Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1897-08-20
combined. And there is reasonable ex-

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PLANTATION. The people have been read
ing the literature of the Reform club
and Sound Money league. They have
learned that civilization depends on the
maintenance Of solid basis Of gold.
They have heard Bynum say that the
national honor depends upon gold
basis" They read appeals from the
sage of Princeton that all followers OF
Jefferson should stand together for the
protection Of the national honor
against the assaults of those blind IA
natics and theorists who would destroy
the gold basis" And there are many
patriots. They love their country and
account him coward who reckons the
triots know there is gold up in the
Klondyke regions. They have seen
wan faced pilgrims returning. hugging
their thousands and boasting Of the mil
lions left in sight" The increasing
multitudes of the earth must have a
Sound basis" for their money, lest
Bynum and statesmen of his ilk be
torn in spirit because of impending
national dlshonor Here lies one i'm
portant factor in this Klondyke craze.
And there are others.
Under civilization biased on gold"
honors must necessarily be heaped up
on those controlling a generous share
Of the basis" Desire for ease and
comfort is natural to man. Love of adj
miration Is it's fellow. All laws are
irksome to some people. The power OF
defying all law is, therefore, a potent
factor in influencing the action of man
kind. 1t has happened that under the
civilization of the nineteenth century
the very rich find no limit to their
powers. They command the nomen-
clature of the hour. Soft phrases are
made to dignity their doings. If they
would rob their fellows under cover of
law, they secure the passage of a new
tariff, and call their plundering pro
lection" Or If they would prosper I'M
der a more dainty industry than vulgar
manufacturing, they bride legislators
to give them exclusive monopoly of
public rights and flourish as bankers,
or owners of trunk lines of railroads,
and call it "financiering." And with
the wealth thus gained they guide the
consciences Of judges and priests, break
ing ties that bind the pauper class.
They trade wives and part with por-
ton of their gold in the purchase for
their daughters of foreign dude with
title. and the world calls both tran
sactions marriage" They build char
mel houses of civilization and install
therein learned men whose reason
must not operate, and whose convic
tons must be stifled, and call these in
situations universities" Heat and
cold are as nothing to those favored of
Providence who have contributed to the
support Of the nations gold basis"
In the winter they may seek the ever
glades of Florida and give many of
their less intelligent fellow beings
chance to work by cutting up into small
holdings the monopolized natural op-
summer heat spoils the zest of the
opera or of bestial dinners, they can
cross the ocean and dazzle foreigners
with the magnificence of the defenders
Of the honor and prosperity of this re-
public.
The whole system is a miserable
fraud. Unless we may gather grapes
from thorns, and figs from thistles, I'M
less wrong is right and right is wrong,
then system that unsexes woman and
humans man is established in iniquity.
Unless there be fault in every natural
law, it is the grossest absurdity to sup
pose that the more scarce the commod-
ity the more necessary it is for the
welfare Of mankind and the honor of
nations, or that civilization may not be.
save as it rests upon an exploded the
DRY and a barbaric fetish. 1t is doubt
less true that invention of money has
been of great benefit to the world in ex-
tending productive possibilities. But
the maintenance of the gold basis by
civilized nations has been productive
of more misery and injustice than any
other single cause. 1t is a system de-
Tended only by false statement and
absurd sophistry. But its most ardent
advocates admit that the world will
outgrow it only when peopled by citi-
zens who equal these wiseacres in
economic lore. This is an assumption
not sustained by facts. The great plain
people of the land have already learned
the absurdity of seeking to
erect sound structure upon
constantly shifting and de-
creasing basis. 1t is for their
benefit to overthrow it. But it is for
the benefit of greed and corporate
wealth that the producing class should
be held in slavery, and no more potent
weapon for this purpose can be found
than the coin basis.
(T