Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1892-08-31
Remarks Of Hon. VIM. A. PETER, in the
Senate, January 81, 1892.

Sonates Januhfg Il, 1917,
To-day, if a borrower who has mort
gagged land as security for the payment
of a debt fails to pay at the time agreed
upon, the creditor need only ask the
court for judgment. and the machinery
of the law is at once put in motion to
collect the debt. The creditor is saved.
though the debtor be lost If the land
has to be sold to make the payment, it
Is sold under laws and proceedings long,
long ago established. If city, county,
township, school district. or any other
local sub division Of territory is encum-
bered with debt in the form Of bonds,
upon failure to pay according to agree
ment the creditor asks Judgment in
court, and the law takes its course, to
the extent, if need De, of the officers of
the court levying taxes upon and selling
the property of the people within the
particular jurisdiction to pay the debt.
The Government lands behind the
| creditor.
Under the opera on OF this bill the
people of the United States would be
the creditor. The anne court and the
same machinery O law now provided
and in use would operate to collect debts
la case the Government should be the
lender, instead of Individual persons. as
we have it under ! 9sent practice. I'm
der this bill all the people of the coun-
try, in their organized capacity, would
be the creditor, whJ reas at present one
individual, or number of individuals
associated as partnership or corpo-
ration, is the creditor. There is that
difference, and only shat.
Prof. Sumner, in his History of
| American Currency, " refers 10 the land
loan system of Pennsylvania, adopted
| III 1923:
The issue was for e15.OOO, (about S75, 0O0). put
| in the hands of commissioners in each county
according to the taxabis assessment. The com
| mssioners loaned the bills at per cent on
mortgage of land. The loan was for sixteen
years, payable one-teBth annually, and the in
terest was to defray the expenses of govern
ment. Installments r-oaid during the ilrst ten
years of the period were to be loaned out again
only for the remainder of the period.
Benjamin Franklin is the reputed au
thor of the PennsJ .vania paper-money
NJOlCIn. 4lC dQNOCdlCu IL OIl wv us
tInct grounds: One, the necessity of
currency, and the impossibility of keep
ing sufficient supply of gold and sill
yer In the country, and so, as he said
before the committee of the house of
commons, if you can not have what you
would prefer. the expediency of taking
the next best thing; the other, the alb
sOlute advantages of this currency, even
over the precious metals. One of these
advantages was the revenue derived
to the Government from it. In Pow
nails Administration of the Colonies
this subject is referred to III the follow
ing language:
In a country, under such circumstances,
money lent to settlers upon interest creates
money. Paper money thus lent upon interest
viii create gold and silver in principal, while
the interest becomes reserve that pays the
charges of government. This is the true Pac
tolian stream, which converts all into gold that
is W ashed by it. 1t is pom this principle that
the wisdom and Writ of the Assembly of
Pennsylvania established, under the sanction
OF Government, an office for the emission of
paper money by loan.
The Prussian states used paper mon
ely based on real estate security many
years ago quite sati factorlly, and some
of the small German states are now US
ing treasury notes as money.
Early in the eighteenth century Vir-
ginia used tobacco for money. 1t was
stored in warehouses and the receipts
for it passed as currency. Prof. Sum-
ner says, sit was true money"
In Russia, at this time, grain is stor-
ed and the warehouse receipts are used
as money.
Quoting my own language in another
place:
The power vested In congress, and congress
alone, TO supply the nc ople with money carries
with it the duty to dir Il the application of the
power in practice, just as the authority to ere
ate courts carries with it the power to assist
the courts in the peri 0rmance of their duties
Judges are not usually farmers, merchants
manufacturers, or railroad managers, yet il
frequently happens that they must direct the
management of farms of mercantile establish
ments, manufacture )rO eesses, and railroads.
Death. failure in bUSin 5es, default in pay ment
of dues, and neglect or refusal to meet engage
ments make it necessary for courts to appoint
administrators, executors, referees, and re-
ceiVerS with neceSsarf assistants, to settle bus
mess which can not + settled in any other way
Vast interests are l. laged in this way by the
Government through it's officers, the judges
and their appointees and without any friction
or failure. All this lie quite practicable.
Look at the post-ofiiUe department, managed
by the Government through one man. The
POstm aSterGeneral ia recent report describes
the postal service OF tie United States as 1.-THE
largest business concern in the world consist
ing of central establishment with almost co.
coo branches and employing 100000 people,
And there is nothing practicable in the work
ing of this vast machine by the Government
He recommends the division of the country
into twenty-six postal districts according to
population and territory, with an executive Of
ticer at the head to look after the work person
| fhlTN fl1f hi
that. The Secretary OF War, through agents
purchases supplies for the army, including
farm products, grain, -four, hay, horses. manu-
| featured goods, clothing, shoes, and camp and
garrison eQuipage.
The secretary of the navy goes into the mar
ket for great variety OF articles which he pro-
| cures through agent $50 The Secretary of
the Interior superinte Hds schools and Instructs
| Indians in the art of farming, and he has
der his direction an army of agents and clerks,
| all operating under a yStem which works per-
| fectly. The Secretu.y of Agriculture has
| charge of experiment stations in every state;
| he superintends the making of sugar, the rails
| ing of new varieties OF grain and trees, and
| has men out continually looking at the farm
/ and stock interests. The Secretary of
| the Treasury conducts business amounting
TO thousands of millions OF dollars annually.
And all these things are Praetiea9le for the
| requires an army of people-between 1900 and
so, 0O0-and every house in the country is visit
| ed by Government agents. Perfectly practca-
The Comptroller of the Currency, October 80,
| 1889, had charge of 1882 national banks, with
circulation of $l3l, 100000. and doing business
i amounting to bundled times that much in
| the course Of a year. The Comptroilers report
| for 1888 says: THE monetary transactions of
the Government have been conducted through
the Offices of the Treasurer of the United
States, nine assistant treasurers, and 297 ma
tional bank repositories" The treasurer's re-
| port for 1889 shows that of the 3,262 national
/ banks dong business, the Government had
| designated 20 of them az repositories through
! which the Treasury acts in distributing money
direct from the Treasury, and they held public
| moneys amounting 10 S47 ,259 ia. 4 year be-
| fore the amount was sos, is, 5ll.
The proposition that the Government
shall lend money 70 the people on real
estate security is IN no respect like the
method of land hypothecation practiced
in the Argentine Republic, as many
| nprsoRa snnDoSn Mr. Cops0l Ral-ar