The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1896-09-22

II successful, will change all
debts to gold payments. The
aggregate indebtedness of the
American people is reported to
be forty billion dollars, but for
the purpose of illustration cut it
down to twenty billion and sup
posing it draws only 3 per cent
interest per annum, we then find
that with gold production of
fifty million per year lit is only
forty-six million) we produce
only one dollar in gold for every
twelve million of interest we are
obligated to pay. This scheme
is a conspiracy to force labor
into the preposterous position of
agreeing to pay Shylock what it
has not and can never get.
Already the American people
are driven to the direful position
of paying interest to foreign
money changers aggregating an
nally more than twice as much
as our entire gold production.
The creditor classes know that
the debtor classes cannot per-
form physical impossibility
and they hope through a single
gold standard to confiscate the
homes of the people and enslave
labor for the payment of the fix
ed incomes of the idle rich.
Again, the advocates of sing
lie gold standard know that there
is not now and never will be
enough gold in the world to meet
ten per cent of the demand for
money, and therefore propose to
destroy every form of govern
ment money except gold and
then authorize the banks to issue
the currency of the country,
which will increase the debts of
the people another billion dol
lars and afford an opportunity to
the banks to compound their in
comes from the necessities of the
people and enslave labor to an
oligarchy of specializing wealth.
If any laboring man doubts
that the real designs and pur-
poses of the gold power are to
destroy every form of govern
ment money except gold, and
force a transfer of the monetary
prerogatives of the government
to the banks, let him read House
Bill No. III, now on the calen-
dar of the lower house of con-
greSs and then read statement
from the committee on banking
and currency of the lower house
of congress published in the
American Banker of New York
City, January 8, of this year.
They will convince the most
prejudiced advocate of gold
among the laboring people that
his only interest in single gold
standard is to defeat it at the
coming election.
The money power in it's des-
peration to conquer the people
is now closely canvassing the
employees of great corporations
and an implied threat of discharge
is imposed on employees if they
dare support the free coinage of
silver. They pay employees in
silver and then taunt them with
the ridiculous cry about 50-cent
dollars, but they never pay off
in gold, for they know that there
is not enough gold in the country
to pay off the laboring people
for a single month if they were
all working at dollar a day. 1t
would require the entire gold
production of this country for
space of more than ten years to
pay off our twenty million work
ing people for single month if
they were all working at the
present low rate of wages. But
the money power is just now
weeping and wailing over the
ridiculous statement that the
wages of the poor will be cut in
two if we have free coinage of
silver in this country. Yet from
the credit of siren obtaining act