Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1891-04-23
AI.L12NcE NOTES.
NEWS OF THE ORDER AND re
MEMBERS.
What is Being Done In tho yarioul
Sections for the Advancement
Of the Great Organization.
ALEXANDER ATKINSON ON AILrANcn PoLs

ALEXANDER ATKINSON ON ALLIANCE PoLE-
TICS AND CURRENCY.
The Nc,os and ANianceman says that
nobody in the world is moro thoroughly
and deeply interested in the Alliance and
its plans than Mr.. Atkinson, and but few
are better informed as to the character
and scope Of the demands and plans of
the organization. and to verify its asser-
ton prints the following interview with
him:
''But few people outside Of its ranks,
and not all OF those inside, comprehend
the magnitude of the evil and the mag
ni.ude Of our demands for redress. Our
country last year produced from seven
to eight million bales of cotton, four
hundred million bushels of wheat, seven
hundred million bushels Of oats, two
billion bushels. of corn, not to speak of
its mines of precious and useful metals
and coal, its vast manufacturing and
railroad industries and its timber. Our
national wealth and national production
is almost beyond the powers of concep-
tion. Yet, in the face of all this, look
at the increasing poverty of the pro-
Queer! Those who make the wealth arc
growing poorer every day, and those who
sit in idleness are storing aud hoaring
wealth by the millions. This has gone
on year after year until those who are
producing the wealth have now demanded
an account with those who take it and
keep it."
"a great many theories have been pro-
posed to set the wrong right.
"Some say that the high protective
tariff is the trouble. Some say combina-
ton and monopoly. The great object of
the Alliance is to determine out of all
this confusion what the truth is and to
establish it." We asked Mr.. Atkinson
what he considered the most complete
solution of the question. 81 think" he
said, "the cause Of the whole is summed
up in very few words-sHRINKAGE. OF
CURRENCY. Suppose you had family
beginning life in small onc-room house.
AS the family increases and new men,
bers are added to it unless you add to
the house it becomes crowded aud finally
very uncomfortably. So it has been
with our currency. While the business
of the country has been growing, the
population increasing, the production
increasing, the currency has not only
failed to increase in volume but it has
contracted" "In whose favor do you
think" we asked, 'has this contraction
worked?"
"Why, of course, he said, in favor of
the capitalists who have the money. As
currency contracts, the purchasing power
of the dollar increases. l mean to say
that if our currency were doubled in vol
hor f,,n all 80
chase cotton, corn and other produce
where now there is only one. 1t is out of
the question to talk about higher prices
for our produce when tho amount of
money in the country is so small that a
few capitalists can gather it up and say
to the world just how much of it q GER
tain article is worth. With an expanded
currency this will be impossible"
''How," we ask, would you propose
to remedy this contraction"
''We have demanded the free coinage
of silver"
'sDo you think that will effect COM
plete relief2"
ono. 1t is not complete to do that
If all the silver products were coined and
| put on the country as currency it would
not be sufficient. Besides, the amount OF
precious metal produced annually is de-
creasing. We also demand the aboli-
ton of the National banks and this
would further so far diminish the circu-
lating medium as to render the free coin
age inadequate"
''What is your idea about National
banks2"
''They are robbers caves for the stor-
| age of State goods. A national bank
buys thousand dollars worth of bonds
for eight hundred dollars and receives
| interest on them. The government then
advances them niue hundred dollars on
those bonds to be loaned TO the people at
a rate of interest amounting to about fif-
teen per cent. per annum, with the privi-
lege of compromising every three months.
The fact is they get about twenty five
per cent. All the tIme tile people are
paying interest on the bonds. The in
terest paid into national banks would
run dozen governments like ours in
luxury"
"What do you think will give com
plete relief 2"
''The direct assurance of money to the
people in sufficient quantities to do the
business OF the country without the IN
tervention of national banks. The value
of money is often all based upon the abil-
ity of the government to pay, and that is
based upon the wealth of the people. So,
why not come ut once TO rne poinI WIN
out great circumlocution and enrching
thousands of indictment Issue the money
on non .perishable products and property.
Their value is just as stable as the value
of gold. The volume of the currency
will then be adequate to to needs of bust
ness. Everything will take on new life.
New industries will spring up, greater
revolution than the country has ever wit
messed before will take place. Capitalists
will then be ready to unload their hands
and develop the country. What encour-
agement is there to invest money in pro-
ductive enterprises now, when the prod
ucts bring nothingg"
~
The Alliance Tallahassee, Fla.) says:
The professional politicians are begin
ming to dance up to the Alliance music.
rney nave been orven from their oppo-
sition to the free coinage of silver by the