Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-06-25
RELENTLESS PLuTocRAcY.
Efforts of the Republicans to Perpetuaf
the National Debt.

The significance OF the deficit OF half
million revealed by the MAY state
ment of the federal treasury is empha-
sized by the circular in which the
secretary announces the approaching
maturity of the four-and-one-half-pe
cent bonds After stating the ed of
September next as the date when these
obligations are due and payable, he
makes the following suggestion of a
default on them for the purpose of
forming q nucleus for a permanent
1ebt:
Suggestions have been made on the part of
The holders OF some of these bonds OF q desire
20 extend the payment thereof At the option of
the United States II the rate Of one one
and one-hah per cent per annum and
the secretary of the treasury viii hereafter
consider whether the acceptance OF such Offers
Of any of them will be profitable TO the gov
eminent and. in that event reserves the right
to accept such bonds from this call
CHARLES FOSTER. Secretary.
1t is unquestionably the desire of
the capitalists who control the repub-
hcan party to find some way of creating
a permanent debt, and this desire was
not lost sight Of in the policy which
was acted on by the billion-dollar con-
gress- In the seeming lack of method
of its extravaganza there was always
the idea that with deficiency instead
of a surplus it would be more easily
possible to perpetuate the high tariff
and the national debt
The perpetuation of the debt will
give capital invested in money-lending
or in trade in money as a commodity
the enormous advantage of system
of controlling circulation in which
there are two distinct features of ad-
u Il
great without the other.
1. The delegation of the sovereign
prerogative of issuing money from the
government to private corporations
2 system of issuing money under
which the basis for the note is reen-
forced with an interest bearing capaci-
ty apart from the interest bearing
power of the note itself.
If gold or silver bullion is deposited
in the treasury, gold or silver notes are
issued on it These bear interest if
loaned The gold or silver bullion on
which they are based does not
But when national bonds are deposit
ted in the treasury as basis for notes,
the bonds bear interest for the hypoth-
ecation as well Is the notes based on
them.
4hlS hdhCS SUCH uOCGS the most
costly form of money ever devised, be-
cause, to use common phrase. it bears
interest lat both ends,'' as the gold
note or the silver note does not To
perpetuate this system. to keep in pri-
vate hands the sovereign prerogatire
of issuing money, and to collect inter
est both Oh the notes themselves and
on the basis for the notes-as it were,
to make the hypothecated bar of gold
bear interest as well as the gold note
issued on it, is surely worth the ven
ture of desperate risks by those who
would benefit by this magnificent priv
iege-the most royal that was ever
accorded to capitalism.
But it is not on this alone that the de-
sire to perpetuate the debt depends.
The millionaire class. already large, is
constantly increasing. What the mil
ionaire who has made his fortune"
breads most is the risks of business.
which for at least six in every ten cases
mean an impartial redistribution of
these immense accommodations What
this millionaire class with its fortune
made desire most is that the govern
ment shall by law save them from the
risks of investment in which either
VI ShOl Inc
laws of trade the odds against them
For without law to prevent natural re-
distri button, these boards cannot be
held As far as our national debt has
been paid, the payment has, in that
proportion, deprived money of its
power of agglutination Money
makes money" but one dollar will not
stick to another until there is million
nf no ar,<1
conglomerate mass unless they are un-
naturally fused together by some proc
ess of law As the debt has been paid
there has been a quickening in the &C
tivity of production and distribution,
and special activity in land, because
next to national securities, land seems
to the money-holder the safest invest
ment. But no judgment is required to
put money in national bonds on which
all the people are bound to pay the
profits, and a great deal of judgment is
required on the next safest investment
Every mistake made in land dealing
helps to redistribute the money of the
mil1ionaires. As the debt has been
progressively paid of ..land specula-
ton" has Increased It is not good
thing in itself. but, compared with the
giving Of national bonds for principal
and interest Of investment, it is a good
thing, because it makes the possibilities
of boarding wealth depend on private
Judgment, which by its failure, redis-
tributes the hoard into the channels OF
productive activity.
A national debt is as great a curse as
the high tariff of which it is the compile
ment What the tariff enables the
privileged to set without earning, the
national bond enables them to keep
without risk. 1t is nothing more nor
less than the agreement of sixty mil
lion people that if you are a million
aire they will give bond and 60 bail
that you shall remain millionaire,
holding unimpaired the principal of
your wealth, and drawing continually
on their labor for interest on form of
investment which earns nothing, pro-
duces nothing; which is a parasitic
growth feeding from and sapping the
strength of production.
No one who loses sight of these facts
can understand the policy of the re-
publican party, which even in its wild
est and most seemingly incoherent
manifestations is policy of consistent
and relentless plutocracy.-St Louis