Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-09-16
SCARCITY OF MONEY.
MANY PARTS OF SOUTH AND WEST
HAVE NO MONEY.

business Conducted by Barter-A Remark
able Speech by w. e. Dodge-TeiIs New
York Chamber OF Commerce What
Caused Bryan's Big vote-A had Cur
rency system-Farmers Have Real Griev-
ances-Must BE Attended to Before 1900.
Mr.. W. e. Dodge, one of New York's
most e~nterprising and philanthropic
business men, vas a delegate from the
New York chamber of commerce to the
business mems sound money conven-
ton which met recently at indianapolis
He was a member of the executive COM
mittee of the Indianapolis convention.
A short time after he was chairman Of
the arbitration committee at Washing
ton. In both capacities he had excellent
opportunities for meeting representa-
tives from different states. The follow
ing is a part of his somewhat remark
able speech before the chamber of COM
merce when submitting his report of the
Indianapolis monetary convention:
II was surprised, sir, to find the as
sertion made constantly by men from
the far western states and the south and
southwestern states that it was not Mr.
Bryan and it was rot silver that they
were in favor of, ~ they needed some
change to bring relief from the terrible
condition of poverty and scarcity of
money under which they labored- They
felt that their condition was so extreme
and so painful that any change would
be of value, and when l came to look
into the matter and to talk in a friendly
and kindly way with them they all
confirmed the same feeling, which / had
found at a long conversation i'll the
treasury department., in Washington,
that the circulation of the country is
quite out of joint, that the lungs and
heart are congested and that the ex-
tremities of the country are absolutely
without any blood.
found that there were great sections
of the southern and western country
where there was absolutely no money at
all, where the most primitive forms Of
barter obtained, where everything was
most disorganized. One gentleman told
me that in his co7nty, which was quite
a rich agricultural country, by some
happy accident a $50 bank bill had
come down into the county, and that he
had taken a horse and buggy and spent
four days in visiting all the towns in
the county striving to get it changed
into smaller bills, but had been unable
to do SO, and finally was obliged to send
il to Richmond. There were senators
who told me that their constituents
never saw a dollar of money from the
beginning of the year to the end, with
the result that they had constantly to 60
into debt to the local storekeepers. The
local ~storekeepers received their pay IN
kind. In fact, everything vas drifting
back to the old times before money was
invented. This was not in section OF
the country only, but in large sections.
"We can quite easily understand that
where there is not sufficient money to
establish a national bank under the
very onerous laws at present III force
there is nothing else to take the place.
The same difficulty has come up In other
parts of the world. In Austria and Hun
gary, in southern Germany and in south
ern France these difficulties We're under
stood and appreciated Years ago, and
agricultural banks have been founded
there, and they have doubled the value
Of real estate, and they have made the
peasantry and the farmers rich and
prosperous.
1.-THE same thing has taken place in
Scotland, as many of u friends know.
Every town in Scotland With ever 1000
p@oopie has a branch bank OF some n OF
t~hegreatbanks of Edinburghor Glasgow.
A man Of good character who wants to
ft out q fishing smack or buy anything
for his farm is able TO go there, and II
his credit is good he il able to borrow
money as cheaply as any merchant could.
r. has a double effect. 1t is not only
giving to those neighborhoods the money
that they actually need, but 1t is edu-
eating the people in Thrift and prompt.
ness. i have talked with Q great many