The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-09-12

compared with commodities is considered,
and that no regard whatever is paid TO
the value of the material which represents
money apart from its monetary function
and that the prices of commodities and
other forms of property are controlled by
the mass of money in circulation, and not
by the money unit or the character OF the
substance in which that unit is embodied.
The secretary says: The people are en-
titled to have just as much money as may
be necessary to carry on their business
regularly and profitably.' That IS, the
quality of money Of ultimate payment upon
which all credits rest shall be reduced 10
that which can be made from gold alone,
so as to make it as valuable or of as large
a purchasing power as the money OF any
other nation. and a consequent continuous
fall of prices, in order that productive IN
dustries may be carried on regularly and
proitably AS Senator Jones puts it: we
are to have dear scarce money and plenty
of it,
A more homogeneous sentence cannot be
found in the English language than the one
from the speech of the secretary, above
quoted The first clause of it necessarily
defeats the attainment of the object COM
mended in the last clause.
The policy of the secretary is to furnish
importers with gold to pay for the goods
they bring to this country. and obtain the
gold by issuing bonds in the name of the
people. and thereby greatly increase their
Indebtedness, which is constantly growing
in weight and oppression.
This is the only way gold can be obtained,
for but a very small fraction of the imposts
or duties upon imports will be paid in gold.
The gold cannot be retained, for the laws
of trade will carry it out fast as it flows
into the treasury. leaving behind a con-
stantly accommodating Indebtedness rising
with a rapdity that reminds us of the war
period.
Such policy will drive the richest coun-
try in the world into bankruptcy. bank
in good credit could not live week after
it should be publicly known that it was
pursuing it. Labor is the fund that fur
nishes the money to be paid. There is no
other souce of supply; and there is limit
to the ability of the people to pay money.
Those who acquire great wealth by hand
ling in the market the produce of the farm
ers and those who furnish them with the
necessaries and conveniences of life, who,
the poor men of yesterday. are the rich
men of today, may not think so but they
are relatively a small class of the COM
munity.
The great body of the people are obliged
to work to live and to keep their families
alive Many of them alternating be-
tween toll and sickness and work without
enjoying for the benefit of those who enjoy
without working Their welfare should be
consulted.
Those who indulge in the enchanting
visions of the nations credit are, fer the
most part, those who live upon and acquire
great wealth in using this credit and oyt
those who furnish it. Money is not an end,
but the means TO an end, and the most
economical money is the best money. prs
vided it best answers the purposes of
money. Common prudence admonishes
not to obtain money by purchasing it with
out credit. but to make it from the ms
terial we already have in store, and which
otherwise will be of no value whatever.
Chicago. HENRY G. MILLER.