The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-10-17
THE FIRST POPULIST.
Interesting Extracts From the WORKS
of John Ruskin.

| To the Editor.
| OF the rise and progress of the People S
| party history will some time be written,
| and it will be interesting to know when
| and by whom the basic principles of the
| party originated. It's moving force is great
| er than the wish to enact into laws IT'S
| platform planks. This is but the outward
| symbol, while deeper in the mighty heart
| of the nation is moving current OF gen
erous sympathy ana a broader humanity.
| Even among those whose conservative
| spirit restraints them from the open es-
| posal of the new party, we hear acknowl-
| Judgments that our demands are just. In
the most corrupt times past there have
been noble spirits who recognized the
wrongs of their age and have sought
| means to correct them. Among these ma
lures noblemen none deserves greater hon.
age from the oppressed than that most
analytical mind of all Europe John Rus
kin. Though of aristocratic birth, his Ia
bors for the cause of humanity are incal-
cuable for while he is generally only
known as great art critic he wrote ana
lectured upon nearly every subject Of hui
man activity, and his writings in the line
of the new revolution earn for him nigh
place in our esteem. These writings show
him to be one of the first, If not the first
Populst.
In his work on political economy entitled
"Munera Pulveris," Oh. 3, So, he defines
money thus: "The currency of country
consists of every document acknowledging
debt which is transferable in the country
It's credit depends ultimately always on
the existence of substantial means of
meeting it's demands" In showing why
gold should not be the only basis of cur
rency he says, Sec "A: Its intrinsic value
is great but its imaginary value greater
so that, partly through Incidence, partly
through necessity and want of organiza-
ton, most nations have agreed to take
gold as the only basis of their currency.
Nevertheless the right of debt ought not
to rest upon a basis of imagination; nor
should the form of national currency vi
brate with every miser's panic ana every
merchants mpudence."
There are two methods of avoiding this
insecurity which would have been fallen
upon long ago, if, instead of calculating
the conditions of the supply of gold, men
had only considered how the world might
live and manage it's affairs without gold
at all One is to base the currency on sub
| stances of truer intrinsic value; the other,
| to base it on several substances instead of
| one. If 1 can claim only gold the discov-
| ery of a golden mountain shrves me; but
| if 7 can claim bread the discovery of a
| continent of cornfields need not trouble
| me- Thus, ultimately, the steadiness OF
| currency depends upon the breadth of its
| base Gold and silver may be retained in
| limited use as luxury of coinage" Then,
| in foot note, he says: Perhaps BOTH
| probably silver only, leaving gold free for
| use in the arts" See also his letter in
| arrows of the Chase" Oct 8, 1868. on the
| "Depreciation of God,' upon the then
manic owing to the fall in gold, excited
by the discoveries in California and Aus
tralia.
In a letter Aug. 6, 1868, on 'The Owner
shin of Railways" he says: The ingen-
ious British public seems to be discovering
to its cost that the beautiful law of supply
and demand does not apply in pleasant
manner TO railroad transit. Will you allow
me to nut the real rights of the matter
before them in a few words? Neither the
roads nor the railroads of any nation
should belong to any private persons All
means of public transit should be provided
at public expense and the public should
be It's own shareholder They should not
pay dividends to anybody. They should
pay their working expenses and no more.
All dividends are simply a tax on the trav-
eer and the goods, levied for the right of
passing property. This right should
! be purchased by the nation, and the orig
inal cost at once betrayed by the nation,
! and then the whole work done by salaricd
officers, as the carriage of letters is done