The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-06-03
ANOTHER CONVERT.

EX-SENATOR INGALLS,, OF KANSAS.
GETTING HIS EYES OPEN.
John j. ingalls,, Republican, former
ly U. S. Senator from Kansas, was in.
terviewed recently and it is evident
he is half way across the fence to
Populism. Here is what he says:
Have you observed any indications
of better times among the people?" I
asked.
Il am inclined to the belief that
times are as hard today as at any
period since the decline began" said
the Kansas senator. 'There has
never been season in Kansas when
farm products were so low, land so lit
tie sought after, and the sales and ex-
changes of trade SO few Rents have
declined. incomes have diminis he'd.
and wages remain unsatisfactory and
inadequate to the masses. Every
thing, in fact, has shrunk EXCEPT
debts and takes. They alone have a
tendency to higher figures. Nobody
is thriving now except the dealers in
money-the syndicates and men who
deal in securities and other evidences
of debt. Nor do l perceive ahead of
us any well-defined or radical change
for the better
'"To what do you attribute this con-
ditiOn of atfairS?o
while | do not claim to know any,
thing about the cause of it, / suspect
that it is Intimately. though mysteri-
ously, connected with the financial
system that has been developed in the
past twenty years. The contraction
OF the circulating medium of all the
Urp9f nOfinnC hU tho -
the money functions Of silver is, to
my mind, the chief cause. l can see
no other explanation of it. though I
DO not offer that as solution. We
are told time after time in the East
that any one holding those views is
either a mailman, a knave or a fool.
n OF wishing to be put in any of these
classes, l simply offer the suggestion
as possible cause, and leave it to
others to determine another one. 1t
is curious fact though, that with
increasing demands for food and
clothing, all products of the farm and
field Lave diminished in value. and
that with the exhaustion of the pub
lie domain farming lands should be
come more and more unsala e-in
short, that with the idle capital con-
StaDtly accommodating in our financial
centers all business and indus trial en-
terprlse should languish until we
have reached condition which, be-
lieve has never exist before since
this government was esta blished.
II believe there can be no perma-
nent return to prosperity until there
is some change in our financial system
by which the circula ting medium will
have a corresponding rate of increase
with the increment OF our populatio
and the consequent demands of in
dustry. commerce and manufacture
They tell us that we have $24 or S25
per capita Of circulating medium in
this country, when. in fact, there
isn't $40. Everybody knows that
there is no gold in circulation and
that the greeubacks are in the ma
tional treasury and the banks. All
estimates of the per capita of circu-
lating medium are mere guess work.
They say as an excuse for the alb
scence of an adequate circulation of
money that 80 per cent of the bust
ness Of the nation is transacted with
out money-by checks. That is per-
haps true, but it Is no remedy"
Good for ingalls,. Let him come in
and help the people in their fight with
Plutocracy.
But probably he is simply acknowl-
edging the truth the better to serve
the falsehood. I'D.