The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1899-09-28
The Bu.x Saw ON Postage Stamps.


Every Populist in the nation has
heard of Scott Morgan, the Buzz Saw
man, and many have seen him. He lives
in the wilds of Arkansas, but is not a
wild man. He is "sui generis'-the
only of his kind in the country-bold.
brainy and brilliant, but by no means
beautiful. He handles the political
scalpel with dexterity, and illuminates
many knotty question by his logic.
Here is specimen-a dissertation on
postage stamps:
"Ths government issues scores Of
millions of dollars of stamps every
year, and yet it announces to the public
that it will not redeem them. Not
withstanding this fact, the value of the
postage stamp is not impaired and never
f1uctuates. No one ever corners the
supply. They are not good in "Yur-
rup," and we never consulted any ma
tion on earth about what to make them
of or how many to make. But they are :
good in America, although they are not
"bottomed" on gold. They have no me-
tallic basis. They are not only good for
the use for which they were intended but
millions of dollars worth of them are
used every year as medium of ex-
change. Here is one of the little things
lying before me on my desk now. A
piece of paper about an inch long and
seven-eighths of an inch wide. What
does it say? United States postage,
two cents.'' That is ALL The govern
ment prints them. 1t prints them on
paper. The demand is always equal to
the supply. If there is much mail to
move, to be exchanged from one person
to another, and from one place to an
other, the government prints more
stamps. You don't have to pay the
postmaster in chickens and turnips and
garden sass"
You use postage stamp, and no diff
ference how many you use, or how few,
the price is the same, and you get them
as cheap as the man who buys a hun
dred thousand dollars worth a year.
You have one of the stamps. 1t says to
you, in effect that you are entitled to
receive two cents worth of service from
the people as a whole. And you can get
that service. The stamp then is re-
deemable in service, and being good for
that, it is acceptable as a medium Of
exchange for small amounts in a great
many instances. Now suppose the gov
ernment would print money not redeem
able in gold or silver, but receivable for
taxes, just as stamps are receivable for
postal services, does it not stand to rea-
son that such money would be good?
1t is exactly parallel case. But how
will the government put this money into
circulation? Pay 1t out for services.
and loan it small tax, as it does now
to the national banker. But it will
food the country" says an objector. It
is constantly going back for taxes and
in the return of such loans. Like the
postage stamps, it Is going both ways
at once. Has the country ever been
flooded with postage stamps? People
only get what they need. So it will be
with money. There are just enough
postage stamps printed to transact the
mail business. If any one should take
it into their heads to corner the postage
Uncle Sam would grin and print
more. He would do the same thing
with money. He would simply supply
the demand, and people would no more
overload themselves with money that
they did not need, because they must
give value received for it, or good Sc
curity, which is equivalent to the same
thing Money is deified, because 1t is
scarce and hard to get; and because it
is deiied, it is powerful in the hands Of
the few who have it. II can only be
dethroned by making it plentiful enough
that the demand for it be no greater
than the demand for property. Then
will be on equal terms with
and labor, which produces prop
erty, will be on equal terms with capital.
Mercury.