Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1898-10-27
PHANTOM MONEY.
That Is the Real Basis the Goldites
and Holders of Bonds Are Work
ing Toward.

| auU COAtIdct1Ou COHtGuu Iudt out uIllS
actual money is needed to transact the
business of the country, as the money
work is chiefly performed by checks
drafts, bills of exchange, and other
credit instruments furnished by the
banks. These credit instruments are
all of them mere orders for the pay
ment of money given by debtor to q
creditor and presupposes the existence
of money to be delivered in exchange
| for them. But under the modern sys-
tenn of banking these credits are null
| tiplied to a point that exceeds many
fold the money in existence with which
they can be paid. The use of these
credits is a factor in unfolding prices,
and under favorable conditions large
amount of business can be transacted
through their use.
Enormous profits accrue to the banks
through the multiplication of these
credit devices, and when such are used
to perform money work they may prop
erly be denominated as phantom
money
The multiplication of bank credits
and their use as money substitutes a
|
conservative and legitimate undertake
ings with the elements of speculation,
| practically reaching a point where all
business operations are subjected to
the vicissitudes of chance akin to
| gambling. The desire among men to
| get something for nothing is so general
| that it can almost be said to be uni
versal. Modern bankers, through the
multiplication of bank credits, have not
| only devised plan to SOW shadows and
| gather substance, but they have per-
| fected a system of financial legerde-
main so cunningly constructed that the
evils and dangers involved in it have
| in a degree eluded the attention of the
| business world.
The movement to outlaw silver as a
money metal was inaugurated by the
| bondholders for the purpose of making
money scarce and dear. Their purpose
was to curtail the power of other
| things to exchange for money and en-
large the power of money to exchange
for other things. Through the fall of
prices that has accompanied every ad-
vance toward a gold standard, the
wealth of the world has been steadily
passing from the producing classes
into the hands of owners of bonds,
mortgages and other obligations call
ing for payment in money. The bust
ness men of the country that suffer
forts to resist the inevitable effects of
outlawing silver. encountered their pos
sessions with debt in q futile attempt
to uphold prices through the use of
their credit. The business and finan-
cial wrecks strewn along the path of the
gold standard during the past 80 years
demonstrate the folly of their course
and is a warning to all business men
that the expansion of private credit can
only multiply the evil consequences of
a contracting volume of money which
no temporizing is powerful enough to
overcome.
The fall in the general level of prices
since 1873 has been continuous, and as
a result every ounce of gold in ex-
istence will to-day purchase double the
amount of property and commodities
in general that it would in 1878. Yet
our progress towards such a low level
of prices as must exist when gold alone
becomes the money of ultimate pay
ment has been but slight. The effort to
resist the inevitable consequences of
our own legislation has in 80 years
piled up an indebtedness against our
people estimated to exceed $50, OO0,0 00,-
900 dollars. OF this amount the most
competent authorities estimate that
upward of $4,000, 900, 900 is owed tc for
eigners. On the journey towards
gold standard we find two classes are
becoming Unfortunately rich and CORE
spondingly powerful and all other
classes are sinking deeper and deeper
into debt and becoming dependent
upon these two classes.
One of the favored classes is COM
posed of those whose investments are
in bonds and mortgages alone. Their
wealth, aside from the accretions
through interest, is being constantly
added to through falling prices, which
gives to their dollars increased power
to purchase other things. The other
favored class is the bankers who loan
credit and draw enormous profits from
the business community.
A bank formerly was an agency
through which the borrowers and lend
ers of money were brought together.
A man having money in excess of his
needs loaned it to the bank. Another
needing money in his business became
a borrower at the bank; the difference
between the rate of interest paid by the
bank and the rate it received from the
borrower constituting the profit of the
bank Later the bankers discovered |
that enormous profit could be made by |
substituting the notes of the banks for |
money and loaning them to the people |
TO be used in lieu of money.
The history of bank notes is familiar |
to many. Through the introduction of |
bank notes as money substitutes the |
bankers were enabled to draw inter |
est on their own debts. The community |
that used these notes in lieu of money |
became the victims of the greed of the |
bankers. |
The failure of the banks to induce |
Chase in 1861 to recommend /
to President Lincoln that the govern |
ment borrow bank notes to conduct the 1
civil war and use the force of the gov |
eminent to give them circulation marks |
an epoch of the warfare of the banks |
against the people in this country. Gov
eminent legal tender money proved |
good in time of war. IT upheld the in |
dustries of our country in its most try
ing hour, when the hand of every Shy
lock on earth was against US.
The hanks entered into a cnmhiu l.