The Philipsburg mail., 1896-01-02
SHOULD FREE OURSELVES.

The Single Gold Standard Will Place Nam
acles Upon the People.
1t is very evident that the real mo-
tives which actuate Great Britain in
her schemes to acquire territory in
Venezuela and Alaska, by fair means
or foul, is the desire to control so far
as possible the output of gold in the
world. If English capitalists, sup
ported by English arms, can control
the gold fields of the world outside of
the United States, and in this country
gold policy can be forced upon the
people, it is clear that England can
afford to lose much of her foreign trade
and yet remain one of the great pow
ers.
English farming has been crushed
out, and now English manufactures
are following the same route; but if
England could continue to do the car
rying trade and banking of the world,
she is still its mistress. She knows
that, and therefore she is preparing
herself to continue in that position.
The first requisite is of course to con-
troll the supply from which the only
money that it is proposed to recognize
is derived. To-day England is mistress
of Australia, of South Africa and of
mining regions in other sections, and
she is trying to secure more of this
valuable class of territory. She is not
to blame. On the contrary, she shows
far more wisdom than the people of
this country, who are playing directly
into her hands.
md hi 4
can see that if you owe a man a debt,
the more valuable the article you are
forced to pay it in, the better for him
and the worse for you. If man owed
another twenty bushels, it would be
better for the creditor if he paid it in
diamonds, and for the debtor if in
wheat This country owes Great
Britain large sums of money, and very
foolishly is borrowing a great deal
more. The people are voluntarily
doubling their debts to please their
creditors.
If a private individual was guilty of
such conduct he would be accused of
insanity, but in a whole nation it is
supposed to be wisdom. It would
seem to be too clear to need demon
stration that the scarcer you make an
article the higher it's value will be.
especially if it is of common and neces-
sary use. Yet American voters will
go to work and advocate and support
a scheme which will decrease the
money in circulation one-half, and
they cannot understand that their
creditors are the only ones who profit
by the contraction. The retirement of
all the greenbaclss in the country is
going to be attempted this winter;
possibly the silver senators will keep
tho scheme from carrying through the
senate, but the effort will be made
again and again unless the people will
rally and drive the money lenders and
gold rings out out of the national
capital.
The question is one of more impor-
tance than it appears to be considered
as possessing by the majority of the
voters of this country. The idea that
because mills start up and men find
employment that the question ceases
to be of Importance, is great fallacy.
The men who have money to lend de-
sire that those who pay the interest
shall have employment, else how can
they receive their incomes from their
investments. 1t is great mistake to
suppose that hard times benefit the
money interests. What they want are
good times Then the people forget