The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1891-09-23

lars year. There is to be a Govern
ment officer in charge of each ware
| house, whose business 1t shall be to-
classify the products stored III the ware
house and set value upon them. and
to issue to the owner of such products
| 80 per cent of their value in Govern
ment certificates, which shall pass as
money. The object of this is to enable
the owner to hold his products for a
rise in the market. When he gets ready
to redeem his cotton, or whatever pro-.
duct he may have stored in the ware
house, he can do so by repaying the
agent the 80 per cent advanced upon it
and proper sum for storage, insurance,
| etc. II the produc. be not redeemed by
the end OF the year the Government is
to sell it and pay itself the so per cent,
returning the overplus. if any there
be-" to the owner. Whatever money
the Government issues for the sub
treasury storage goes back to the Gov.
eminent by the end of the year and is
all destroyed; and the next year the
same process is repeated.
1t is readily seen that this plan gives
flexible currency" and that is regard.
ed by It's advocates as its. highest recon-
mendation. Whether flexible curren-
cy Is desirable is matter about which
people differ; but l cannot enter on the
discussion here.
In the case Of land, the plan provides
that the interest and a portion of the
loan shall be paid back to the Govern
ment every year until the whole is paid
the object aimed at being long credit
and low rate of interest.
Suppose this plan should benefit any
body, who would it be? Not the man
who owns no land; tor if has no
land he has no products, and
therefore can offer no security.
The security must be giltredged.
Anyone can see that it would not do to-
take risks along this line, or the whole
Government would 60 to financial:
smash IN short time.
Whatever favors or special privileges
the Government gives to one it IS
obliged to take or withhold from an
other. If father has six Sous and six
thousand dollars and gives four thous-
and to one and two thousand to another,
there is nothing for the other four. So
that the very people that most need
help do not get 1t, while those who are
able to help themselves are helped by
the Government at their expense. 1t iss
not the landowners that need help, but
the men without land-and they form a.
very large percentage OF the population
and a large majority Of the producers.
The cry is, the rich are growing richer
and the poor poorer. That is fact.
and it is nowhere more strikingly ex-s
emplifed than in the ownership Of land
The census shows that the proportion
Of landowners is steadily decreasing.
Suppose, however, the "plan were:
put IN operation, there must be some
limit to the loans. To food the country
with paper money would be to depreci-S
ate its value and run up the price of
everything. The advocates of the plan
say the limit should be $50 per capita
They say the per capita circulation now
is only IS There would, therefore, be a.
sudden expansion of the currency ten
told and a like increase in prices OF
every article the people have to buy.
which might not make much difference
if ifeverybody owned land and nonperish
able products, but would prove ruinous
to Wage-earners and others having
neither. And no timeis given to pre-
pare for this great flood Of money
The Alliance platform of demands"
adopted at Ocala, says: "We demand
that the amount Of circulating medium
be speedily increased to not less than
$50 per capita" ltwould take S10then
to buy what 81 buy now. and thouss
and dollar note could be paid off with
money worth only hundred dollars.
Herein is the popularity of the "plan.
Itappeals TO the debtor class, to which
most of US belong. Were we OPT Of
debt the amount Of circulation per cap
ita would be OF small consequence, be-
cause the more abundant money is the
higher prices are, and vice versa. q
Fifty dollars per capita would amount
to $4,000, 100000. Two per cent is very,
very cheap for money. Everybody
would want all he could get at that rate.
Three billions would not last long. The
land in New York State alone is worth
more than So, ,0O0,OO0,0B and the annual
products of the State are enormous IN
in quantity and value. There certainly
wouldnot be near enough to 60 around.
The scheme is impractiole. / lbeleyeS
it would involve the Government and
the people in financial panic andsS!sas-e
ter and bring upon as evils that the
present evils could not be compared to-
If there is more money needed for the
purposes of trade and business, and
believe there is, there are other and
safer means of getting it into circula-
tion. Two hundred million dollars
could be paid in Government bills to-
Government employees and pensioners
every year, until the volume Of curren
cy was sufficient, the credit of the Gov
eminent being pledged to the redemp
tion OF the bills. a gradual expansion
of that sort would hardly depreciatea
the currency, and would rot be SO hard y
on the debtor class and on wage earners
as would the rapid expansion coltem
plated in the sub-treasury plan.
But, after all is said, the remedy
must come from the people themselves
more than from the Government. Ire;
land is productive and her people indus
trious, but they are not prosperous, be-;
cause the great bulk of the money made Z
in Ireland is spent by alien landlords
in London and on the Continent.
The South suffers alike misfortune.
though in milder form. a large pro-
portion of the money madein the South
goes to pay Northern pensioners, North 8
ern manufacturers and Northern bond
holders. This cannot be helped now.
But another large proportion goes to-
pay for Western mules, Western bacon
and Western corn. That can be helped. q
IT the farmers will raise these things
and make cotton their surplus crop
they will yet be prosperous and happy,
the national burdens
they are compelled to bear. To COM
in some measure for those bur ;
dens we have the best soil and the best
climate in the world. and with united
people there is every reason to hope for
a brighter day in the near future.
w. II. WALLACE
NeWherry = c.