The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1892-11-11

The business of wealth production
and must haye money or their bust.
ness is speedily ruined, hence they
are either compelled to part with a
portion of their accumulated prop.
erty at the option price of the pur.
chaser or place mortgage on the
whole, and the latter course is the
one generally chosen. These mort.
cages are not influenced by the law
of supply and demand as propertyis,
but are an option held on property
which they cover with a provision
written in the bond known as inter.
est which claims share of the wealth
produced in future by the unfortu.
nate person who has been forced to
make the mortgage or debt to escape
impending and sudden ruin. Tracing
the chain of circumstances back we
find that the money trust is the
architect of all mortgage debt by
making money artifcially scarce and
dear by holding it out of use for q
time, and the smaller the amount of
money In circulation the more easily
this is accomplished. By this ingen
ious system of manipulation the
smaller the quantity of money in
circulation the greater the amount Of
mortgages or debt can be placed on
the property of the wealth producers.
This debt or taxing power over
property is not confined to what is
Familiarity known as mortgages, but
extends itself under various names
known in trade as stock, bonds.
promissory notes. etc. When any
large enterprise is contemplated.
such as developing mines, building
manufacturing establishments, open.
ing railroad. etc, the first step is to
secure money to accomplish the work
and then the money trusts opportu.
nifty is presented. The earnings Of
the work when completed is estimat.
ed and the bonds, mortgages, or stock
is rated accordingly. The prospec
tive future property which LABOR is to
create or develop is placed under
debt before birth. in order to get
money to assist its borning.
But it is important to know how
these immense sums OF money are
created that all of this colossal debt
represents. That resting on the
steam railways of the country is
placed at ten thousand millions of
dollars, that on the telegraph one hun
dred millions that on the govern
ment of the United States was at one
time nearly three thousand million
Besides these there is more or less
debt resting on every state and city
in the country, and on every private
establishment which is of any con.
siderable proportions, and as we
explore on down through every
avenue of business to the country
home and village shop we discover
the trail of the serpent is over them
ALL The coil of nine million mort.
cages rests on the farms OF the nation,
strangling agriculture, while the land
ownership among farmers is grad
ually dying and the serpent is swal.
lowing the farms.
Now comes the great enigma to be
answered. How was it possible to
create all this debt out OF the pit
lance Of money the Secretary of the
Treasury claims to be in circulation.
or in the country, some fifteen hun
dred million dollars. which reliable
private stat:sticians prove to be much
in excess of the amount really in cir.
culation? The answer will be found
in the use of government credit
which has been transferred to favored
corporations by laws of congress that
commit unparalleled outrage on the
people whose interest the congress
was created to guard. This credit is
loaned and reloaned and funded into
debt bearing obligations which rest
upon every piece of valuable prop
erty in the country which is a medium
for the production of wealth.
The operation of interest through
these bonds, debts, stock. etc., is a
taxing power held by the debt owners
that draws part Of the earnings
from every hand employed in the
creation of wealth or property
throughout this nation and the civ.
ilized world. When this condition
is analized it is seen to be rank
injustice to every human being en-
ployed in honest labor. To remedy
this crying evil. to cure this rank
injustice is the momentous problem
now confronting, not the masses of
this country only but the wealth
producers of the whole world. This
problem can be solved. 1t is not so
difficult as it seems, though an abuse
hoary with age. The people of this
country have the power in their
hands to abolish this abuse, and the
people of no other nation has. Their
government must not only be made
the sole issuer of the money of the
nation but become its custodian and
distributor. The peoples govern
ment must become the peoples
banker and thus free them from the
incubus or interest or usury. Debt
will then no longer be the nightmare
of labor and money be the cheapest
article that industry is compelled to
buy. Want, famine, and crime
would begin to disappear from