Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1896-01-02
Hobson's Choice.

Hobson's Choice.
Did it ever occur to the REGISTER,
or any of its readers, that the money
question is q closed one to us? In
wading through the Presidents mes
sage / caught something between the
lines that 1 think the President him.
self did not see, or he would not have
recommended any further extension OF
the national bank currency. There
are q few facts that we have all long
known, but which we have not put to-
gether rightly, or we should have seen
that the s.logic of events" would never
fit with our. silver schemes as we are
trying to work them.
We all know that the act of 1878 Is
an accomplished fact. and that we are
obligated to pay large sums in gold.
We must get the gold by taxes; but
the people cannot pay gold for taxes
until it is in general circulation; and
we never can get it into general circu-
lation so long as we tolerate any in
ferior form of money or currency,
which will inevitably displace gold;
for an inferior form of currency will
always displace superior form. We
may say that silver will appreciate
when remonetized. And SO it will.
But it cannot be equal to gold as long
as our obligations remain to pay such
enormous quantities OF gold. The
increased output of gold will be neu-
tralized by the purchases of bullion.
by Mr.. Goldman, whose interest it is
to keep monopolizing hand on gold.
AS Ben Harrison said, we are facing
condition and not theory; and it Is
a condition that we do not fully COM
prehend yet. But take these simple
facts and put them together and We
see that there is no money question for
us; and that we only have H0bson's
choice-take it or leave it.
We had better leave it and get at
Mr. Goldman, alias Mr.. Redshield, or
Rothschild, from some other direction
so as to make his interests coincide
with those of his fellowmen. He
wants money, not because he Is q
miser. but because it gives him power
over his fellowmen. Under present
condition the man who has money can
be master; the man who has no
money must be slave. This is be-
cause natural opportunities are mere
things of barter and sale. Now II We
give more attention to the way in
which we raise money for public pur-
poses we can do more than by disa-
greeing about the money question it
self. Let public opinion begin to lean
toward the state appropriation Orient
and Mr.. Goldman will find all he can do
to save his dollars in any form without
exerting himself, as now, to increase
their purchasing power. Whom the
speculative value Of land is gone, and
only the value for use and occupancy
left, all ince ntives to the undue accu-
mutation of wealth viii be gone and
money will still be as useful as now in
facilitating exchanges, but it cannot
directly control production. The fact
that while the price of products has
gone down. yet the price at which la
Dor is allowed access to the source of
production has risen, ought to show to
the dullest mind where our real trou-
| BILE lies; and it ought to be clear that
the remedy is in the land question
rather than in the money question.
We can clip the wings of Pluto with
out touching his gold. The state ap-
preparation of rent, or what we com-
monty call the single tax, would not
cancel Mr. Goldman's mortgages, but
it would impair the securities Of most
of them SO far that be would howl for
| the remonetization of silver, or do any
thing to make money plenty long be-
fore the single tax was adopted and
| the land made useful to the workers
only, in order to realize upon his loans.
We have no choice; the money ques-
tion is foreclosei; we must make di-
version. WM- CAMN.
Murrayville. Ills. Dec. 19. 1895.
Children Cry
for Pitchers CastoYsa.