The representative., 1895-12-18
A VOICE FROM KENTUCKY.

FLAIFOhM FOR III RED
HOT-"MONEY IS THE POWER OF
THE GOVERNMENT TO RELEASE
A DEBT
Editor Representative:
This is the eve before election and am
tired, working all day to scatter my
sharpest blow at the gold trust among
the business men Of this city. and with all
my heart /. with every other framer of
the Omaha platform desire union of all
reform forces, but care nothing for the
union of forces without reform.
The Omaha platform was not hastily
thrown together but on the contrary, 1t
is the result of the worlds best thinking
for twenty-five years, and was framed
by reformers who saw the coming ruin
and dared to leave the old parties and at
tend meeting called for all reformers.
including the silver knights who might
have been there. True, all have not
voted for it, some because they hate its
justice, some because they prefer to vote
to damn themselves rather than
throw away their vote, some because they
know nothing, and millions because they
know no more about it than as though it
had not been made Had they known it,
they would not have stayed at home.
Those who know it voted for it-uness
they see it takes away their class privi-
leges.
just read the Silver knights platform.
/ hope / am wrong, but to me, it seems
like a page from the dark ages. 1t is a
motion to amend the Omaha platform by
striking out all after the enacting clause.
It is a proposition to join the Populists,
if they will surrender their doctrine that
the people shall rule themselves by laws
that bless all and curse none.
Article l says money is a creature of
law and the government should furnish
enough full legal tender money to do
business on credit and sustain prices
Omaha dscards credit and therefore
interest by demanding money enough to
do business on cash basis, the money to
be issued by the government at per cent.
Money is not a creature of law. l have
a trade dollar with 420 grains of silver
and $1.00 stamp on it; but the creature
is not mOney-it will not release from
debt. Money is the power of the govern
ment to release a debtor from a cred
itor, the extent of the release being de-
termined by the stamp the debtor pre-
sents to the creditor. Money is the pow
er of the government to release a debtor
just as a state line is the power of the
government to maintain a boundary,
and 1t needs no metal to brace it up.
Article denies the power of the gov
ernment to delegate to banks the power
to issue and control money. Our gov
ernment never gave bank power to is
sue money. 1t only gave the banks power
to issue their debts. called bank notes,
and to loan them and live on the inter-
est Of what they owed the man who bor-
rowed the debt. The interest on what
they owed made them rich and gave them
power to control the people.
Article demands free coinage 16 to l
and calls the act of 73 the crime of all
the ages
We wish the Knight would play fair.
The crime of this age was putting the
except clause on the greenbacks and
then burning 81, 200, ,000, 900 of them and
giving us bonds and national banks in
their place. 1t is only by ignoring this
crime that silver men can make so good
showing for the crime of '73.
1.-The crime of the ages was committed
when the government made certain
stamps the only legal tender and pre-
sented those stamps to certain favored
men by placing them only on their prop
erty, silver and gold. The gold and sill
yer being scarce made the stamps scarce
and gave the owners power to demand
millions of interest from the rest of us
who must have the use of our own stamps
to pay debts. This is the viest class law
and the bulliOnsts have not forgotten
their easy way Of getting something for
nothing.
Everybody knows if the government
would place a $500 stamp on every 25S
grains of gold or every 1925 grains of
silver. then every such chunk of gold or
silver would bring $500, not because it
would be worth that, but because we
could get $500 stamp on it and cancel a
$500 debt with the stamp and power of the
government. But, Sir Knight, gold and
silver have never yet been used as legal
tender nor are they any part of money.
Money is the power of the government to
release a debtor. The stamp determines
the amount of debt to be Cancelled, but
it makes no difference what the stamp is
on. What the people want is more
stamps and the control of their own
wit
hindrance from bondholders. bankers or
metallists. They have found their power
and have scented freedom, and l do not
know that you can any longer bind them
to deal passed. BY 1900 we may COM
NIT another crime and demonetZe gold
and put our stamps all on paper.
Article demands all debts payable in
coin shall be payable in gold or silver
coin. And like France, we amend by
saying any debt shall be payable in
money.
Article 5 deplores the gold syndicate
Omaha will bust it.
Article views the president with
alarm and article views the monopolists
and the supreme court with alarm, and
article IA wants Grover to stop using pat
ronage to control legislation. Well the
referendum will bust all these and stop
all viewing with alarm.
Article 10 regrets large aggregations of
wealth in the hands of the few. and wants
q SIduudIcu lHCOiHe tax, dlI OIL Wn1Cn
Omaha will settle by letting labor keep
what it earns.
Article 13 favors paying the soldiers;
so do we all, but in the coming civiliza-
tion of justice and humanity the soldier
will play second fiddle instead of killing
his brother.
Article IL denounces the railroad rob-
berry and protests against it's running the
country The Omaha gang has passed
the protesting stage and come to the
stage of owning and operating public
business at COST as we do the postal sys-
tenn.
But darkest of all, article favors ad-
justing the tariff. Oh, reform, where is
thy blush?
Now tariff is a contrivance to make
ernment without taxing the property of
the rich for a cent, besides compelling
us to make the manufacturer present
of about two billion dollars annually.
We respectfully suggest that the Knight
kill tariff and give us protection by re-
fusing to land harmful foreign goods on
our shores, free trade in exchanging
goods we do not want for foreign goods
we do want, and justice by raising all
revenues by a tax on property, compell-
ing the rich to pay their share and reliev-
Ing the widow and the orphan.
The Peoples party has probably made
gold men that they will ever get, and
should we conclude, for the sake of un-
ion, to drop all but the money question,
we will never surrender the doctrine of
government issue in quantity to do busi-
ness on a cash basis. Hereafter we will
allow no one to enrich himself by taking
interest on our own stamps, nor will we