The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-07-11

81, S., $40, $20 $50, 800 to 81 900 each and have
these bonds secured by first mortgages on
sou. 10000 acres of government land, and
make them receivable everywhere in the
United States for debt, both public and pri
Vate, and print on the face of them that
they can be paid by combination of the
following commodities each in its proportion
or the equivalent thereof.
The price of each commodity here given
is the average price for the last 20 years:
Gold bullion per ounce................ $50. 20
Silver bullion. per ounce. ............... LOS
Wheat per bushel. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. Lon
Cotton, per bale. OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 10. SO
Corn, per bushel. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. .43
Wool, per pound. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 49,.
Sugar, raw. per pound. ............k.. OF
Tobacco, per pound. Observation-Disclosures. $50
Beef, No. 1 stall fed. 49,.
Bacon, per pound ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 90
Now let the government force these bonds
into circulation as follows:
First, by using them to pay off all pen
sion claims.
Second, to pay off all it's employees from
the highest to the lowest and to iquidate
all of its obligations incurred at home.
Third, by lOaning them to state. county,
city and municipal corporations and to any
one on real estate security but in an
amount not greater than One-third of the
assessed value of the real estate (all real
estate to be assessed at it's cash price,.
To defray the expenses connected with
these loans compel all applicants to pay 4
per cent year interest The 1 per cent
difference between and a will be amply
sufficient for that purpose.
1t will be seen by an analysis of this
plan that the government really is not out
anything for the interest it Is obliged to
pay upon these bonds furnished to borrow
erS because the borrower is bound to pay
the interest by the terms Of his mortgage.
By allowing these bonds to be paid in the
10 commodities named, One-tenth of each
kind or its equivalent, it will be utterly i'm
possible for any syndicate Of capitalists to
get up corner on all at the same time and
thus force a fictitious price on the things
in which the bonds are obliged to be paid.
For instance, if these bonds were payable
wholly in gold or it's equivalent we can
readily see that by combination of such
| men as Rothchild, Could Vanderbilt, Rock
erfellef and other millionaires that all of
the gold in the world could be bought and
stored in some out of the way place and
when the bonds became due the gold, of
| course could not be produced by either the
government or the makers OF the mort
cages. consequently the syndicate would be
| in a position to dictate such prices as 1t
| choose and thus compel the makers of the
bonds to pay the equivalent, which, Of
course would not be just or equitable, be-
cause this temporary increase of the pur-
chasing power of gold would in reality be
| depressing the price OF every OlHeI COIllIO-
| dity below it's proper level.
| 1t is not advisable to indorse any finan-
| cial policy that will place the great mass
| of people wholly in the power Of a few
men.
Another thing in favor Of this scheme
| is that probably inside of five years the
! whole $500, 10000 will have been loaned
| out, and when this is done the security
which the government first puts up, viz.
| One acre of land for each dollar. can be
released
The bonds Qn reality secured paper
money! will then take care of themselves
by revolving continually from one creditor
| to another as they are given in exchange
for commodities or debt, and need never
| be destroyed except as they may become
defaced or worn out. in which event new
ones can be given in place of them the
same as we do with mutilated currency.
1t needs argument to convince the
most casual observer that this bond issue
will be of necessity a number one elastic
currency in that so far as possible men
when they do not actually need the bonds
i. e., money-in their business, will return
them to the government in order to stop
the payment of interest on mortgage secur-
ity, and when their business requires a
greater amount of money they will deposit
their security and get the bonds, and in
| order to get them will be only too glad to
| pay per cent annual interest. We have
| suggested 20 years time and per cent
| interest for these bonds with the idea in
mind that perhaps by the time they become
due experience will have demonstrated that
even a less ratio of interest will answer
| the purpose quite as WELL But at the pres
ent time bonds could not be foated which
bore less than per cent interest. The
great bulk of the issue should of course be
in smallest denominations for convenience
of circulation and to accommodate people
of limited means who might want them to
cent interest. These bonds or bills as you
choose to call them should all be numbered
and the party holding any number on Jan.
would be entitled to draw the interest.
If a. for instance, owed the government
81, OOO secured by mortgage on his farm,
should sell wheat in December and get
$1,000, he could keep 1t until after Jan. l.
and by drawing the per cent would in
reality be getting his loan for l per cent
year. If 3D. who was similarly situated,
preferred to 'hold his wheat until next
June in hopes of getting better price, he
of course would be out the whole per cent.
Each would act according to his best judg-
ment. These bonds would be preferable to
gold silver because of this interest-bear-
ing quality. Misers would exchange their
metals for them. Banks would be depleted
between Christmas and January of all of
them except what they actually owned Be
ing numbered no bonds could be totally lost
because by proving that a certain number
case of theft they could be easily traced.
In short, the scheme bears the test in every
particular.
This bond scheme differs from the green
back theory in that the greenbackers advo-
cate issuing money simply on credit of the
nation without in reality having any spe-
cific security back of it. While in this
bond scheme as outlined, every dollar of
the bonds are either secured by one acre
of land from the government else by
land of three times the value furnished by
farmers and others.
In the latter case the government is in
reality acting as agent and guarantor of
the mortgages furnished it for security
and as such agent will see to 1t that both
interest and principle paid promptly
and in default will proceed to collect by
foreclosure proceedings the same as any
private corporation would have to do.
These bonds might be printed in the
same size and style greenback bills and
should be wholly exempt from taxation.
1t is to be expected that bankers and
money loaners generally will denounce this
scheme in unmeasured terms for the simple
reason that this measure, if once success
fully put in operation, will head off and
prevent all usurious practices now carried
on by money sharks.
The great objection to the greenback doc
trine has always been that while one
questions their safety, if the issue
kept within reasonable bounds, but the
danger has always been that unprincipled
affairs and eventually flood the country
the printing presses would turn it out
will Omit hot tha