The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1894-08-16

duction in this country will bear mo out
in this sta ement Let US try to be truth
full about shese matters. a..
h, It Is the threatened free trade legislaticu
of the Democratic party which has par
alyzed business, thrown people out OF en-
ployment and cut down the wages OF
laboring men here in the United States
The fact cannot be gainsaid by calling
any one else hard names. Epithets prove
nothing. r-ss
r. More Money Now Than Ever.
I quote again from the article in The
Representative:
| Mr.. Horr said:
"They tell us that it is overproduction
when the fact is that it is lack of con
sumption, because there is nothing to buy
with" al. t!.t.} ss'ts s.
What do you buy with Money. Who
reduced the money of this country by de-
monetizing silver The Republican party.
Again Mr.. Horr said:
'The Republican party plants itself
upon the position that we should make, as
far as possible, everything we need RICH
here at home" -
To which 81 D." inquiries: ss,,,.
Well, why don't you make, your money
| at home? Why should we borrow money
in England, and pay interest on it, when
our experience during the war, with the
| first 80, 900, 900 of greenbacks, shows that
we can make just as good money our
selves, and pay no interest on it? Ms
| The statement which Isactually made
was this, that the working people of the
! United States could not buy articles as
| they had done in the past because their
| wages had been recently cut down or en-
| tirely stopped, and on that account the
| workingmen had nothing with which to
buy. Nowhere did intimate that such a
| state 0f affairs existed because there was
no money in the country with which to
! buy. The statement which did make is
absolutely true. The wages paid each day
| for work all over the United States for
| many years past have been the greatest
distribution of wealth known anywhere on
the face of the earth.
The statement which this writer seems
to believe, and seeks to make me utter, is
not true. The money of this country was
not reduced in amount by the law Of 1873.
The money in circulation per capita in 1873
was S1S.O4 In 1874 it was $1S.13. 1t then
fell a little per capita each year, chiefly in
consequence of the population increasing
100000, up to 1878, when it was Sl5.32
Then the amount began steadily to in
crease, and in 1898 it had reached the sum
OF S23. 50 per capita.
TODAY IT is NEARLY TWENTY
FIVE DOLLARS for each man, woman
and child in the United States.
In the face of this well known fact why
keep asserting that there is such a lack of
currency in this country? What we need
is revival of business, so as to make the
money circulate which has all this time
existed in the United States.
What Money Really Is.
Because stated that we should make as
nearly as possible everything we need
right here at home, this writer asks:
well. why don't you make your money
at home! ?"
That question is founded on the assump
ton that money is a manufactured article
like cotton cloth or wooden blankets. 1t
is nothing OF the kind.
"Why should we borrow money and
pay interest Oh it, when experience shows
that we can make just as good money
ourselves and pay no INTEREST,"" quoth
81. D."
That question could be asked only by a
person who believes in fiat - money.
Experience shows this and nothing
more: That our government can issue
limited amount of notes, payable on de-
mand and keep such notes at par so long
as it redeems them when demanded. EX-
perience also shows that when the amount
is so large that the government fails to re-
deem them on presentation, such notes
fall below par. A government might issue
$50, OOO, 600 of such notes and keep them
good, when it could do nothing of the kind
with 10 times that amount. A man worth
5000 might issue promissory notes of 500
each to the amount of $1,000, and those
notes might all remain good. His we'll
known ability to pay that amount would
give people confidence in his promise. Let
it once be understood, however, that there
are $4,000 of such notes out against him
and those notes will instantly fall below
par. Because a government can issue
limited amount of promises to pay and
keep it good, it by no means follows that
it can do the same thing with an unlimited
amount
This Populist writer doesn't say how
much of such money can be issued by
government and be kept good. assert
that the amount is limited Does he deny
this? If not, why did he not name the
limitation? Or does he believe that the
government can issue money payable in
nothing, redeemable in nothing, and that,
too, without any limitations as to time
and amount and yet that such stuff will
be good money as long as it exists? A
Populist may believe such thing posi-
BILE. LIDO not.
People earn money by all kinds of labor.
Men who mine gold and silver furnish the
| world with substances which have been
used for ages as money. The government
| coins these substances for the purpose of
showing the quantity and quality of each
piece. The people furnish the metal out
of which the coins are made. By the
process of coming the government creates
nothing.
| Money is used to facilitate exchanges.
People make money by producing the ar
ticles out of which money is made or by
producing the articles that can be ex-
changed for money. When man gives
his note for 500 in exchange for a horse
the man is worth no more than he was be-
fore he bought the horse, if 500 is the
fair value of the animal He has the
horse, but he owes it's full value. When