The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1897-10-15
Buying Money and Selling Money

disc or labor they are buying the
former and hiring the latter. Buying,
however, is descriptive of the transaction
of selling money, but is rarely thought of
in that relation. High prices and low
prices are invariably applied to merchan-
disc. 1t is cheap or dear. In their
mental process of exchanging money for
goods or goods for money, the thought
seldom if ever occurs 10 the multitude
that the application Of cheap money and
dear money is as proper as when applied
to merchandise.
There are two classes of buyers and
sellers and they occupy relations directly
antagonistic in business to each other.
The producers of merchandise-food,
clothing, fuel, etc.-are the buyers OF
money and sellers of products. Those
who already possess money by whatever
means acquired are the purchasers Of
products, and the sellers of money.
If products or articles of any kind are
scarce in proportion to the demand for
them, they command a high price, conf
paratively small quantity of them buys
large amount of money, and the posses
sors of these scarce articles account them
selves lucky, and say they have sold
them for big price. They have bought
an unusual quantity of money with them.
The constant study of these two oppos-
ing parties is to buy cheap. The man
whose income is derived from salary, or
interest, annuity, dividends from stock,
ETC., wants commodities or merchandise
he has to purchase, cheap so that he can
buy large quantity of them with COM
paratively small amount of money, and
he claims that times are "good." This
class naturally belong to what is i'll conf
mon parlance called the goldbug class. If
a man hold mortgage, is the fortunate
owner of bonds or stocks from which he
derives handsome income, he, we think,
without solitary exception, ranges him
self OH the goldbug side. 1t matters not
that he may be producer of things
which he must sell for low price, the
debt which he holds over some body else,
whether direct or indirect, sways his
judgment, or more properly his prejudices
to the side of the creditor class.
But how is it with the other parties
whose dependence is on the products of
their labor, from farm, shop or mill, or
from their daily manual or mental service?
They are all money buyers. They are
compelled to buy money with their pro-
ducts-they call it selling their produce
or labor, and by this habit of speech they
are made the victims of the party who
sells money to them.
These buyers of money do hot stand
together like the sellers of money, but
scatter and aid the money sellers TO keep
in power and by shaping the laws i'll their
interest keep money scarce and dear.
Debt is much better for them than cash.
Debt forms no part in the circulating
medium but to the owner is as profitable
as the cash, while to the debtor and pur-
chasing class it becomes twotold burden.
1t aids in contracting the circulating
medium or cash used in trade-buying
and selling-while it draws back from the
producer of things portion of the money
the producer buys with his products.
Hence it is clear that it is to the interest
of every producer of salable property and
every laborer who sells his labor for wages
or cash, to have plenty of money i'll cir
culation, plenty of money on the market
to sell for the products of his labor. For
taxes, interest and extinguishing of debt
a dollar is always dollar, and if the pro-
ducers of things receive high price for
their products the producers are i'll pros
porous circumstances.
At this point is exactly where the pres
ent trouble comes in, which we all call
hard times. The moneyed class the debt
holders, the salaried classes, the interest
receivers, etc, call these good times. pros
porous times. They can buy everything
the laboring, producing class creates for
little money. If the laboring and pro-
ducing class would pull together and vote
together like the moueyed class they
could readily change all this. They
could get possession of the government,
put more money i'll circulation-for the
government makes and issues all money,
which draws no interest from the people.
Banks issue credit-all bank notes repre-
sent credit which they palm upon the
community or producing class to serve
as money and exact large sums in interest
for the use of this credit The great
scarcity of money keeps prices low and
the banks credit system robs them on
the other hand by interest.
Making money scarce was the method
by which forty billions of debt has been
piled on the wealth producers of the
country, and low prices and interest
steer this wealth into the pockets of the
debt, mortgage and bond owning rich.
Will the hard working people ever learn
these facts and act in their own interest?