Willmar tribune., 1899-09-27
The Cause of Free Silver.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
How the Gold Standard Takes Value
Out Of Property and Puts
1t Into Money.
A friend has sent us copy of New
York paper containing notice of a
large number of sales of property in
that city under foreclosure of mort
gage2. In every instance the money
lender got the property, and generally
for less than the amount of his debt.
OF course in such cases the owner loses
his property and is still in debt to the
money lender. This is good illustra-
ton of the process by means of which
the gold standard takes value out of
property and puts it into money; and if
the process continues the money lend
ers will soon own both property and
money, and the masses of the people
will become their tenants and serfs,
says the Mississippi Valley Democrat
and Journal of Agriculture. In one in
stance large factory and the ground
on which it stood were sold to a New
York bank for $4,000, that being $22,-
900 less than the amount of the liens
on the property. We presume from
these facts that this property was worth
at least 100000 when the loans were
made, for if it had been worth less than
that sum the owner could not have bor-
rowed $4,000 on it. Now he loses his
entire equity and is still $22 1000 in debt.
In another instance a four-story brick
store building was sold under mortgage
for $1,000! If this is not plain rob-
berry under the fiction of fraudulent
law, then what is it? The same paper
contains an account of the sale of the
famous "Oakwood" grounds and man.
sion of Henry Probasco, in the suburbs
of Cincinnati, which cost the owner
$500,000. They were sold at assignee's
sale and brought $4,000! Some years
ago Mr.. Probasco retired from business
a millionaire. He was a public-spirited
citizen and gave away large sums of
money to charitable institutions, but
the gold standard caught him and
crushed him. The gold standard was
never intended to benefit people who
have hearts. Instances like these are
occurring every day in all the large
cities. AS rule, when one borrows
money and pledges his property as Sc
curity, the property either goes to pay
the debt at the end of the term, or the
owner borrows from some one else and
extends the agony over another period
of years. But the inevitable end is
reached at last, and the property owner
finds himself pauper. If these were
exceptional cases they might reason
ably be attributed to bad management
or the legitimate results of the fluctua-
tions of trade, but when they are the
rule, as they are and have been for
years past, they prove that a wrong
principle is in force.
The conditions are worse in the coun-
try than in the city, for notWithstand-
ing the "abundance of money" those
who have it do not seek rural outlets.
The Democrat and journal are not in
the money-lending business, but hard
ly a day goes by that we do not receive
appeals from our country friends, who
have read accounts in the daily papers
about the abundance of money in the
cities, begging us to help them secure
loans to keep their property from be-
ing sold. Such letter is now before
us, written by man who owns one of
the finest farms in Montgomery coun-
ty, this state. He says: "The people
here val'le land at $50 and $50 per acre.
The bank has a mortgage on my place
(naming an amount less than half it's
value), and insists on payment. Money
is so scarce here that no one has any TO
loan." This is the burden of all the
letters of this class that come to us.
The inevitable result will be that this
farmer will be sold out by the bank
and lose the savings of the lifetime,
while the bank will get his property for
less than half it's value. Looking at
the matter in the light of these Incl
dents, you can readily see why money
lenders can afford to let their money
accumulate and lie idle, or lend it on gilt
| edged security at rates that bring them
but little more than the annual taxes.
AASJ OIL "NAA d"oAC " lllC ldCC lAul
money has no intrinsic value, that all
value is in property, and that money
is merely the measure by means OF
which property is exchanged. There
fore, if you constantly shorten or con.
tract the measure, as we have been do
ing for 80 years, it is only question OF
time when all property will pass into
the hands of the money lenders. The
process is hastened by the concentrat.
ing power of interest, for, when a man
becomes so wealthy that his interest
brings him more than he spends, or re-
turns to public circulation, he has only
to wait a given time to acquire both
principal and interest. The man who
| imagines that he can beat the combina.
| tion of interest and steadily declining
prices and make a decent living for his
family has more faith in his ability
than experience and common sense JUS
tify.
| Ready for Battle Again.
| These who claim that the battle fol
free coinage of silver has been Tough
and lost, and that it will never be the
! lca6ine iSsne q arain dO not rea lie wha'