The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-07-25
THE CLoVEN HOOP.

The platform adopted by the Peo
pies party at st. Louis differs from
that framed at Chicago only in it's
greater completeness. Below the decent
black robe Of the friar that the Chi
cago convention tried to don there
peeps out at st. Louis the cloven hoof
of pure fiat money and government
not one of principle, but of degree. Nor
can we in the least doubt which would
be the real rule of action in case the
men who are engineering this common
movement should succeed in capturing
the country. That which the free sill
yer people at Chicago insisted on dub
bling bimetallism, but which is really
silver recommendation, becomes, in the
mouths of the Peoples party leaders,
unqualified fiatiSm. They demand a
national currency issued by the gen
eral government only" They ASK it is
true, the free and unrestricted coinage
of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1, but
that is a mere preliminary The gist
of their doctrine is found in the de-
mand that the volume of circulating
medium be speedily increased to an
amount sufficient to meet the demands
of business and population of this
country" Now, of course, if the gov
eminent issues all the paper money of
the country, it's volume will be deter
mined only by act of congress. Con-
the volume of the currency is "suffi-
cient to meet the demands of every
body. That 1t never would be suf-
flcient, and that the bureau of engrav-
ing and printing would keep on grind
ing out inconvertible paper as long
as the pulp mills of the country could
furnish the raw material, is self-evi-
dent
The Peoples party platform has, at
least, the merit of being logical The
Chicago financial declaration is but a
cheap imitation and attempts an i'm
possible arrest half way to the goal.
1t is the height of absurdity to use
fifty cents worth of material to make
dollar when, if you can do the thing
at all, you can just as well make
dollar out of material that does not
cost the fraction of one cent. If the
volume of money is to be regulated by
congress, and to be made equal to the
demands of trade" it must not. of
course, be left at the mercy of the I'M
certain and inadequate silver produc-
90 IL,
pure fiat currency, adjusted on the per
capita theory, with all that this i'm
plies. There is no possible way sta
ton between a departure from the ac-
tual money of the world representing
true value in exchange and this ex-.
IRENE. Men may persuade themselves
for little while that free coinage does
not mean fiat money, but they only
salve their consciences and cheat their
intelligences for the moment. Sooner
or later, every departure from the
world of natural law ends in this world
of the imagination.
Except for this addition. the Peoples
party platform, down to its last sec
ton, might have been written by Mr..
Bryan, or Mr.. Altgeld himself. 1t fol-
lows the Chicago declaration in asking
that the people of this country be pro-
hibited from exercising the right of
free contract, and calls for the income
tax, but has the decency to omit a
demand for the abolition of the fed
eral judiciary. It's concluding section
embodies the regulation Populistic
proposition that the railroads and tele-
graph systems of the country should
be owned and operated by the general
government. How this change should
be brought about it does not explain
in detail, but the process may be in
ferred readily from what has been done
before. Nothing would be easier than
to issue $4,000, OOOOoo or SIS, OoO. 600. 900
worth of greenbaclzs to buy up all the
railroad properties. and then, of course.
they could transport commodities for
the public without charge. There is
not, of course. anything in the world