The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1895-07-20
/ ou9z11Uox QUESTIONS.

$3.50
WIZ sHarvev. Author Of .sCoin, J" in Nee1h |
American Review for July.
swhatt6 you think Of 'ccias fina9. |
cial echool'l"
ut has precipitatsd the study Of e
QUESTION and points the way to II corrset
solution"
.sWhat do you think Of the answers g
Il, and Of it, criticsl"
The man to whom the questions "a
addressed now rose. Strengthened himself
out and, paced the door without It nrss
Saying anything in reply. Turning ne
faced his companion and said:
arbat book, as the near future will
chow. has aroused the prejudics Of the
most dangerous and powerful element IN
the world. Its critics are slaves set TO
lash the author of that book and their
master is-money. You said . moment
AGO. or intimated, that religion exerted
the greatest Of all influences in the world
on the action of members of the human
race. Now, will demonstrate to you
that religion has q master that threw II
bridled it, broke it in and ensiaved II.
Al the time of Christ what is now known
as the Christian religion had Its origin.
It was at q period when few owned
about everything and were trying to pos
sess themselves Of what little the poorer
people had. 1t was an era OF selnshness
-narsonal sel6shness-with craze tor
making money. Money was worshippeo
and boarded by those who had it, end IT'S
scarcity among the people created . fierce
competition for the small quantity in cir
culation. This brought on congestion
in business and trade, and very similar
condition was produced to that which now
exists throughout the world. Christ DIS
covered the cause of the concentration OF
wealth and preached against it. He IN q
literal sense, overturned the tables OF the
money changers. Put IN the common
American English of to-day, he said that
the system of trading and trafficking in
money and hiring 1t out for pay-usury,
which means inte1est-would inevitably
end in the destruction Of all other indus
tries; that these industries yielded q profit
averaging less than the profits derived by
money changers in the way of interest on
their money; that this advantage to the
money changers, who were dealing in the
life blood of commerce itself-on tho
very existence of which commerce de.
pended-fnally gave to the money lend
ers such power as to briug on disintre-
CATION of society and with it the debase-
ment of the character of the people.
Christ and his followers preached against
this system, and they were intelligent men
who had a strong, mental grasp on the
situation, but little attention was paid to
them till it was discovered that the people
were being converted to their views. The
fact was that in trial by fair argument
there was no other conclusion to reach.
The argument was this:
HTrade and commerce-the interchange
of products-depend on a common me-
dium of exchange; ore that will as nearly
as possible register values, and neither
expand nor contract to unduly affect the
calculations of traders and business men.
This medium of exchange should be de-
voted, they reasoned, solely to that use
for which a demand had created it, and
there should be no law that would en-
courage men to hoard it and demand pay
for its use. 1t would thus have value
for exchange, but none for hire. The
money lenders at first laughed at such an
argument and said that money was prop
erty and it had always been lawful for
men to hire out for use that which be-
longed to them. Christ replied to this
by saying that, if these men were not
allowed to hire their money out for inter-
est, they would invest their money, and
there being no object left thereafter to in
duce men to hoard their money, it would
flow freely in the channels of trade, an
swer the purpose for which it was intend
ed, every one would get some of it and
the great craze for money would cease.
He also said that his plan would do away
with dangerous system that eventually
would destroy all other systems. There
would be no more boarding of money.
A relaxation of the social system would
follow, resulting in peace and general
prosperity"
"Of all the replies, both fair and unfair,
which class do you regard as the most
dangerous to the cause the school repre-
sents2"
'Those vilifying the book and its au-
thor. say that for this reason. The
book cannot be answered. The next best
thing to do is to prejudice the people
who have not read the book against it, SO
that they will not read it."
''Yes, but does not this, by exciting
the curiosity of the people, cause 1t to be
read2" the man seated inquired.
'sNo, not when you convince a man
that If he reads it he will read pack Of
lies; that the statements and figures are
unreliable. This removes the desire to
read the book. If you want to kill the
influence of man, or, as in this instance,