Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1896-07-02

COO abroad. Most Of them are ignorant Of the
beauty and grandeur Of their own country,
which far surpasses anything they zee abroad.
They ought to give up this foolish fad and
spend their millions getting acquainted with
this country for a few years. II we are actu-
ally insolvent and cannot pay we ought to
make a general assignment for the benefit of
all our creditors. This is the way an honest
man does when he fails in business. He does
not hide out his property and offer 80 cents on
the dollar. Instead of being insolyent we
are better able 10 pay than any people on the
face OF the earth. Our national debt Is In
round numbers s9l5. 962, 600. 1t has been re-
duced to one-t' trd its former amount In 1865.
IL was 81, GAS, 907 600. The debt of Great Britain
and ireland (the creditor ~nation) is s3, $50, 9l9,
90; the debt Of France is s4,4l6,0oO,0OO; Rus
sia. 80, 4gl. 0O0,O0; Austria Hungary, 81, SG6, co.,
600; italy, 81, 524, 00O,0O0; Germany, 81 ,658,OO0
600: spain with one-fourth OF our popula.
tion), y, Psi. 100000,
The per capita dobt OF Franco is SIG: OF
Great Britain and Ireland. sS7; Italy, $40;
Spain. S73; Russia. 500, while our per capita
debt Is sl4. Uncle Sam, bless his old soul, is
the only good housekeoper in the whole lott
Our bank deposits amount 10 S4,0O0,0O0,On,
while those of all Europe only amount to
So, JOa,CO0,oO0. By our last census our per
capita Of wealth, as shown by the assessment
rolls, was so4l. and the people have never been
bad about assessing their property too high.
AAL wa hst'f AA0 sAAsAAS ~ ~ &1AANAAhANA1A
on accourt Of our alleged inability 10 pay. 10
IS "a funGarhentul principle of law and morals
that man must be Just before he Is generous
ala taat gifts made by an insolvent are void
asa % creditors. Our government Is giving them
aocut sI41001,0u1 annually If we can afford
10 Be uborai, we ought 20 strain "a POINT and
DO ECuest too. IL our government can give 1t
like a prince, it ought 90 pny like e. gentle
man.
who Are tile DebtorsP
A large part Of the debts figured against us
arc 81 fact not interest hearing debts. They
consist Of railroad, reel estate and other cor
/ poratfon debts where defaults were made, and
mortgages on the property have boon fore
closed, the property SOLD and the debts prac-
ticallv distinguished,
ILe only debts that the people ct large are
Interested in are the national debt and tho
state debts. The state debts, by tho last cen
aus, amounted 70 S22S. q7, %. The county
debts amounted 70 Sldbofa045: school district
debts, sSG, ICI,p ts, while the dohts of cities and
towns amounted 10 SRA, $4,000, making a total
4 Of 81, 1875, 2l0, sac. You will observe that about
/ three fourtha OF this total debt Is owed by the
/ critics and towns, With this borrowed money
! thpy nave lu5iL gas, electric light end water
works uIaabS paved their streets, etc. Now,
The I0 to i city man asks bis country brother,
who uses coal oil in his house and darkness
outside, who draws mia water from q well and
Lathts ig tls creek, who splits the mud in wet
wtathaF ard kicks mp tho dust in dry, 20 help
! hflu repaGiata tho debt incurred by him IN
Eetang ahead o. the eountryman as 60 these
comforts and convenience OF Efe. AS To all
our rrivato domestic debts 1t % imuaterial
/ ~ tho gGVcramGn5 whether the r-edEeadad
vet Ahc 7lEsk headed ones, or the black
headed ones 0wo tAo E4lheaded ones, One
holds tile Gcbb and Chs other holds the prop
crty 10 prrchcsed and they cancel each other.
injustice OF Seaikng Debts.
The suggestion is sometimes made that, by
the enhancement Of gold, debts have boon III.
creased when measured in property, and
therefore they ought 10 be scaled, ! have dis
cassad The gold enhancement theory, but de-
slrs to Udd: That practically all our dehts
wor8 contracted since the gold STANDARD was
adopted, and that standard entered into and
/ became a part OF every contract, and If gold
has advanced it would be Just as dishonest TO
pay by any other standard as il would be IT Il
had not advanced. III a man contracts for
1900 bushels Of corn, 1t Is no answer to his
contract 10 say that Germ has risen since the
contract was made. Besides, all orr obliga.
tions have passed from hand to hand, most Of
them many times, and the present holders had
no more to do with the rise or fall Of gold
than they did with tho rise or fall Of the tides.
The underlying fructifyiDg element az this
I8 - movement is socialism. i is the same
Old effort 10 got something for nothing. The
CoXeyibes wanted grub FOR nothing. Tho sin,
gle taX cramlis want land for nothing. The
Popuil5ts wasn't government monopoly Of trans
poEtation and p~rigssa monopoly OF the waiting
busiH6ss FOR nothing. The &c 10 l people want
60 par coE& 81 OHbt for nothing, The Bcllamy-
ties want eYery thing for nothing, And ]
might suggest that the neE woman wants our
bifurcated garments for nothing, but that is
not pertinent to the subject under discussion
and / g.ill not DO SO.
ghe movement means Republication. All else
il theory, pretcnse and dreams. IL is an effor!
30 pass a let handed, bankrupt bill. not FOR
the benefit of the unfortunate debtor who
cannot pay, bat for tho rich a. well, who can
pay, but want 10 beat their creditors. Tho
poor man IL not in debt; he never had a chance
10 yet in debt. The corporations, spectators
and p~luugers generally constitute the debtor
class. Every wage Garner belongs TO the cred.
itor class. No one would be benefited by Is e
/ coinage except the debtor class. Even the
mine owner would not, for the temporary
stimulus given TO silver would increase its
production until the price would fan below
what ii is low. On the other hand, all woulc
suffer. If q bill for free coinage Of silver al
l6 90 l were Go pass either house of congress
and il was ascertained that it would pass tn,
other house and that tho president would sigr
il, tho penio that would ensue would be *
that q 1893 what a tornado IL TO a zephyr
Creditors. to avoid being paid in debased mon
ey, would crowd and crush for payment as tn,
people do for exit In a thaater on an alarm Of
fire. Credit and confidence, the twin hyini
ties OF prosperity, would depart from us
All business would be paralyzed, labor unem
ployed, and despair would hang her blacl
pail in a million of homes, only to BIO lifteC
when reason resumed her sway. IL tool
France 50 years TO entirely recover from tn,
John Law fasco.
How England Is Running Us.
The demagogues, in order to undermine tn,
moral sense of the people and make repudia
tion palatable, rail about England's wealth anc
falsely assert that she is trying to dictate oul
monetary system and to crush US. England Il
rich, but il she is trying to ruin us she has
peculiar way OF manifesting her hostility. Fol
the year ending Juno 80. iSo1, she took s423,
0O0,o0 of our exports, about seven times a
much rs an the free silver countries in tn,
world. We took $1O7, 600, 600 OF her exports, anS
she paid us the difference In gold or its equiv
alent. Did you ever hear a butcher or a bake
or q man with cotton 10 sell complaining tina
his customers had too much money to spend
Instead of trying to drive us to a gold stand
ard, it would be immensely To her interest d
have her commercial rival abandon the stand
ard of commerce and take "a back seat with tn,
half civilized, nations. Tn,
ridiculous story of Ernest Seyd was exploded
years ago, and. though tho vase was shattered
the scent Of that lie hangs round the country