The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-10-27

| A'N ONN1 'AOCPU - Vic pLl CASdAA " III
found political capital in keeping alive
the enmities and j~ealOusies of the zee
tiOnS against each other.
The Alliance seeks to reunite the peO-
pie into one harmonious nation with
equal rights for all.
1t seeks to limit the power and curb
the rapacity of corporations 1t seeks
| to reform the industrial system to the
| end that the products of industry may
be fairly distributed. Its task will not
be finished till these results are
| achieved. 1t was not born in a night
nor will it perish in a day. 1t is pro
test against plutOcratic tendencies,
a-ainst eXtIavagant public eXpendl-
lures, against unequal taxation, against
the SDOlIatiOn of the working classes,
against the eNplOiter and Sp~eculatOr IN
the products of the field. the mine and
the factory: against the whole class
who make a monopoly Of money and
live by usury, against the private
ownership of public Observation-Disclosures,
against the whole policy of inflated
capital and bonded debts.
The Alliance demands a sufficient
volume of money to enable industry to
to exchange her products on a cash
basis to the end that labor may escape
the burden of interest that IL w eats
up her ~SuStenance III maintaining the
credit system.
The Alliance recognizes that the gov
| eminent mOnOpOllZGS the creation OF
money. and insists that this fact a
rieS with it the duty to provide a Sutfi-
Cient volume of money. The Alliance
holds hat the volume of money IS no
| sufficient as long as average interest IS
! rl,,-A tho = -A7.a,rA nJ,,htS of 1nIIJSfTNv
The per cent. of increment to national
wealth is the natural interest rate. In
tpreSt could not rise above this rate If
industry W a free to provide her own
medium of exchange.
1t is upon this principle the Alliance
bases the demand that the government
shall exercise the power it mOnopOllzes
in the creation Of money and perform
its duty to the industries by expanding
the volume of money until the interest
rate falls II its proper level. This per
cent. If increment to national wealth
has fallen below ; per cent. on an aver
age for thirty years. The aCt that
current interest has averaged at more
than double the net profits Of wealth
production throughout this same
period cannot be accounted for IN any
other ground than that the financial
system from top to bottom. from side
10 side. is permeated with the poisonof
monopoly aided, encouraged and de
Tended by the government Its'lf.
The Alliance demands that industry
shall be emaucipated from the domin3-
ton and spoiIation Of the money cen
ters by enabling her TO provide her
own medium Of exchange.
There are many Indications in all
e H. ,---f I A1-+
awakening, Il new day, a new era is
soon TO dawn on the affairs Of mankind,
old customs and methods have fallen
far behind the march of progress. The
discoveries Of science the progress of
invention, the trained mind, the skilled
hand have increased the possibilities of
human effort during the past century
more than the preceding 1000 years.
| The distribution Of the benefits of civ
ilizatiOn e~qUitably among the children
of men has beer neglected. This Is
the great question Of the future, the
great task Immediately before us
1t includes a REIMBURSEMENT of the
status of all labor saving instrumental
ties, of natural material and natural
forces tO the end that the ]plutocrat, the
~mOnOpOlist. the corporation may not
appropriate to themselves the benefits
of the things an all-wise providence
created for the common support of his
children. No person or combination
ought to be permitted to m0nOpOlIZe
either the forces or materials of nature
or the benefits Of discovery or invcn-
ton.
Said KumbOld as he went to the
| SCaffOld, Il have believed that
one part of mankind were born with
| SlIllas M thAjF. hapl-- md 1y1D4In,
booted and spurred to ride them"
Customs and institutions inherited
from a semi barbarOus ancestry, party
theories and maXimS. even sO-called
principles Of government, may have
done good ervIce in an age gone by
and be utterly unSuited to the c~iviIiza
ton and conditions of to-day. Many
old notions have long OutIived their
usefulness. We are to-day as a nation
holding fast to a notion hat has
been an abSUITdity from tie begin
ming, 1t is this: the government, al
though possessing the sole power of
creating money, cannot create any for
itself but must be n borrower. This is
scarcely greater than the other. that
an interest bearing bond is q better
foundation for papermOney than actual
property.
The farmer and mechanic may we'll
ask each other why they should be put
to the expense Of maintaining a third
class of people digging metal counters
from the earth to enable them to ex
change their products. or why they
should be burdened with an interest
eating bond as a foundation for a cir
culating medium. when they could
furnish the security for the medium
of exchange themselves at One-fourth
the expense.
Tne past six months has lifted the fog
sufficiently that all may now see where
the center of the great industrial bat