The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1897-08-05

dollars during the past year, are misleading. They are regularly published
Ito restore confidence" For the benefit of my eastern brother l will e.
plain, lest he may imagine that we are each year paying back more money
than We borrowed during that time, and that therefore, in the course Of &C.
ologic time. our debts would be paid.
The reduction Is a reduction Of record only. | have known Of the
payment Of ss5 to reduce the record $3.50, add 800 to make "a reduction of
400; and for various reasons many mortgages are cancelled without any cash
payment. These are well known facts and could give a long list of those
which have come under my own personal observation while the mortgages
which l have known to be paid in full might be counted on the fingers ofone
In addition tothis. nearly every city or incorporated town, and many of
the counties, have a bonded Indebtedness as large as they can possibly carry
In ome cases bonds have been issued and sold to pay interest on otherbonds,
and in one case at least Pratt Center-the interest payments have beendis-
continued "by order OF the council"
THE FUTURE PROSPECT.
SO far | have been dealing only with the past and the present, and have
given only a plain statement Of facts, the value of which must depend upon
my capacity as an observer, my opportunities for observation and my truth
fitness as a writer. If you are inclined to be skeptica| inquire Of
your neighbors who hold, or have held, western mortgages The
value Of my forecast Of the immediate future must depend upon the charac.
ter of my reasoning and Judgment.
As death and taxes" are certain. it is safe to predict that taxes wilb
levied to pay the interest, and afterwards the principal, of city bonds. AL
so it may be assumed that you, who own the larger and more valuable share
Of the property, will pay the lions share of the taxes. The western man
has "let go; he is not sin the deal;' and when one capitalist is taxed to pay
another, he is not an 'interested" party. sympathize with you. You
have exchanged good money for bad property: and with the property you
have assumed the bulk of our burden of taxation. You must payour bonds,
pay for the repairs and Improvements of public property, pay for educating
our children and making our laws, and yet you have no voice in determining
when, how, or to what extent these things shall be done: nor power to pre-
vent the jobs and steals which accompany such tran sactions in Kansas as
well as in New York.
But, notwithstanding my sympathy, and the additional fact that must
indirectly suffer from the effects of your suicidal policy, it is amusing to see
you trying to squeeze the remaining value out Of your own property. For, l
repeat, it is yours. Interest payments will cease in the same ratio that they
have ceased, and for the same reasons. And the principal cause will be that
the mortgagor has discovered that he has no equity in the property. If
property is worthonly what tit will bring in property," there aref few pieces
Of motgaged property in the west in which there still remains an equity.
But many farmers are economizing and wearing rags in order to make inter.
est payments, which can only result in putting the evil day a little further
The westerner Isl practical man. When he dnds that the equity is all
squeezed out Of his property, and that it is still being squeezed at the same
rate, he stops paying taxes and interest, uses the property free while youare
forecoing, saves up a little money, buys a house for about onetenth of the
money it cost to build it, moves it onto clear lot, and is then ready to
help you squeeze your property by voting for taxes for various purposes. I'm
der like circumstances the farmer raises one OF two crops without rent, taxes
or interest, clothes his family more comfortably, replaces wornout machin-
cry, rents a farm and Is In better circumstances than he has been for years,
THE PROPOSED REMEDY.
1t may be that there is no remedy, but that will not prevent us from
trying to find one. During the las, ten years we have experimental. We
have tried democratic rule and republican rule; the mckinley bill" andthe
Wilson bin' tariff for protection" and tariff for revenue only" a treas
uy surplus and a treasury "dcfcit;' yet none Of these things have sensi
bly, affected the squeezing process. We have lost our faith in the tariff and
in tarftInkering, as well as in the leaders who recommend it, We have
dismissed of old political leaders and chosen new ones; and as your gold
standard squeezing policy is the only rational cause sin sight for the orr
gin and continuance of our condjtion-to use an expressive western phrase
we are 'going for it, ...~ ~ H f' -"
We ar willing that you should own and control the property which was
ours and in which your money was invested, but when you attempt to force
upon us your financial policy, your politics, and your religion, we object,
You may own and control the property, but not us; here we draw the line.
This is what Marsh Murdoch had in his mental view when he said at the 81.
Louis convention, "You want to own the country and run it too" But the
veteran editor OF the Eagle has changed hismind and consented to being run"
You have bought the leading papers, caused our editors to change their
minds y flooded the country with a trashy literature that is an insult to our
Intelligence, and provided funds to pay thirdIrate preachers for preaching to
US a religion which We do not want. We re not rich, yet we are able t pay
for our education and our reHgion-if lisa kind that will be of any use tous.
we 40 not fear the result of our experiment. II we fail the same old
squeeze will continue; il We succeed, there IS a prospect of relief. without
variation, there is not even a prospect of lettering our condition. live
should succeed in creating that financial paradox, a 53-ent dollar, we are
such political heretics as to prefer that kind of a dollar to none, OF to icon.
hdence. y We have unbounded confidence in the dollars which jingle in our
pockets but very little in those which exist only in the imagination, and
arr represented by stocks, bonds, checks, drafts clearinghouse certificates,
ana other devices, which always fail to perform the function of money in the
last extremity, when money is most needed.
ip nW allow yourselves to be terrified at the ghost of a silver dollar, for
ne ghost OF 1t is all that will ever trouble you. In the event of freecoinage
TN trains going east will not be loaded with silver dollars to pay off old
mortgages. have seen a statement In eastern papers to the effect that we
wanted cheap money with which to pay our debts. 1t is a base Islander;
every intelligent western man knows that, whatever happens short of the
miraculous only a small share Of our mortgage debts will be paid,
All the holdings you now have In the west, new and old taken together,
re t worth 80 cents on the dollar; and you cannot now in any way realize
much from them; and If your present policy is indefinitely continued
you nave no prospect Of ever realizing 5, per cent. on your investments. II,
then, you should be paid in silver dollars, n IA larger share of the loans
De paid under the new conditions you would be Il gamer and not a
" the change. 1t seems to me that an increase in the volume of
money ana rising prices are the opportunity for you to realize from your
holdings for without some favorable change you will hardly realize % pr
cent.
u" can test truth OF these statements. Take twenty holdings. not
SIeecteo' n Try to convert them into cash. Or offer them to some capital.
ISL "o as Travelled extensively in the west during the last five wears. Time
VIII convince you, II nothing else will: but the knowledge NAV com a little
'' "e rr practical purposes. You ought to be with us in this free4Ilver
and you would be II you knew what we know. We re not fools,
a''no"sn " g may appear SC to you; we know what we want, and we are try.