The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1893-06-28

age in the crops, the prices would
rule high, and the reverse; yet such
is by no means always the case.
The fact is that articles Of real val
ue, have in the commercial world
ceased to be the standard of value,
and have therefore lost their standing.
And why? Simply because the idea
that so many cents represent BUSH
Ell of wheat or some other article of
real value, has been lost sight of, and
people now say, have SO many BUSH
els of wheat, which are as good as
gold, and the wheat is sold and turned
into cash, which later on may or may
not buy back an equal quantity of
wheat. Just as the Indians in Dako-
ia in the early days used to sell their
corn in the autumn to the traders
and then buy it back again in the
spring for much higher price.
Or, to condense little more, mon
ey is now recognized as being itself
the standard of value, which was not
it's original purpose, instead of hav-
ing only a representative value.
The effect of all this is, that the
landowners who cultivate the soil,
and who are in reality the only ones
who produce anything of value, in
stead of occupying controlling po-
sition in the commonwealth, have
come to be actually dependent upon
those who control the supply of
money.
This state of affairs is largely the
fault of the producers themselves,
who have become so far Influenced by
the love of money as to sacrifice their
independence for it, and who are now
ready to exchange their crops and
cattle for dollars, the purchasing
power of which changes with every
wave Of speculation that passes over
the country, entirely forgetting that
the man who has well-filled grana-
ries and abundant flocks and herds,
is far more Independent and much
richer than the man who has a lot of
money or good bank account, for
the former has already made prOvis-
ion for his wants. both present and
future, while the latter is dependent
upon money. which from thousand
causes beyond his control may be Ell
Their lost or greatly reduced in it's
purchasing power. And so the bank
ers and money-brokers are actually
recognized as the ones who control
the supply of food and other necessa-
ries of life, which they do not pro-
duce, and they do in fact control
them.
Now let US devote one instant to
considering what would be the result
If the cultivatOrs of the soil and the
stock raisers who are not absolutely
obliged to sell something to pay in
terest on their mortgages, should
all come to the conclusion that their
crops and cattle were worth more to
them in their granaries and barns
than any where else. The effect
would be marvellous. The great army
of stock jobbers and wheat and pork
manipulatOrs would suddenly awaken
to the fact that the producers can get
on without money, but that they, the
spectators and drones, could not long
survive without anything to eat or
wear.
The agriculture of a country is the
foundation of it's prosperity and of
it's very existence, and the founda-
tion on which nation rests can no
more be seriously injured withot dan
ger to the whole structure than can
the foundation of a house.
When in England it became con-
stitutional principle that no taxes
could be levied without the consent of
the house Of commons, any attempt
at oppression on the part of the king
was easily met and defeated by the
refusal of the commons to vote the
taxes necessary for the maintenance
of the government. In just the same
way, every wheat ring and stock job
bling combination in the land could
be brought to it's knees within
year, if the producers of the nation
could be made to realize the fact that
they do not need money in any case,
in which they are not badly in debt,
and just as soon as the producers be-
gin to retain control of what they
have produced, spectators and
brokers will lose their control and
will cease making by their gambling
operations those fictitious profits on
the products of the labor of tillers of
the soil which now enable them to
Cypress the producers, upon whom
they are really dependent for their
power. In other words, as soon as
the producers stop supplying their
OppresSOrs with lashes they will cease
fD 1,O