The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1898-10-14
PROGRESS AND CIVILIZATION.
In some Measure Depend Upon an
Adequate Money supply Need
Of Our Expanding Inte rests.

clOuS me tails from the mines "a tue
earth, and that progress wa suspend
ed and civiliza tion either Jagged or
positively retrograded at all periods
when the prod uction ofgold and SILVER
materially declined.
The influence of an adequ ate money
supply seems to have been understood
by the ancient Spartan rulers. who
made their domestic money OF iron
during several centuries, reserving
gold and silver for use in for eign trade
alone. In more modern times the OBJ
iect lessons demonstrating the erect
OF money supply have been so rked
as to impress themselves upon the
minds of leading thinkers, who have
bequeathed to the world a rich Legacy
In the form Of able treatises upon the
subject. Following the discovery OF
America the impetus that tn e worldre-
ceived through the gold and silver
brought TO Europe by the Spaniards
from Mexico and Peru is now gener-
ally regarded as the prin cipal cause
and to mark the beginning OF the re-
Nuisance in Europe, and to usher in
that period known as the grand march
of civilization.
1t has also been noted tn at when on
account of wars nations have been
compelled TO suspend specie pay ment
ard create paper money, endowing the
same by law with the debt-paying
power. accepting it for taxes and fore
ing the same upon government credit
a.. Il 10 ~ tp1
money has always stimula ted produc-
ton and business and bro ught on an
era of general prosperity. lthas also
been noted that periods succe eding
wars in which the paper money that
came into use during such war was be-
ing retired and the volume OF money
in circulation reduced, that an era Of
falling prices ensued, causing great
distress. limiting production and max
ing ii difficult or impossible for those
in debt TO discharge their obga lions
and save their equities.
Such object lessons as these have
caused thoughtful people to investi-
gate and discover the influence ex-
erted by an increasing or deere asing
volume Of money upon production and
exchange. Investigation soon re-
vealed the law controlling prices.
showing that they advance or recede
as the volume of money is Increased or
] diminished. In view OF tn e fact that
production is stimulated and the
wealth of the world largely increased
and the sum of human happiness multi
piled as the re sultof an ncr easin & mon
ey supply, and that an opposite result
Is produced when the mon ey supply is
being diminished, the question natur-
ally arises, why should no I all intelli-
gent men and good citizens put forth a
common effort to secure regular,
uniform and adequate money supply,
to the end that progress and prosperity
may go on uninterrupted?
The further question suggests itself
with great for ce, why in this marvellous
age of expansion and Development
there should be found apowerful body
of citizens ting the various
nations in comblna ton for the pur-
pose of outlawing one of the metals
that has been the source Of none y sup
ply throughout the ages?
The answer TO this question is that II
the nations and states of the world,
and the individuals and corpor n tions
transac ting the worlds business, had
not contracted large and enormous
debts TO be paid in money, 1T would not
be to the interest of any class to seek
to restrict the money supply and
through falling prices give money a
larger purchas sing power. And il may
be said that the only class in this ma
ton or any other that profits by di-
minishing money volume is those
whose invest ments are in money fu-
lures in the shape of bond 5 and mort
cages, who are unjus tly enr iched ut the
expense Of taxpayers and debtors
whose property is being gradually con-
flscated through the fall Of prices.
This reveals to us the mo ney power,
the worlds great bondh olders and
creditors, and enables us to under
stnd the motives by which they are i'm
PEELED.
Those who advocate the gold stand
ard seek to produce confusion in the
! minds of the average citizen regard
| ing what is meant when tn Q term mon
T, ey power is used. They ccuse those
who oppose them of seeking to array
the poor against the rich. Nothing
can be further from the fact. Among
the ranks Of the bime tallis are many
who possess enorm Gus for unes, while
the large body Of intelig e mt bimetal-
lists are men engaged in busine SIS, to-
gether with professio nal m en-, art isans,
and laborers, who either own homes
or are struggling to acquire homes.
On the other hand, the active advocates
of the gold standard are the bond
holding and creditor classes, toge thcr
with the banks under their control,
outside OF which their principal fol-
lowers are their employees and the
weak and dependent who IN they can
control, together with the venal pol
iticlans whom they reward handsome
~ for their services in fur thering the
selfish ends OF the creditor com bns-
tion. The money power is world
wide combinat ion working In concert