor
might be forced to accept the fiat stuff
for his coin value debt, but no legisla-
tion could compel him to sell his goods
or his land for shinplasters at their face
value. When the farmer went to the
store with the fiat which had been given
him as an advance on his warehoused
crop he would find that its purchasing
power was hardly worth considering
He would be charged 81 for a pound OF
sugar. 500 for barrel OF flour, and s.
or S4 for pound of tea. The cross
roads blacksmith would charge S75 foI
shoeing a horse, and thousand feet oi
lumber would call for $500 or 500 OF fat
Nor would there be any credit. The
shopkeepcr would want his pay, such n:
il was, at once, and would not run tn,
risk OF a sbill greater depreciation of the
currency.
Therefore the relief for the evils oi
which the farmer complains Is not TO b'