Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1897-05-21
FREE SILVER BATTLE,
rs EVERY Dy'S FIGHT
AGAINST THE MONEY 1NDERS
Every Man Interested In the Production
or the Sale of Products Should Oppose
Currency Contra tion- e orha m s Logical
View.

The cunning foxes who oppose the
restoration of silver to its place as a
money metal have been able by their
craft to enlist on their side manufac-
turers merchants and transportation
companies. They have, employed hack
writers to mistake facts and to make
false arguments in newspapers, maya
zines, pamphlets and pretentious trea-
tises. The manufacturer who Is para
lyzed by the steady decline In prices
which is forced by contraction has been
worked up to a high pitch Of excitement
In his zeal for contraction. The mer-
chant whose warehouses are full of
goods which he cannot sell because Of
the prevailing want of work among the
people marks his prices down every
month or two and loudly clamors for
the gold standard which alone causes
the depreciation in the value of his
property. The great railroad companies,
unable to make their roads earn eper-
ating expenses and interest on their
bonds, coerce their employees by the
hundreds Of thousands to vote for the
gold standard. which stops production
by reducing the prices of farm and mill
products, and thereby lessons the
amount Of freight to be carried over
their roads. The only men in the world
who are not positively injured by the
gold standard, and the consequent con-
traction in the volume of money, are
those who lend money either for them
selves or for others. Business men
do business mainly on a credit
system. Business enterprises have capt.
tai as a foundation for their business
and their credit as the structure which
they build upon that foundation. 1t is
the business of the money lenders to An
duce people to borrow, so that they may
breed money by lending it to them.
The spendthrift who has inherited an
estate can borrow from the rapacious
and exacting Shylock all the money for
which he can give good security. Shy
lock will encourage him to borrow. The
amount he will lend him is measured
only by the estimated value of the
security offered, with All allowance for
depreciation and the difficulties of quick
sales.
From the dawn of civilization the
money lenders have endeavored to in
crease the value of money by diminish
ing its quantity in the world. Every
time they could strike down the num-
Der OF pieces, each piece would be
worth more property than before The
men who acquire property in lands,
merchandise and great business plants
ought to be engaged with equal zeal in
maintaining at least the same amount
OF money in the world, and increasing
it in proportion to the increase In pop
ulation and the growth of the business
of the world. Why should the mer-
chant aid his creditor in making money
dear and merchandise cheap? Why
should the manufacturer labor for
decline in prices so that he can not
manufacture beyond the next two
months without certain loss? Why
should the railroad companies throw
all their energies in behalf of the mon
ey lenders, whose policy of gold con-
traction makes wheat so cheap that it
will not pay the western farmer to
produce it and pay freight on it to the
seaboard?
Those who loan money should be
honestly paid in money just as good as
they loan and no better They should
be paid in accordance with the con-
tract. They should not be allowed to
write new words into the contract
without the borrowers consent. They
should not be allowed to raise the
amount already written in the contract.
nor should they be allowed to do any
thing to the borrower which will make
it more difficult for him to pay them.
If he had two barns full of grain they
should not be allowed to burn one of
them. If he had pair of work horses
they should not be allowed to shoot one
of them at the pillow. They should not
be allowed to put drugs in his food
which will impair his vitality so that
he can not work as advantageously as
before. All these things they might as
we'll do as to so control legislation as
to cut down the value of his property
one-half, and thereby make his debts
twice as large in proportion to his DOS
sessions and resources as they were
before. All this they have done.-Hon.
George G. Gorham.