The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1891-12-11

WCoA SOO0 CAOUAcSS A6UOT muSL DC
content to offer itself to the highest
and best bidder, and be Industrious,
sober and frugal, SO as to be able to
save a miserable pittance out of the
wages allowed, which are cunningly
SO adjusted as to afford but bare sub
sistence for the wage-worker. Why,
as Uncle Ben says, 'tsave something, if
it is only ten cents week" Ten cents
a week will amount to the sum of S156
at the end Of thirty years. which
will, at least, pay for a de-
cent funeral One might even
save one dollar week, and at the end
of thirty years unremitting toll have
the huge sum of 1880. Just think of
it! Almost enough to buy the flowers
for an upper-ten banquet! am speak
ing of savings, pure and simple, unaided
by that unholy and accursed thing called
usury or interest or by speculation in
Gods free gift and mans common her.
itage-the ground upon which we live,
move and have our being.
But the GROWING 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 it's
results. I will now briefly submit
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 system
of banks and loan and trust companies,
is, as much as any other agency, re-
sponsible for the flow of wealth Unto
the Golfers of the few
wish to formulate few ideas upon
the subjects of money and interest.
Money is not wealth; it is simply
medium of exchange of material
wealth. Money, then, must be dupli-
cation of existent material wealth. so
that if 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 81, 600, 900, 900
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, 900, 600 in specie in the nation,
and most of that is in such ownership
that the depositors would not be likely
X
the specie basis advocate will readily
admit that four-ffths 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, 900
claimed to be on deposit is three times
as much as all the money in the United
States. &c. then, these deposits are
reduplication of a duplication of ma
terial wealth.
Moral: The amount of 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 it's material wealth.
Interest is simply rent or usage for
money. and in its simplest analysis is
wages paid to money. It gives to an
inanimate substance the powers and
attributes of humanity. and invests
money with a right belonging solely
70 labor-that of earning and accumu-
lating wealth. If the wages of the
laborer are upon an average $3.50
year, then every SIS, 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 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 we'll as the ex-
cess charged by the banks above the
rate paid to the frugal, saving laborer.
Let us figure little more. We will
assume that the banks pay an average
of three per cent for the ST. 900, 600, 900
deposited with them, although this
estimate is much too high. On the
other hand. ten per cent. is a very con-
sentative estimate of the rate of inter-
est realized by the national and saw
ings banks and loan and trust COM
panies for the use of these deposits.
H. x1o- SC of co-ou ~o~