Iron County register., 1899-02-23

since / can remember, doing all the
good | could, and helping all kinds of
people to make living, until, as you
can see, am worn quite thin, while
you look as young and fat as ever. +"
Then rolling himself up by the side of
the Gold Coin, and looking him in the
eye, he continues: s'And now tell me
who gave you the right to claim me as
your servant or slaveP Don't you
know that my name is Free Silver,
and that / am Money, not represeu-
tative of money. like YOU"
The Gold Coin edged off little, as
if he were afraid to touch anything so
vile as the silver piece, and remarked
disdainfully:
81 want you to understand that am
no common stock. belong to rich
Jew, who lends me to Kings and Gov
ernments, who lock me up and send
out hired substitutes to do the work in
my place. / do not soil my hands
with work among common people, like
you do"
''Then by your own confession" re-
piled the Silver Dollar, "you are not
money-you are merely servant, and
do your work through substitutes. l.
you would 60 out and work with me a
few days you would soon discover what
money is, and the kind Of work it
ought 20 do. For instance, when you
saw me drop in here l was just from
the hands of butcher, who exchanged
me for feed for his stock. | came to
the butcher from an honest laboring
man, who exchanged me for meat to
feed his family with. / came to the
laborer from a coal mine owner, and
thus performed the important duty of
commissioner between capital and
labor, neither of which could prosper
without me. But my experience with
the two convinced me that labor is
more generous than capital, for the
mine owner insisted that l was too
heavy by one-forth to balance the days
work of the laborer, until finally the
latter sold his work for less than it was
worth, for the sake of peace and to
prevent any further argument. The
last person l visited before coming to
the mine owner was a poor widow, who
studied a long time before she could
decide where | would do the most good.
l was the only piece of money she had,
so that felt quite lonely while | re-
mained with her. l noticed that her
hand trembled when she touched me,
and frequently she would take me up
and look at me in a way that made me
very sad. On one of these occasions l
felt tear fall on my face, and l wished
then that could multiply my species
and fill her pockets. At last she de-
cided to exchange me for coal, but it
made me hot when l saw that the mine
owner gave her less in exchange for
me than he did those who bought
large lots. l tried to burn his pocket,
and think I did scorch his conscience
a little. l meet with many different
experiences in my travels. Sometimes
| visit places where there is great
deal of sorrow, anc in others all is JOY
and gladness, but | notice that wher-
ever go l am always welcome visi-
tor. Everybody is glad to see me,
and none part from me without regret.
But my work requires me to keep go
ing; l never can find time to stop and
idle around, like you do-and to tell
you the truth, / don't think that is the
way for respectable money to do. Our
business is to circulate, to keep NOV
ing, for somebody is always in need of
us. Only the other day was in sick
room, where the father lay at the point
of death, while his little ones were
crying from hunger. / tell you | got
out of there in hurry, and sent back
as much bread and medicine as could
exchange myself for. Of course Mr..
Gold Coin, you never did anything of
that kind, and you don't know any
thing about it. All this kind of work
falls on me. only regret that haye
not larger family, so we could do
more good work. The way it is now
there are so few of US that everybody
wants US at the same time, and this de-
mand makes US too valuable. 1t in
creases our worth beyond a fair limit,
so that the farmer and the labouring
man have to bid for US in the open
market, and give up great deal more
of their produce and labor than they
would if we were more plentiful and
easier to get. In fact, we are so val
liable that great many people would
rather have US than property. This
| reduces the value of property and
makes it worth so little that those who
own it cannot exchange it for anything
else, and so thousands of property owp-
ers who thought they were rich have
been reduced to poverty. The same
conditions hurt the working people.
because it does not pay to improve
property or build factories, and so