Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1896-11-19

so violent at times as to amount TO
madness. Ny own subjects. in some
instances, broke into open revolt
against my authority. had to change
my plans. After carefully considering
the matter, / reached the conclusion
that / could accomplish my purpose in
a much simpler and vastly more ef-
fective manner. If | could create a
condition of affairs in which two or
three men would be compelled to COM
pete for the same job, had my prob
lem solved. ! would then be under
no obligation to look after the physi-
cal welfare of the laborer, and would,
by appealing to his necessities, have
him completely at my command.
saw that exactly the conditions l re-
quired could be brought about by man
ipulating the money supply.
Money is to the commercial world
what blood is to the body. Increase
the money supply, and. by making it
easier to get, you cause values to rise,
so that it seeks investment in property
that is going up. for the reason that
the investor feels that he will eventu-
ally get more money out of the proper
ty than he put into it. A demand for
property and its creation is set up that
causes money to circulate to every
part of the body polite. When the
supply of money continues to diminish,
its value rises; or, what is the same
thing, the value of property sinks
No man will invest, if he can avoid it,
because he cannot be sure that he will
get the money out OF the property he
put into it, for property is going down.
The creation of property ceases, ex-
cept that which society cannot do with
out. Work grows scarce; soon the
man who can furnish work comes to
be regarded as a benefactor. Money
is cougested at money centers, not
seeking property, but seeking borrow
ers. Men trample the life out of each
other TO secure work by which to sup
port their families. Under such con-
nitions the man who controls the mon
ey supply controls wages and has the
laboring man in the hollow of his hand.
SO that he needs no bloodhound to hunt
him down, for he has no where to go.
| This is the condition / have created,
AMI / will now show you how l accom-
plished it in this land of the free and
home of the brave.
up to 1858 there had been many
millions of silver coined into half dol
lars, quarters and dimes. Each oil
these coins was full legal tender, and
could be used in the payment of debts
to any amount. In that year 1 sue
ceeded in taking the legal tender quail.
| ity from them, which reduced the
money of commerce greatly and made
the residue more valuable. Up to 1857
a vast number OF foreign coins circula'
ted is this country and were a full le-
gal tender. In that year l had the lie.
gal tender quality taken from these
coins and they at once dropped out oil
circulation. A panic followed, which
showed that my plans were working
satisfactorily.
Then came the paper basis of the
war period, which gave my friends
the long sought opportunsty to corner
the money market. And right here
l came near making a mistake fatal to
all my designs. The first sixty mil
lions issued by the government were
demand notes, payable on demand.
These remained as good as gold
| throughout the war. had my friends
in Congress discredit the next issue by
| having endorsed on the back that they
should be legal tender for everything
except custom duties and interest on
+ the public debt. OF course, when the
| government refused to receive it's own
notes in payment of debts due to it,
they ceased to be as valuable as money
good for every purpose, and my friends
were able to depreciate these notes
enormously, thereby making the profit
of the dealer in coin something fabu-
lous. Bonds were next issued in ex-
change for greenbabks. The national
bank sytem was established, by which
a man can have returned to him the
money he loans the government, and
at the same time draw interest from
the government on that money. In
1868 bonds were made payable in coin;
thereby altering the contract so as to
favor the creditor. In the same year
they began to destroy greenbacks. a
| L.