Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1891-01-21
POWER OF MONEY TO oPPREss


An Inconsistency in the Government ON
cials' Manner of Extending the Money
Circulation Exposed.
While every demand made by the
Alliance is founded upon ultimate truth.
the necessity and correctness of the one
asking for an increase of currency
among the people can be at once dem
onstrated to the entire satisfaction of
all candid thinking individuals. The
statistics of the past quarter of a CEN
tury prove the following propositions
beyond doubt:
1. That the per capita volume of cur
rency has been constantly and material
ly lessened.
2. That bankruptcy and failures have
rapidly multiplied in consequence.
8. That the National bebt during this
period has increased instead of being
diminished.
1t now remains for me to substantiate
the above statements, which 1 will
undertake to do as briefly and plainly
as the facts and space will permit. The
question of the amount of currency in
circulation is one that necessarily in
wolves a resort to certain estimates,
which should be fairly and carefully
considered. 1t has recently, however,
become a prime factor in n. tisan poll
tics and financial duplicity, which sub
jects it to all the misleading statements
and false assumptions that usually ac-
company discussion of financial propo-
sitions under such conditions. The
ordinary reader is many times led to
mistake high-sounding phrases and un-
common words for good argument, and
as o result become settled in an opinion
without being able to give the shadow Of
an intelligent reason therefor. Another
mistake is frequently made in always
considering the deductions drawn by
Government officials from Government
statistics as absolutely correct, because
the exact reverse has been proven in
many instances. If the farmer would
apply the same kind of logic when con-
siderins the volume of currency that he
does TO his corn crib or pork barrel, ap-
proximately correct conclusions would
be easily obtained. If it were desirable
TO know how much had been fed to the
sdoch or consumed by the family, it
would be hardly fair to ascertain what
remained in the crib or barrel, and as.
sumo that the difference had been used
by the stock or family, especially when
more or less had been loaned or sold to
others. Just so with the Government;
it manufactures under fat of law GER
tain amounts of money, and when asked
to give that portion which is circulating
among the people il subtracts tho
amount on hand from the quantity
manufactured and declares the differ
ence to be in circulation. The plain
fact is either overlooked or ignored that
certain stringent laws are on the statute
books which specifically demand that
certain other portions of this currency
Snail De IocKeu up ana neId as reserves,
and consequently not in any sense in
circulation; that other portions have
been lost, destroyed, sent out of the
country or used for other purposes
When proper deductions are made tc
conform to the law, and reasonable al
lowances given for other factors which
conspire to reduce the amount, of cir
culation per capita the following table
with . brief explanation will be found
substantially correct: