Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1891-11-25

aresult of honest toll, ever accumulated
in lifetime of effort more than few
thousand dollars at the most, million
aires being a crime against society and
a monument to legislative i'm becility or
worse.
have given Uncle Ben the benefit of
doubt in assuming that he is a satirical
humorist, who, taking the opportunity
afforded him, slyly pokes fun at the
hooking plutocrats who invite labor to
save a competence out of the bare,
very bare, subsistence allowed it by
Uncle Ben really believes the rot he has
written, in which case may the Lord
have mercy upon his soul
But the browning gem in this collec-
ton of sparkling satires, or the most
deplorable exhibition of the results of
false teachings of political economy as
the case may be, is the following state
ment with which the pamphlet closes:
when the many foolishly spend all
they earn. wealth flows into the Golfers
of the few. And this means disruption
to the state. But when all the people
save, then all the people are prosper
Gus. And the kindly blessing of Heaven
rests upon that land"
The above proposition, while it may
be fully in accord with the teaching of
the old school of political economy, is,
nevertheless, false and untenable in
fact fallacious in its theory, pernicious
in its teachings and disastrous in its
results. l will now briefly submit a
few arguments to establish the truth
of the following propositions:
First-That nation attains to the
greatest degree OF prosperity, and Sc
cures the most even distribution of
wealth, in which each and all spend
their entire earnings.
Second-The present system of saw
ing, supplemented as it is by a system
| of banks and loan and trust companies,
is, as much as any other agency, re-
| sponsible for the flow of wealth Into
the Golfers of the few"
wish to formulate few ideas upon
the subjects of money and interest
Money is not wealth; it is simply a
medium of exchange of material
wealth. Money, then, must be dupli-
cation of existent material wealth, SO
that II all money was destroyed there
would be none the less wealth. Even
intrinsic value lunatics will admit.
nay, they assert, that all money other
than that made of gold and silver, is
simply duplication of wealth It is
upon this foundation they build their
specie basis theory. Let us figure a
little At the close of the year 1890
there was something over "a, 900, 600, 600
deposited in the various bank
ing institutions of the United
States, not more than one-fifth
of which amount could be
redeemed or paid in gold or silver,
there being considerably less than
81, 600, 600, 900 in specie in the nation,
and most of that is in such ownership
that the depositors would not be likely
to get it in the case of a crash. So that
the specie basis advocate will readily
admit that four-dfths of the deposits of
the United States are simply orders for
certain amounts of wheat, corn, beef
land, cotton. etc. But the 81, 900, 900, 600
claimed to be on deposit is three times
as much as all the money in the United
States. So, then, these deposits are
reduplication of a duplication of ma
terial wealth.
Moral: The amount of a nations
savings or deposits of money is no
index or guide to the nations wealth
or material prosperity. The true index
is the amount of its material wealth
Interest is simply rent or usage for
money. and in it's simplest analysis is
wages paid to money. It gives to an
inanimate substance the powers and
attributes of humanity, and invests
money with right belonging solely
to labor-that of earning and accumu-
lating wealth. If the wages of the
laborer are upon an average $3.50
a year, then every S.. 900 loaned out
at seven per cent represents an imma-
terial, imaginary man, who, though he
tolls not, nor produces, yet draws his
wages from the total product of labor,
the same as if he really existed. The
growth or increase of money at interest
adds nothing to the wealth of a nation;
it simply transfers the wealth produced
by the toll of the many into the hands
of the idle few AS interest must be
paid in the products of labor, all inter-
est is, in fact, paid by labor; hence,
though labor, as class, may save much
money and allow the banks to put it
out at interest, labor may rest assured
that it itself is paying the interest it
thinks it is receiving, as well as the ex-
cess charged by the banks above the
rate paid to the frugal, saving laborer.
Let us figure a little more. We will
assume that the banks pay an average
of three per cent for the $4,000, 900, 900
deposited with them, although this
estimate is much too high. On the
other hand, ten per cent is very con-
sentative estimate of the rate of inter.
ings banks and loan and trust com.
panies for the use of these deposits.
Here, then, is difference of seven pei
cent. upon 81, 600, 900, 600, which
amounts to $3.50, 900, 900 year realized
by these institutions as interest upon
other peoples money. No wonder that
the national banks alone realized earn
ings. in the year 1890, amounting to s. 81
per cent. upon a combined capital and
surplus of $685. 7s7, 431. Who pays this
enormous burden of interest? Labor
frugal, economical labor, foolish
enough to save money. Interest pro
duces nothing; labor produces all
Money is not wealth, but is an order
upon productive labor for wealth
Hence, all interest earned by money
must be, at last, paid by labor.
If it were possible or practicable tc
do such thing, it would be just and
proper to punish all persons detected
in boarding money. Money belongs tc
the people-yea, verify; it is the life
blood of the nation, the tool of com
MERGE and the vitalizing force in ma
tional commercial prosperity Itshould
be free, or at least bear but nominal
rate of interest to all who can pledge
the proper security for its use. Its
control and monopolization by the few
means tribute eXacted from the many
the enrichment of the moneymongers
| and the imnoverishment of the masses