The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1891-07-17

low such precedents and give the public
money to individuals or to classes. The
argument for gift is equally as strong
from a constitutional standpoint as 1t is
for a loan, for If the decision of the
majority that the general welfare"
demands it would make it constitu-
tional to loan money, the decision Of
the majority that "the general welfare"
demands it would make 1t Unconstitutional
to give IL. 1t requires no argument
to show where that would lead us.
Following in thesame line, the decision
of the majority that 1.-THE general well
fare' demands it, would make it con.
stitutional for the government to en-
gage in farming, manufacturing, min
ing, merchandising, running hotels,
keeping livery stables, or any other
branch of private business now CON
Quoted by private persons. Such
policy would soon make the sovereign
citizen
4 GOVERNMENT SLAVE.
If this is sound public policy it would
seem that the government might act the
paternal part better by dispensing With
the idea of exacting security Of its
children, and give money 10 them ac-
cording to their necessities, commenc-
ing with the most needy, and continu-
ing its benefactions until eve?y ono
would have his needs supplied. One
trouble about all this is that TO give
paper money any value when issued it
must be redeemable, and to redeem it
the government would have 10 turn
around and tax the people as much
money as it had issued paper. 1t GER
tainly would not be profitable to pay
tax collectors to collect money from the
people, and then pay other officers TO
give it back to them, much less to loan
It to them and charge them interest on
ltd If somebody else paid the taxes 1t
might be different, but the, very people
who need the money most are the same
people who pay the taxes, and whoAbear
the burdens Of the government. Even
II the government were TO engage in
issuing money to loan, would 1t be right
to give one man the privilege OF bor-
rowing on his property as security, and
to deny that privilege TO his ne.ghbor,
who has property of different kind,
which affords equally good security.
That sort of unfair discrimination would
not be tolerated To make it conform to
the principle of equal rights to all and
special privileges to none," the govern.
ment must loHn to all who offer equally
good security or 1t must not loan to any
body. presume II the government,
should embark in the business of loan
ing money that everybody would want
to borrow, especially If it would be pro-
ftabte to the borrower. How much
money would be loaned on crops The
value Of the crops mentioned would APP
proximate two billions of dollars. The
assessed value Of lands was in tho
neighborhood of eleven billions In 1880,
and Is much creator now. Suppose one
half the crops should be stored, and one
billion dollars be issued on them, and
that money should be loaned on land at
one-half its assessed value to the full
amount, that would give us over six bill
lions of greenbacks in addition to the
billion and half of money we now
have. The per capita circulation, which
y is now little over S24, would be in
! creased TO something like SIG While
4 am a sincere advocate Of more money
don't think we could stand anything
like that.
! TIE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC
r has recently tried to float a currency
: based on land, and it resulted most dis
y astrously. 1t was like a marriage aid
association-it worked beautifully az
long as the period of imitation lasted,
but when the climax was reached itcol-
. lapsed, and the whole financial world
e was shaken to its foundation Some of
y the strongest financial institutions in
Europe and in this country went down
= in the crash, and the Bank of England
= was only saved by the Intervention OF
% France. 1t came worry near causing q
4 | pdulO III JuO HlbSlO DbdJOos anu IL pOO
- rotary Window had not opened the doors
of the treasury and poured two hundred
millions of dollars into Wall Street we
n would have had the most disastrous
:, panic this country ever experienced
u While we escaped panic It caused
/" many financial disasters in this country
. and we are still suffering from thu
u effects of it. France tried land LOAF
- currency once in her history with dis
III astrous results. Tennessee tried the
v experiment of establishing bank tt
80 issue money to loan on lands, in a tina
of great financial distress, and it was {
% failure.
~ We want larger volume Of currency
% but we DO not want deprecated cur
y rency. The inevitable effect of putting