The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1896-10-03
POUND CAKE vs.. ASH CAKE.
Financial Parable and Analogue.
Parable Containing Many
Hard Financial Facts.
nv. C. Elan in Norfolk, tva.t Pilotl

!
And this is the parable of the staff Of
/ life.
! In Felicia the Lord had provided two
grains for bread, and one of these was
called wheat. and the other was called
corn or maize.
And the King had opened mills for
the grinding of these grains, where
both were ground equally, without price
and without limit.
The land was fertile, yielding both
wheat and corn but the greater yield
commonly was of corn, and wheat sold
at a higher price among the people be-
cause it was searcer and made finer and
whittier loaves.
Yet the two grains gave abundance
and happiness. If the wheat lacked,
the corn supplied the deficiency; if the
corn was scant the wheat came in to
answer TO the call for bread; 50 that no
man suffered of hunger in Felicia.
And the corn was every man 8 crop.
Those who could not grow wheat
grew corn, and they who ate no wheat
grew satisfied with the corn ground
freely at the King mills.
Both IN quantity and in price the two
grains thus eo-operated together TO feed
the people without possibility Of mon
epoly and extortion.
But MAmmon, who distributed the
grains and the -four and the meal there
q 10 the people. saw how he could con-
frol the situation and make a mighty
3zSl i wheat THE searcer grain and
Eso-s u be de-sireil If he could persuade
iA< King 30 close his mills against corn.
~ - his and his
bankers Azi his scribes and his lawyers
10 tie k.ags and they said:
o.. King wheat is the only food
a f1- tey people L abounds; it is
A.sAllat1l. bex1situl and sweet: it is
more desired q all nations; corn is food
lziv IT, swine
Therefore. close the mills against
coEu. and allow wheat only 70
he sru1zi therein. So will Felicia WAX
greater among the nations; and with
wheat - the sole and single staff of life
our people will live longer. grow richer
and richer. and become the happier as
the delicious biscuit shall on every table
take the place of the coarse and IN
savory ash cake
So it seemed wise to the King; and
forthwith he issued his ediet that
thenceforth no corn should be ground in
any OF the mills of Felicia, which should
remain open only TO the free and I'M
limited grinding of golden wheat.
For time all things seemed to work
we'll, notwithstanding the edict. But
soon the people who had eaten corn
bread found they could not turn their
corn into meal, as the mills were closed
to everything but wheat. They had to
eat wheat or starve; and To- by reason
of discrimination against it, corn be-
came almost worthless in exchange for
wheat-as everything else had also be-
come by reason of the mill edict.
And they who had eaten wheat only
found that it had risen enormously in
price. not simply because it had been
made the sole staff of life, but because
Mammon and his men had cornered the
wheat product, which had now become
easy, as this product was much less
than that of corn and as corn had been
excluded from the mills and the bread
market, and could no longer come to
the rescue of wheat and its consumers
Thus it came to pass that even the
Kings baker was sorely put to it to
furnish the accustomed loaves for the
royal table. All the Kings household
and the retainers, who had formerly
been served with corn pone, had now
to be fed on flour.
SO that with the royal gamers burst
ing with corn, there was scant bread on
the royal table.
But Mammon & Co., had store of
wheat, and for a while they cheerfully
took the King orders Tor bonds) in
exchange for wheat; but the people S
orders or bonds were disdained- Nam
mon q Co. double locked their wheat
bins against all popular demands, inso-
much that the people starved, while the
King Toasted and still kept reserve or
surplus of wheat by the liberal issue of
royal orders or bonds, warranted to
produce wheat, and nothing but wheat.
At length, when the people had been
driven TO the last extremity, and a
famine prevailed in the land, even the
King bonds were refused for wheat by
Mammon 81 Co. unless he would also
put in pawn his crown, his scepter and
his throne
And then the eyes and the ears of the
King were partially opened to his pro-
strate people crying for the re opening
of the mills to corn, 1--WE do not care
for pound cake!'' shrieked the people.
"Give us corn bread, lest we perish in
the midst of our abundance
But the sleek Mammon, with his
Portly Professors, his Bloated Bankers,
his Greasy Scribes, and his Lusty Law
yers, talked day and night to the King
These ignorant and half educated
people do not know what ails them, nor
what they need, - said Mammon & Co.
Besides, they are hired to starve
themselves and make all this cutlery by
these fellows who raise such enormous
crops of corn. The corn producers
alone will be benefited by opening the
mills to corn. Just think of what an
enormous pile of money they will make
if corn be again allowed as bread
stuff We, on the contrary, know all
about grain and bread, and from our
very position are utterly disinterested.
We neither grow nor grind anything
Except the people and the King
INTERCEPTED the King Fool.
Scoring the nnseenaly interjection,
Mammon & Co., went on: THE
people foolishly say they do not want
pound cake, and clamor for corn bread
but we who know, Oh King, declare to
you that corn bread is injurious to the
digestion, fit only for hogs, and that
pound cake, as our experience proves,
is far better for human food. 1t is true,
that the people say that they can get no
pound cake; that it is beyond their
means, is scarce, etc. Yet, as we can
testify conclusively, there is plenty of
pound cake, for we have got it Yes
we have abundance of pound cake. and
it is only popular delusion which in