The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1894-02-28
FOR ELEMENTARY POLITICIANS

The effort is made in this article to
adopt style neither too difficult for
populist to understand nor yet too SIM
pie for the more advanced democrat. In
the first place the beginner must under
stand that the government does not sup
port the people, but that the people sup
port the government. The article will
further explain what money is made OF,
who makes it., who owns 1t, etc., etc.
The lesson is suitable for all populists
and the less advanced democrats.
Silver is a product, and an article in
the market-worth just its market value
and no more-the same as wheat or beef
or potatoes, and in no way different,
viewed from a commercial standpoint.
Those who want unlimited free coinage
of silver, and who do not own silver
mine, are not well informed as to what
they need. In the first place they ask
to have 72 cents worth of silver made
into legal tender dollar, and in the Sec
ond place they want it made for nothing;
4. e., they want the government to con-
tribute to them the seigniorage, which
means the toll for making. This is the
same as if man would carry a bushel
of wheat to mill and say to the miller,
ssThis bushel of wheat is mine; raised
it and harvested it and threshed it, and
brought it to mill; this wheat is worth
70 cents; 1 want you to grind and bolt it
into flour worth 81 and please don't take
any toll out of it, This miller would
be apt to say, "Mr. Populist, why do
you ask this? Do you think that it cost
me no time or money to build this mill 2''
4sPerhaps it did, but that is not the
question; am in favor of free millage.
/ want my wheat ground, and 1 want all
the -four that it makes. Down with the
baron miller and up with the laborer,'
is my motto"
Yes, silver is a product; it is also a
precious metal and can be coined into
money. 1t has been called the dollar OF
our daddies, and we are still in favor OF
it being. daddy's dollar, and mammy's
dollar, and the chIldren's dollar; but we
want it to be worth a hundred cents
whosoever's dollar it is. We want to
make ten silver dollars worth as much
as golden eagle, and make any number
of them legal tender. We want money
in the hands of washerwoman to be
worth as much as it is in the hands of a
Rockefeller. We want the laborer that
tolls ten hours for dollar and goes home
and throws it into his wife's lap to have
1t ring, ''I am peer to any dollar that is
on this earth, and worth hundred
cents, and cannot be demonetiZed. We
want dollar that can walk up ano
down Wall street without being afraid
to meet another dollar. In other words
we want parity of value between the
gold dollar and the silver dollar.
The populist and first reader democrat
thinks that the government makes mon
ey. This Is an error. The government
cannot make money any more than {
grist mill can make wheat. Then how
does the government get its money? L
gets it from duties. specific and ad valor
em ,on imports (see Rays arithmetic, par
third) and from internal revenue take
and from toll for coming money, it alst
derives money from the postofices anc
from the disposal of public lands, bu
the government cannot create money.
What is greenback if it is not money
A greenback is a note payable on de
mand. 1t has no intrinsic value. 1t
s. kind of a sfght draft and is calle
paper money by some, but it is NO
money. There is no money bu
metallic money, and that metalli
money belongs t. the person who own
the metal that it is made of, not neces
sarily the man who dug it out of th
ground; it may have been sold to othe
parties.
One of the grievances complained {