The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-10-08

ZIG conspiracy Ol the money power
to defraud the Struggling masses"
The basis of this quite demagogic ap-
peal Is a confusion of thought between
money and wealth. The difference be-
tween the two, when understood, shows
that they are far from synonymous
terms The possession of wealth does
not necessarily imply the possession Of
money. A very wealthy man may
scarcely eyer carry much money about
him. Wealth and money are different
things. Any salable article is a part
of wealth. Money is but one form of
wealth, that form by which articles are
exchanged, and in terms of which their
prices are expressed. Wealth appears
In thousands Of articles; money in only
two or three, such as copper, or silver,
or gold.
When, therefore, In the discussion Of
the silver question, reference is made to
the money power" what is meant In
reality is the wealth power, or the pow
er OF men of riches. The popular use
of money in the sense of riches ac-
counts for this confusion of thought.
and enables some persons to thereby
cloud the money problem 1t is not
representing the money power grinding
the poor laborer. Whatever of truth
there may be in these things concerns
the labor question, and there is no rea-
son whatever for considering them as
factors in the money question. In
fact, they have nothing whatever to
do with it. Whether we have gold or
silver as a standard. the labor problem
will remain just as 1t is. Therefore
when men import into the present dis
cussion of gold and silver the talk
about the money power" it is merely
intended to transfer feelings regarding
one question to another
1t is stated, however, that one way
the rich have of getting ricner is to
corner" gold, that is, to take gold out
of circulation in order to make it
scarce, to lower prices of articles in
general, and to squeeze the hard
earned money from debtors. have
no hesitation in saying that this is
pure fabrication. and that, even if it
were desirable, it is impossible of ex-
ecution. 1t would not be undertaken,
in the first place, because 1t is not de-
sirable. Very rich men engaged in
productive enterprises always have
large sums to pay as well as to re-
as they would benefit, themselves by
the proposed scheme. And, in addi-
ton, the chances of loss are great;
while the gains are quite problemati-
cal. In the nature Of gold, just so
long as it Is held it earns nothing;
while the chance of affecting prices
Is distant and uncertain. In the sec
ond place, even If profitable, gold could
not be cornered, because the quantity
Of 1t in the world is too large and too
widely scattered among different own
ers. The total existing supply of gold
is now about $4,000, 900, 900, and it is
scattered all over the world. No
group of men could POSSIBILITY corner
eight thousand millions of any prod
uct; it never has been done, and never
will be done Combinations to control
copper for a few hundred millions
failed disastrously. Moreover, In 1890,
the greatest combination ever made
tried to control the price of ,cllver and
that also came TO ruin ,Fhis combina-
ton had command of vast capital in
New York, London, and on the CONT
nent; it's operations extended as far
as India; it manipulated the congress
Of the United States so that the Sher-
man act was passed in July 1890; and
in August it gave silver an artificial
value of $1.21 an ounce fine. The great
financial magnates Of Europe were
then the speculation collapsed; and
silver fell to about go cents in ounce
fine. If such q combination could not
keep up the value of silver, how could
gold be "cornered?"
The total mass of gold Is sometimes
pictured as small, in order to give an
idea that 1t could easily be cOrnered.
The bulk, however, has nothing what
ever to do with the question Of corner
ing it; it's value is the important thing.
One could pile all the diamonds Of the
world In smaller space than all the
gold; but that proves absolutely moth
ing as to whether one could have wealth
enough to buy or control all the
worlds diamonds. The size Of q val
liable thing Is not what determines its
value. On the contrary, an article
like gold is valuable because it is not
bulky; 1t is a great advantage for gold
that in large payments the money
transferred is not bulky. No one could
pile the silver Of the world in the
wheat pit Of a produce exchange. Its
great weight for given value Is
undesirable for payments on a large
scale. And yet the total supply Of sill
yer Is Of about the same value as
the total supply Of gold. Silver is
not more available because its size and
weight Is more than corresponding
value of gold. Quite the contrary, the
civilized world is preferring gold be-
cause its bulk is not large.
The gold bug" conspiracy Is. Of
course, a mere fiction devised for the
gullible. 1t never existed; and there
is not the slightest proof as to it's ex-
istence Strangely enough, there is
clear evidence that the Rothschilds Of
Europe have been greatly interested
in preserving the value Of silver in
stead of gold. There has been much
senseless denuncfation of the Roths-
childs because of their helping the
United States to protect the gold re-
serve when bonds were sold. On these
questions, let us have the whole truth.
All the world knows how M. de Roths-
child proposed a plan at the Brussels
Monetary conference (held November
%, 1892 for the purchase by European
powers Of 5000, 900 worth of silver an
nually in order to help keep UP the
price Of silver. Why do we not hear
cornering silver?
At the time of the formation of the
Latin union, moreover there was
generally diffused opinion throughout
France in favor of adopting g. gold
standard; and 1t. was urged by other
states in the union. Why was 1T not
adopted, instead Of the double stand
ard, which is now an acknowledged
failure? Simply because the great
bankers and capitalists Of France. to-
gether with the Bank of France-and
this included the Rothschilds-wished
to protect the value OF silver, If posi-
BILE. They had securities payable in
silver; they had an interest in support
ing silver. To say that the European
money power Is backing gold. and
not silver. Is gross ignorance OF the
facts In European finance. But how
did the silver scheme of the Latin
union, with all this support by the