The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-08-19

TuEEsnIss OLD STRAW.


be studied to convince any intelligent
reader that not only the silver boomers
but the fat money Missionaries and social
lists of the Popnist party are all busy
fhreshing very old straw. The socialism
Of the Populist party. with its class hatred
Of farmer and workingman for capital and
wealth, Is made the subject of trenchant
satire by Shakespeare in his description OF
the demagogue leaders Of the Roman pop
ulacc that mobbed Coriolanus and drove
him from Rome. In Henry Sixth" Jack
Cade sends Lord Say TO death because, as
he tells his stupid following, Thou hast
corrupted the youth of the realm by erect
ing paper mill" The race OF demagogues
has always been with us. and they talk
the same kind OF folly that they did in
shakspeare's day. There were populists
ad mausenm 300 years ago who thought 1t
the divine right OF kings and parliaments
10 declare dime to be worth dollar, for
We read Ia the twenty-second chapter OF
Macanlay's history that oA October 20,
1880, parliament met-met in the midst
OF the worst commercial ana financial
crisis England had ever known. ct was
generally expected that strong effort
would be made To carry law enacting
that ninepence should be shilling. Most
of the miiled pieces we're therefore
boarded" Before the house rose that day
o resolution was passed without divisionD
shat the standard of money should not
be altered in fineness. weight or denomi-
nation" From the moment at which the
commons notified their fixed determine
ton not 10 raise the denomination of the
coin tho miIIed money began TO come forth
from thousand strong Loxes and private
drawers. There was still pressure. but
that pressure was less and less felt day by
day. The nation. though still suffering.
was joyful and grateful.
There were not wanting as far back as
1852 keen thinkers who exposed the falla-
ciss of the financial harlequins of that day.
William Petty, brilliant writer, pub
iished book concerning money, dedi-
Gated to the Marquis Of Halifax. In which
he discusses the fantastic ideas of those
who think 10 solve the economical and e.
nancial troubles of n nation by creating
worthless (fiat) money" The following
sentence out of this book viii be sufficient
to completely riddle the logic of the peri
patetic populist orator and pamphleteer.
Petty says:
eff the wealth of q nation could be
Occupied Increased tenfoldl by procia-
nation, IL were strange that such procia-
nation had not long since been made by
our governors"
There was no lack In the reign of Charles
IL. of England Of persons who claimed
that there was not money enough in the
country. and that the want of money was
the cause ofhard time. The Poputis,. who
howls concerning gold bugs" and charges
them with adopting English financial Gus
toms, does not seem 10 be aware that ia
the agitation of his philosophy OF finance
he is threshing old straw, which was
musty as long ago as the middle
of the seventeenth century. The
ablest English thinkers of that day
whipped ali the dust out OF 10 $50
wears ago and proved IL did not
contain a single kernel of wheat and ID
was tossed out OF doors and trampled
under foot by men of brains. sanity. can
dor and intelligence. This rotten old
English ssubele is now being threshcd
anew in the United states by clump of
dernagogaes and palmed of upon the dear
debtor. farmer and planter as bright,
fresh. new American wheat. sown. grown.
a l..
an original and admirable native product,
a. indispensable 10 our existence aud as
nutritious a. the bread fruit tree IS to the
ISLANDERS of the rolyEesian archipelago
An Enslish merchant, Sir Dudley North.
more than m years ago. psncguFed the
Populist fallacles with very sharp aud an.
erging pen. Among other things. he says
In his "niseourses GA Trade"
"Menev Being the common measure II
buying and selling. every body who has
anything tn sell aud cannot procure hav.
sTs tor IL Is presently aps ~ tAtnk that
want Of money ~ the Kingdom or country
istne cause Why bis goods do not 80 oil,
and 81, want ot money Is the common cry
which is great mistake.
''What DO these people want who cry
out for money! The farna1,
complains. be thinks thst were more
nsosvy IA the country nc should have a
price for hts goods. Then Il
seems money j. not his want, hut price
tor his corn aud cattle which he on d
sell and eaaneE "s WAY cannot ID
sei price, l. EitheT there Is too much
corn and cattle IN the coantrv. So thRi
snost who come 80 market have aeed vi
settling, As he has and few % buylns. or
On. there n ants the usual vent aoFoa3 foi
transportation. az tsA the consumption
fAlIs As when men. ~ reason of poveryv
do not spsnd s0 maca ia their homes y,
formerly tAey did, wherefore IL Is rot sht
increase II speclne money which wcait a
81 advance shs farmers gao<is, bat tue re
rsov al st sny Of thess tAF~e causes a pics
do truly keer aoNa thu market
"Ehe sa0pseepar and merchant wsn
money an Ihe satae manner. that Is. thcy
waat seat Ter tue g2ois they aeaA Ira
b. reason that tae markets faA
for q nation never ghgtVes better than sheg
riches arc sossea iSesn band 10 hand.
Thss cid EasitsA merchant has in a,
above extract uttered aoFs financial ans
commercial wisdom that l. applicable 9,
tue pr~seas. situation. its cause and a
eaFe. than ever fo9na rSsidsacs In AZ,
,essning esaaa Of Jerry SlErsOa. the shs