People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1897-02-18
BONDS AND BONDAGE.
A SYSTEM WHICH BURDENS THE
MASSES TO BENEFIT THE FEW.

WfNOOGO ~ oGNGTll tElG
How All Honest Workers Are vitality Con-
rned-Insstiable Greed Of the Gold
God-How the Governor Of Guernsey
Erected Q Market House.
When will the bond age cease? Bondsl
Thirty year bonds-some Of our high off,
Gals want to make them 80 year bonds,
and also that they be payable, interest
and principal, in gold and gold only.
That means that the wealth producers
will be burdened with debt for at
least 80 years, with the principal and
interest a growing burden, for gold is
constantly appreciating in value (it is
said to have increased in value IA per
cent last year,. We cannot eat gold,
nor will it clothe or shelter us. Yet ev-
erything we eat or wear or use in any
way is controlled by the gold god. The
producer Of real wealth, the wealth that
satisfies wants and gives us comfort,
must give constantly increasing meas
ure to the greed Of the gold god. That
is the reason that dollars are harder to
get. The farmer gets less for his golden
grain and his blushing fruits, yet these
gifts of the real God are as good as they
ever WERE 1t makes me sick to think Of
those thousands of bushels Of potatoes
rotting in the ground in Minnesota be-
cause the price does not justify their
digging. Yet those potatoes are as good
as potatoes ever were, and many hun
cry mouths want them. But the gold
god does not recognize intrinsic good
ness nor human need. Neither does the
railroad monopoly that stands in the
way Of these products being marketed
at a living price to the producer.
Bond the producing forces of the
country, when vast fortunes of millions
and millions bear no national burden,
contributing not one penny to the gov
eminent that made those fortunes pos
siblel Even at the death Of the present
holders the government inherits no part
of these fortunes, although it is in sore
need Of funds. Other countries inherit
a part of great private ,fortunes-they
call it an inheritance tax, but it is only
rightful inheritance by the government.
Is there one physician who reads this
that does not see that he is vitality in
terested? Wework for the peopel direct
ly, for every class, high and low. Our
support must come from all. No one
can be more interested than the doctor
in strict economic justice to every class.
When the farmer gets fair prices for his
produce, when the laborer and mechan-
10 get steady employment and good
wages, when the merchant has a good
trade and fair profits, then all Of these
can employ the doctor when needed and
get the requisite medicine and appli-
ances and pay the doctor. But when the
price of wheat and cotton goes below
cost Of production, and potatoes are not
worth digging, when the unemployed
grow TO a vast army, when the mer-
chant sees the values Of his goods 20
down, down, down, through the appre-
citation of gold and his customers be-
coming less and less able to purchase
from him, when all these things pre-
vail, as they have during the last two
or three years, the doctor must suffer.
What though few bondholders gloat
over more bonds and trusts and monopo-
lies thrive; the masses Of the people suf-
fer, and the rank and file of the medical
professions suffer with them.
If congress should decide to push the
Nicaragua canal to completion, / sup
pose that would be the signal for more
bonds. But why? Why not adopt the
sagacious course Of the governor of the
island Of Guernsey some years ago?
The story is a simple one. The island
ers needed market house, but had not
the money which was thought neces-
sary to build it. But they had plenty Of
labor and material. The governor is
sued rent checks. These were used to
pay for labor and material, and when
the market house was completed were
received in payment Of rent. / think
the building cost $40, 900. Every year
$4,000 in rent checks was collected for
rents. These were burned each year
with appropriate ceremonies. At the
end of ten years no checks we're out.
standing. They had the market house,
no debt, and all without the use of gold
or bonds.
The rent checks not only paid for the
stone, etc., and employed the labor for
the building, but they circulated as cur
rency, helping to give commercial life
to the place, and in every way they
were blessing. If they had been inter-
est bearing bonds, they would have
been locked up for the interest, bur-
den to the islanders perhaps to this day.
Why can't we build the Nicaragua
canal in the same way-by issuing cur
renoy receivable for toll as soon as the
nanal 10 nr,onnd2 AnuhL; I'M. L..A Lo..ln