The advocate and Topeka tribune., 1892-09-28

10 elmer @nrlnk or Unuuly increase, 6n@G
the hostility ofSoCiety should be aroused.
Let labor and capital be put ON equal
terms, 90 that Idle capital will be as un-
fruitful as Idle labor, and the conflict be-
tween them will cease 70 be destructive.
An unjust money system produces an
unnatural relation between labor, capital
and money, and the resulting evils cannot
be remedied by special legislation on
particular cases, nor by general legls.
latlon Abridglng the natural rights Of
either. Such legislation would be futile
and lmpeEtinent, destructive Of that free
dom OF Individual action so essential to
progress, and subverslve of the true In
terests Of all classes of society, and would
powerfully tend to the overthrow Of free
institutions. The equitable adjustment
of the CoFrelative demands Of capital and
labor cannot be made through violence,
and is utterly impossible through any
legal or other Contrlvance, under any
system that permits contraction or undue
expansion Of that great instrument which
measures alike the property OF the cspi-
tallst and the labor Of the workman. Il
10 only through the action and counter
action Of the antagonlStic forces Of capt.
tai and labor, automatically operating
under just money system, that equity
and harmony can be evolved.
The very same reasons which make
capitalists refuse to exchange money,
whose command over property is inCresS.
Ing, for property, whose command over
money Is decreasing, also make them re-
fuse to exchange it for labor for the pro-
duction Of property. In a commercial
sense, industrial enterprises are never
undertaken nor carried ON except with
the hope and expectation Of gain. This
expectation, unless under exceptional
conditions, falling markets destroy.
While capitalists, for these reasons, can.
not afford to invest money In productive
enterprises, still less can anybody afford
to borrow money for such investments at
any rate Of interest, however low, and
but little money is being now borrowed,
except for purely speculative ventures,
or to supply personal and family wants or
to renew old obligations. Money with
drawn from circulation and boarded In
consequence of falling prices, although
neither paying wages, nor serving to ex-
change the fruits Of industry, nor per-
forming any Of the true functions Of
money, Is nevertheless not unproductive.
It may not be earning interest, but it Is
enrlchlng lts owner through an increase
Of its own value, and that, too, without
risk, and at the expense Of society. II
this were not the case, and If money
were, while idle, losing little In value
instead Of gaining, or II 1t simply held
It's own, it would be constantly dimin-
lshed TO the extent Of the necessary
of it's owners who, under
such conditions would be impelled by
every instinct Of thrift to seek for reve-
nue. through lts employment in produc-
tive enterprises. The peculiar effect Of
q contraction in the volume Of money lS
to give profit TO the owners of unem-
ployed money, through the appreciation
Of Its purchasing power, by the mere
lapse Of time. It is falling prices that
robs labor OF employment and precipi-
tateS conflict between It and money
capital, and It lS the appreclating effect
which q shrinkAge In the volume of