Sturgis advertiser. (Sturgis, Dakota [S.D.]) 1887-1???, 1891-01-08
is ONLY WARMED OVER
GREENBAcKIsM REVIVED BY
THE FARMERS, ALLIANCE.


dent of the Farmers Alliance, at the
Ocala convention declared:
That congress had persistently ignored
all Alliance propositions and even sup
pressed discussion of them, notably in the
case of the measure known as the sub
treasury bill. Congress" he said, unjust
come nearer to the people or the people will
get nearer to congress-
AS outlining the future financial policy
of the Alliance President Polk said that it
would demand the restoration of silver to
all the rights and qualities of legal tender
which gold possesses; the issue of govern
ment currency directly to the people; the
equalization of taxes; the prohibition of all
alien ownership of land; the ownership and
control of transportation lines by the gov
eminent; the limit of public revenues to
the economical administration OF the gov
eminent; graduated taxation of incomes,
and the election of United States senators
by direct vote of the people.
1t 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 to look beyond the Mckinley
tariff bill--it was not that We must look
beyond the Lodge btll-it was not that. We
mnst look further than any and all OF the
political questions which have been obscur-
ing the real issue for nearly twenty years.
1t was the oppression of the financial sys-
tenn of this country upon the masses of 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. 1t is the dol
lar that is keeping the people down to-day
1t Is the money power-the rule OF plutoc-
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 laborcr must be given
a chance to get what money they need upon
the security of their real property privi-
lege which is denied them to-day. The is
sue from now on is to be square one be-
tween the manhood of America on the one
side and the great American dollar on the
other. And 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 greenback fiat
idea. 1t is another outbreak of the
strange delusion known as tiatism-that
government by it's mere say-so can
give to piece of printed paper the in
trinsic value possessed by gold or silver
II his idea had full swing in the Amerf.
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 it should
come up again backed by so many voters
rs a1rutfrpr evidence of the eternity II ID
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 per cent. interest. AS the gov
eminent has no private resources, as II
has no vast hoard of heaped-up treasure,
and little more money than is needed to
pay current expenses. where is it to gel
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 to running at full speed, and
turn out tons Of pretty pictures, which
it declares by act of congress shall be .
legal tender for all debts. When it has
made lot of these works Of art--not
redeemable on demand in coin-it mus
issue enough of them to every farmer il
the country to enable him to ''pay off
his mortgage, his store bills, and hi.
taxes. Al! the debtor farmers will bt
happy then. AS we'll might the govern
ment declare, without the Intervention
of any currency at all, that all debts are
soft" and Cancelled by proclamation O.
the president.
The next thing on the program is thu
seizure by the federal government of al
the railroads and other transportation
lines, which will be operated thencefortl
by the politicians and their henchmen
The number of employees will be in
creased, wages raised, and the etficienc.
of the service lowered. The presen
owners of these properties are to be pait
for them in fiat money or l per cen
bonds, the interest and principal Of which
will be made payable in "Fiat."
In the next place, all farmers product
are to be stored in warehouses built ant
run by the federal government, and arr
to be kept there free of charge till TIL
public demand for them forces up TIL
price TO q figure satisfactory to the ALI
ance. Then the stuff is to be sold a
famine prices or rs near 5hem 4s Ressi
BILE. That the producer may not suffe
while waiting for the sale of his crop
the government is to advance him 80 pc
cent, of their fair value. Of cours
these advances will have to be in fla
money. There will be none other avail
able, for gold and silver would have dis
appeared the moment the new order Q
things went into force:
What with carrying the crops, payin
off the mortgages, and buying the rail
roads, it would not be long before tn
country was deluged with shinplasters
What would their purchasing power b
then? How long would it take tina
sort OF stuff to drop to 25, IS, 10 and
cents on the dollar? A year would Sc
| gold quoted at 1,O00-ten fiat dollars fo
one gold one The worthlessness of tn
confederate shinplaster would be rivale
and outdone. .....-.
The test of the value of the prett
pictures Of the government would b
their purchasing power, A credito
might be forced to accept the nat stH
for his coin value debt, but no legislt
tion could compel him to sell his good
or his land for shinplasters at their fac
value. When the farmer went to til
store with the fat which had pesa give
him as an advance on his warehouse
crop he would find that its purchasin
power was hardly worth considering
He would be charged 81 for a pound
sugar, $1OO for Barrel Of -four, and !
or 81 for pound Of tea. The eros
roads blacksmith would charge $f5 Is
shostng horse, and thousand feet {
lumber would call for $500 or 500 OF fla
Nor would there be any credit. IT
shopkeeper would want his pay, such