The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1897-09-03

W. WV "ouAO W
preparing a grub stake" for Klon-
dyke.
There must be some all-powerful mo-
tive to account for this wild craze.
There can be no result without an ade-
quate cause. Men will lay down their
lives for various reasons. But for this
rest from the winter cold by Ginning
widespread frenzy many causes and
those the most powerful must have
combined. And there is reasonable ex-
PLANTATION. The people have been read
ing the literature Of the Reform club
n Sound Money league. They have
learned h a civilization depends on the
maintenance of a solid basis of gold.
They have heard Bynum say that the
national honor depends upon a 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
natlcs and theorists who would destroy
the gold basis And there are many
patriots. They love their country and
account him a coward who reckons the
cost OF its defense. And these pa
trlots know there is gold up in the
hlondyke regions. They have seen
wan faced pilgrims returning, hugging
thelr~ thousands and boasting of the mil
lions left in sight" The increasing
multltudes of the earth must have a
SOUND basis for their money, lest
bynum and statesmen of his ilk he
torn in spirit because of impending
national dishonor. Here lies one i'm
portant factor in this Klondyke craze.
And there are Others.
Cnde a civilization based on gold"
honors must necessarily be heaped up
on those controlling a generous share
or the basis Desire for ease and
comfort is natural to man. Love of ad-
m1ratlon is its fellow. All laws are
'rKsome to some people. The power Of
oe1ylng all law is, therefore, d 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, the secure the passage of a new
tariff, and call their plundering pro
lection" Or if they would prosper un-
der a more dainty industry than vulgar
manufacturing they bride legislators
10 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
lhey trade wives and part with a. por-
ton OF their gold in the purchase for
thelr daughters of a foreign dude with
a title. and the world calls both tran
sactlons "marriage." They build char
mel houses Of civilization and install
therein learned men whose reason
II not operate, and whose convic-
tlons must be stifed, and call these in
stltut1ons universities" Heat and
vi " lllOS6 ldSOI0u OI
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 a
chance to work by cutting up into small
holdings the monopolized natural on
portunities of that region. Or when
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. un-
less wrong is right and right is wrong.
then a system that unsexes woman and
humans man is established in inio,,itv
Unless there be fault in every natural
law, it is the grossest absurdity to SIM
pose that the more scarce the commod-
lty the more necessary it is for tho
welfare OF mankind and the honor of
nations, or that civilization NAV not be
save as it rests upon an exploded tho,
DRY and q barbaric fetish. 1t is douht-
less true that invention of money has
been of great benefit to the world in az
tending productive possibilities. But
the maintenance of the gold basis by
civilized nations has been productive
of more misery and injustice than anv
other single cause. 1t is a system DO