The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1898-04-12
THR POLITICAL

In my last article ! undertook to
show that people are divided into
two broad classes on the money ques-
tion. On the one hand we have the
metallists. This class comprizes two
types; those who believe in the single
gold standard or monumetallists, and
those who ,Eelieve in the free coinage of
silver and gold or the bimetallists.
These ttCO types r the same IN kind
and differ only IN degree.
Those who worship the old fetish
that gold or gold and silver are money
created go by nature, are rapidly di
minishing. Intelligent metallists are
now rapidly coming to the conclusion
that they ers commodities and claim
that they should be used as money be
cause they are more uniform in pro-
duction and less liable to fIcsuation in
value and should be made the standard
by which to measure all other com
modities. This admission is a matter
Of the utmost Importance, as I shall
A@~OA StAGO w GAS" 4AGO4 OAs
The other class consists of the f1atists.
They reject the idea that money is a
product of nature and claim that it is
a creature of law entirely-that the
material Of which money should be
made is a minor matter. That the real
heart and soul of this controversy
about money is not as to the material
of which money shall be made, but
who shall make, issue and control it.
This class, the iatists have embodied
their financial principles in the Ma
tional platforms of the Peoples party
as adopted at Omaha and st. Louis.
In view of these facts, open and mani
fest, how astonishing it is to often hear
Intelligent men who profess to be Popu-
lists and are undoubtedly sincere in
their professions say 1.-The Democrats
stole our principles at Chicago 1.-The
DemocC IS have come to us on the
money question" The truth is the
Chicago Democratic platform and the
ST. Louis Populist platform are as wide
apart as the poles on the money ques
ton. They do not even agree on the
silver question, about which such a din
is being made.
The silver Democrats still adhere to
the old delusion that money must have
so called intrinsic value, and therefore
the precious metals made so by arti
fetal demand mainly alone are money,
and that any paper used rs money is
only an evidence of debt and must be
redeemable in metal money. This is
the fly in the ointment that ruins the
whole. This chains commerce to a
complicated system of barter which is
a relic of barbarism. This ''redemp-
tion'' of money has ever been a most
cruel engine Of oppression, enabling
the specializing cliques, aided by the
banks, to expand and contract the cir
culating medium largely at their own
sweet wills, and thus raise and lower
prices to suit their purposes. Like the
car of judgment it has gone forth al
intervals to MAIN and crush our people.
The Democrats claim the Tree coin
age of silver, as proposed by them, vii
give us bimetallism. For the sake OF
argument only, I will accept their con,
t3ntion, and what then7 We will have
tue old system of finances that existed
in our country from the foundation Of
our government until silver was de
monetizsd, and what is its records Dc
you say this will bring US back to the
conditions in the days Of Jefferson and
jackson. Very true, but were these
great men pleased with the financial
conditions of their time7 Far from it.
as could be easily shown. In fact they.
in a measure, advocated the tunda
mental principles of the Peoples party.
In these happy times which u Demo
cratic friends want to restore, oul
country was cursed with periodical
cyclones Of financial ruin, Witness
the panics of 1887, 1916 and 1857.
But the free coinage of silver made
the Democratic plan of coin redemp
ton will not give us bimetallism, bat
the single silver standard, in lieu Of
the single gold standard, and no one
; can predict with certainly what the