The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1898-03-04
Ne xiv

Ia the preceding number ] showed
that the national debts Of tho worlt
amount 10 about twenty eight Thousand
mliliongof dollars or more than sever
timektho sum ofall the gold In theworld
In addition to this vast amount Of bond
cd indebtedness, there Is 20 tbiB couutr,
a.stnte, county and municipal debt O
about q thousand million dollars ant
railroad bonds outstanding to tn,
amount Of about three thousand million
dollars The mortgage indebtedness On
farms and lots constitute an aggregate
Of six thousand million dollars more.
Tho municipal debts OF certain foreign
cities hs shown by the last ensus addf
another thousand million Of dollars to
the list Of bonded obligations although
the list comprises only q portion Of the
municipalities What the foreign rem
estate mortgages would foot up | have
no present means or ascertainiuR Nor
have ] the means Of reaching the
amount Of reaching the amount Of rail
road bonds outstanding IN foreign
countries The few principal itoms Of
recorded indebtedness / have cited ag
RreEate aboutthirt nine millions Of dol
lars, all dependent for upon less than
four thousand millions Of gold, and
about n thousand millions Of this Insult
feient amount Of money is locked up In
the war chests Of the several European
governments. Another large proportion
Of the gold supply is reserved by the
banks in their money vaults, and yet
another large part Is boarded by indi
Yiduala, while al Of It disappears from
circulation whenever anything like u
general demand for gold Is manifested
This would seem to be o pretty heavy
burden Of indebtedness resting upon a
very inadequate supply Of redemption
money but the indebtedness named
does not comprise one.haH IF the debts
now existing, or that were IN existence
twonty years ago. The money that is
due on notes Of hand and open accounts
and other forms Of u]nrecordod debt ia
far In excess Of the money due on re
corded obligations, Thus the total in
d]ebtedness public and private, Of tho
United States alone is estimated at
twenty thousand millions Of dollars
Now IL one will consider for q mo.
ment what an increase Of ten per cent
in the purchasing power Of the
dollar means, he will begin to uu.
derstaud the magnitude Of the inter
ests involved in the settlement Of the
silver question. A rise Of ten per cent
IN The purchasing power Of money and
aside from lbs purchasing or debt pay.
ing power money has no yaluel means
an addition Of ten per cent to the TWEEN
~ billions Of dollars Of Indebtedness; or
In other words, II will require Of labor
and labor products an additional sacri
flee Of two billions Of dollars (which is
more than half thelgold money Of the
world to nay tho ten per cent increase
IN the value Of money and OF the debts
that are payable In money. II an in.
crease Of ten per cent in The value Of
means an addition az two thousand mil
lion dollars to the burden Of the labor
ing people Of the United States alone,
how much, In heavens name will it
add to the burden Of labor throughout
the world And the two billions that
are lost by productive industry in this
shifting Of values Is a profit OF two bill
lions Of dollars to those who Mr. Car
lisle said were the idle holders of un
earned wealth IL IL to be wondered At
that a change IN the volume Of redemp
tion money In Elylal Ia 1916 Dy
which tile value OF every coin and every
debt payable in coin was doubled, caus
ca such widespread ruin as Sir Archi
bald Allison, Sir James Graham, Arch
bishop Walsh, Doubleday and other
historians and political economists have
rccordedG Ia It to be wondered at that
a panic Of fearful proportions should In
1878 have followed the destruction Of
silver as primary money! Here is the
picture Of the period from 1873 to 1879,
under the single gold standard, as
drawn By Robert G, Ingorsoll
mo man can imagine, all the Ian
guages Of the world cannot express
what the people Of the United States
suffered from 1873 to 1879 Men who.
considered themselves minionaires
found that they were beggars; men liv
ing III palaces surprising they had
enough to give sunshine to the winter
Of their rye, s%upposing they had enough
30 have enough 10 have all they loved
in ahluenco and comfort, suddenly
found that they were mendicants, with
bonds, stocks mortgages all turned to
ashes IN their hands The chimneys
grew cold, the fires in the furnaces.
went out, the poor families were turn
cd adrift. and the highways Of the Uni
ted States were crowded with tramps
Two things served to mitigate the Sc
verify Of the financial condition during
the period referred to by Colonel niger
soil The first was accession Of a dem
ocraho majority in congress, which
put q stop to the retirement Of the
~rreenbacks, thus retaining in circula
$500 300 600 Of legal tender currency
The second was the passage Of the
Bland Allison law which although ITS