The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1899-05-13

Journal Of Agriculture a. once SAN
that il such Is the cas-, then no one has
= night 10 have hire for its usa- Tbs
again is the answer Of q who takes =
Superficial glance =, = question, and
speaks IS confidently on Il, as Il he
~ere the one Who bad given a score Of
years to It's consideration. Money Is
IN = way public or community prop
erty. Go TO Alaska and Dig gold out
Of the ground. and You q have il
fashioned into cups to drink your
home-rAised rye coffee out Of, or the
milk from your own cows; or you Al
have ii made into iewelry TO pot on
your wiies fingers or bedeck her
bosom wishal, % that you and she,
who ought TO be SHe, can enjoy 1t
without the cooperation Of another
single SOIL. But take It to the mint
aud have il coined into money and Il IS
a useless to Jon a pebble, exeeP,
BY the cooperation Of The other men,
ben OF the community. You cannot
get any use or good out Of it except by
parting with II TO some member Of the
cOmmunay. Therefore, ! say il Is in 4
way community property. Stephen
COlwell calls ii ''the Instrument Of
association not 8 bsd name. The
Tremendous ~dtaiculty thrown n the
say Of associating in civilized CON-
munnies without money,As the medium
Of exchange shows that it is the inter-
est Of every community 10 encourage,
not discourage its presence. 1t differs
from such complete community prop
critics As the highways and public
buildInss in this: any one can at any
time, eOnvert his share Of it into private
property at viii By melting it down
and using it for other purposes than
money. No ons can fence of bis share
of the highway, or take out his share
Of the bricks in the court house. Thus
the attempt to prove that il money is
in a way community property it Is on
exactly the same footing in all ways
with entirely community property, is s
mistake growing out Of lack Of full
understanding Of the question.
Legislators, alleged representatives Of
the whole people, but in fact and in
general more anxious to subserve their
private gain and personal benefit, can
not be expected to be the first TO put
the curb on their own power and
reduce the amount Of public money
and public patronage, that they handle
and dispose Of. The beginning must
be made among those who furnish the
public money, but never get any OF II
back.
The purpose Of putting the right OF
coinage and duty Of creating the
uniformity Of currency IN and on the
central government is that We may
dispense with scales and not DO
obliged 10 test coins IN every case.
But what sense is there In arranging
through the general government tina,
we may turn our bullion into uniform
coins and then leave it IN the power Of
every state, county and town to chase
these coins on! by tAxation3 AS to
the greenbacks we acted more ration
ally: everybody was forbidden to Tar
them. Yet q thousand "greenbackers'
and others have told US that coin like q
coward skunk away, while greenbacks
stayed with Us. One was free Of taxa
ton and the other was taxed several
times over: is 1t any wonder that the
latter "slunk away" The same lot Of
money may be lent and re-lent until
three or four notes are given for it and
1t may lie at one mans credit in one
bank and be taxed, and at another
ones credit and be taxed again, ant
il any one tries to get out Of this mani.
fold taxation, be is bounded as q "tal
dodger."
The gist Of the matter Is this note
cannot properly be taxed because the,
are no increase Of property. They are
merely memoranda relating to property
Money is not properly taxable becaus,
it is in a way community property
That 1t is community property in on
respect, was seen and stated by Nichola
oresms in the fourteenth century, whel
that French bishop wrote the frs
modern treatise on finance for the us
Of Charles the Wise OF France. To Ia.
money and contracts relating TO none,
is against the true principles Of taxa
ton, Just as it is TO tax q crop who
represents nothing but the labor Of th
producer Of it. "My people Is destroy
ed for lack Of knowledge" Nothing
in the whole range Of financial an
government operations is as pleas
ing to the money kings Of the grea
centsrs, as TO see stupidity and preju
doe In legislatures chasing the none
Of the various rural communities int
the Golfers Of the city banks. The
the very ones who have driven II Their
bewail the congestion Of money at tn
money centers, where q man ca
borrow II on trust stock at Two pc
cent o year, but the farmer who's
crops bring the money into the countr
can not get it for three times thai
There Is but one reason for this: II
taxed in the rural districts and in th
metropolitan Oenters 1t can no more b
found than ga needle in 8 hay stack,
and SO escapes taxation. The taxatlo
. Of money and contracts for its payme1
, is wrong in principle and disastrous /
effect. Whenever we see this and %
, upon It, w shall experience a yer
=. great relief In the matter OF intere,
rates and we shall find out why 1t hs
n been SO hard for us to establish manr
. features right where the raw materii
IA produced, whilst peOple nj n ore,