The herald., 1896-02-02

lieved. that the condition of small capital.
isis is better, after inf alton, than it is after
/ contraction of the currency. But it is per-
fectIy certain that the few men of enor-
nous wealth have gained much more. in
proportion, and it has alwaJs been just
after jnf1a'io ion that many new millionalreS
become noticeable.
The manner in which silver coin would
be distributed is perfectly plain. Nobody
could get any of the coin, except the own
with the coin unless they received full
value for it. Farmers would have to pay
the silver mine owners just as much as
they pay the owners of gold. For, if gold
and silver kept at their present relative
values, silver would cost the farmer jus. AS
much as gold; and if they did not, would
have to pay out just as much more silver
for his purchases.
AS we are now only discussing the silver
question, we will not be led off into the pro-
posed unlimited issue of green backs, fur
ther than to say that it would be obviously
impossible to pass bill giving to farmers
exclusively the right to demand greenbscks
ffor the supposed value of their products,
without doing the same for every owner of
every kind OF property. DUST the same
government loans must be made upon
| manufactures of every kind Such
an enormous amount of so.cailed ''money"
would be issued that it would become
cidediy the small end of the lot. Specula-
tors would take advantage of the rising
prices, would invest their potts in gold,
and then wait contentsdly until, as would
happen very speedily. ereenbacks were
worth no more than confederate money.
They would buy in gold, at cheap prices;
and we would see half dozen biliionaires,
with worse concentration of wealth than
any which is now imaginable.
In short, as no artiiiciai expar sion OF
the currency in the past has ever helped
to equa.isa conditions batwsen the rich and
the poor, we may b, quite sure that no
such expansion in the future will ever do
so.
There is then some cause, constantly a t
work, quite independent of the currency,
which takes from the little savings of the
poor to enhance the wealth OF the rich. And
to remove this cause is work of far mere
Importance to the farmer, mechanic and
la5orer OF every kind than Is any scheme
for the enlargement of the currency. If
his cause is a law Of nature, there is moth
ing to be done but to submit in silence.
But if IL Is found in a statute, let US repeal
every statute which robs the poor of their
savings before troubling ourselves to pass
statutes which some of us think will add a
little to those savings, but as to which no
one can be quite sure. Above all, do not
let us stop TO quarrel about the form of the
new law before we have got rid of the old.
If we saw a rich man stealing farmers
crop would we let him make off with the
plumber while we debated as to the best
methods of increasing the price of what
( ,e farmer had left? That is the exact sit
u,tion today, and has been for all our life
times. Unjust tax laws are daily robbing
the masses of the people of three-fourths of
their savings: and now, just as they are
slowly waking up to the fact, we are asked
20 drop this question, upon which all single
tradara Oftorn IN
tariff reformers agree, in order to quarrel
over a proposition to add little to the
market price of the one-fourth Of their saw
ings, WHICH their tariff lords graciously
allow them to keep. Some of us do not be-
liave that silver coinage will add dollar
to the income of the poor. Someothers be-
lieve that it will add good many dollars.
But no matter which is right, one thing is
certain-neither silver coinage nor fresh
greenbacks nor any other change in the
currency will diminish by one cent the
robbery of the masses, which now goes on,
day and night.