Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1897-05-25
DEBTS AND SILVER RESTORA-
TON.

nulnDef Oh oOe "dTt paper Ile OlIVCr
knight. fro which we copy portion,
as follows:
"rhe property of the world Is under
mortgage to the holders Of money OBJ
isations. Debts national. municipal.
corporate. aud individual are every
where, ih ali climss and under all
pa;iopalities. bearing down with
crushing weight upon the people
ny, whose LABOR they must be die
eAaTged, Tweutyrnine billions. OF
dollars. nf national bonded indebted
ness-an equal amount. at least, of
debts due by municipal corporations
---lriyate property in addition to
ircumbrances. pledged for half it's
iyalur., This is the load under which
industry bends and staggers as it is
driven toward hopeless servitude.
And this burden the cold blooded US
urers propose W double by legislative
and administrative manipulation of
governmental power. Perhaps the
none. power is omnipotent. Per-
haps the people will submit to be
first robbed and then deprived of
their Independence. I refuse to be-
heve it,. But my only reliance for it's
prevention Is upon the people OF the
United States. This nation alone has
both the necessary .,.,I:lgth and the
fundamentally OF free ballot. II
the world is to be So from this inn
pending calamity the salvation must
come from the intelligent voters of
tbis republic. But this depression.
What wish to say end emphasize is
that the injustice of silver demoneti-
cation falls directly and most heavily
upon property owning debtors, in
GLIDING the tax payers by whom ma
tional and municipal debts must be
paid. It is against debtors that the
blow is directed and primarily they
feel its force, but the force Ii by no
m cans expended upon them. When
debtors are failing business stagnates.
Inability OF debtors to meet their
obligations is not only the .infallible
index of business prostration but
the most potent agency in producing
it.. With a normal facility of debt
paying there can be no hard times.
With an abnormal frequency of fail
ures there can be no general pros
perity. This constant relation is
very simply explained by the fact
that both conditions have a common
cause. Both are the result of falling
prices. Tho means OF discharging
debts can only be obtained by a sale
Of property or labor. AS prices
decline, therefore, the difficulty of
debt-paying increases. So when
prices are sinking the inclination to
productive enterprise is weakened
and finally destroyed. These two
conditions mutually react and one
constantly reinforces tho other.
Debtors are purchasers rs well as
sellers and when menaced by bank
ruptcy because of the inadequate
price OF that which they have to sell
they restrict or possibly discontinue
their purchases and thus the market
for producers is constantly narrowed
until production ceases to be profit.
able, Thus a gold standard means
not only ruin to debtors. but ON i'm
definitely prolonged paralysis oil
Industrial enterprises. The end will
only be when the property Of those
who owe money shall have been con.
tiscated and when from necessity the
producers Of wealth snail consent to
employ their hands and their brains
"a absolute dependence upon power.
full class Of owners of money oblipa.
tions, who by the authority Of cor.
ruptly made law will hold the indus
try of the world in bondage. Whethe,
this infamous scheme can succeed
rests, as I said before, with the Amer
lean people.1