The Louisiana populist., 1896-11-27

Mr.. Bryan voiced good common sense
and the straightest of populist doc
trine on the money question when he
talked as follows to the farmers OF
Martinsburg. w. Va, on the 30th Of last
month:
MY friends, our opponents assume
that money is thing creatd BY COM
merce and that law has nothing to do
with 1t. l want to gay to you that
money is a creature of law. You can
have as much or as little money as the
law permits. II the laws are made by
those who want money to be ghpriced
they make money scarce in order that
money may be high priced. II you
want money sufficiently plentiful to
keep pace with population and indus
try, the laws have got to be made by
those who believe in having enough
money to keep pace with population.
(Applause)
Certainly money IL creature Of
law" All populists worthy Of the
name know that and have known it
for some time. Whether the law de-
clares that the creature" shall be
made of gold, silver. copper, zinc, tin,
paper, leather or any other substance,
it is absolutely certain that 1t could
have no existence but for the
fiat" of law calling It into being and
establishing the quantity, character,
shape, size, etc., of the material OF
which it is composed. Mr.. Bryan evi-
IDENTIFY realizes this fact now whether
he ever did before or not, and realizing
this fact the people may safely confide
In his ability to shortly discern the
folly Of the theory Of redemption
money.
The idea that one creature of the
law" must be redeemed by another
creature Of the same law In order to
make the redeemed" as good as the
"redeemer" when It Is all alike cre-
ated for the same purpose, is 90 su-
premely ridiculous and Inconsistent
with good sense that no man Of spirit
and Judgment will harbor 1t for a mo-
ment. The people can have money
enough to transact their business prop
erly ON the very same terms and in the
same way that they have postage
stamps sufYicient to answer their mail
II the government
should farm out its postofhces privi-
leges and prerogatives upon the same
terms It does its money furnishing
to a few corporations, the
people would have no right to expect
that they would be permitted their
present cheap postal facilities. Under
present conditions the government will
transport one hundred pounds or one
hundred thousand pounds, Of second
class mail matter from New York to
San Francisco at the uniform rate Of
one cent per pound, and 1t would
charge the same rate II the matter was
to be carried one or one thousand
miles.
II this same work was done by pri-
vate corporation for private profit, the
public, the great unthinking, burden
bearing public, would readily perceive
the injustice % to the corporation. in
the demand that 1t should carry the
poor mans pound Is cheaply as 1t car
ried the rich mans ton or hundred
tons, ard to bother itself about carry
ing Il one mile at as low rate per
mile as u would the enormous products
Of the rich q thousand miles would be
deemed by everybody as exQuisitely alb
surd. II b plain enough that If this
business was left to the mercy Of pri-
vate corporations, az 30 much Il the
peoples business is, including the fur
of the paper money necessary
to carry on their trading, postage
stamps and postage facilities would
cost anywhere from i've to ten times as
much - 1t present, and the service