Willmar tribune., 1900-09-12
THE CRIME OF 1000.
Bill to Alter Mint and Currency Laws
. Menace to Every Interest
of the Government


. Menace to Every Interest
of the Government.
Who shall control the issuance and
retirement of money? Shall it be the
government, which is Americana; or the
| banks, Whichtare largely owned in Eng
land; or the spectators of Wall street,
who may with no impropriety be
termed of cosmopolitan nationality?
| Which of these authorities or bodies
shall have the power to control the
volume of money in/this country? This
is not party question. 1t is ques-
tlon OF vital Importance to the nation
and to the myriads of industries cov-
cred by it's flag.
Ihe volume of money is the measure
OF prices. The whole sum of money
and of substitutes for money, when
multiplied by their various ratios of
activity, must and does exactly equal
the whole sum of exchange, or pur-
chases and sales, during any given in
| terval of time. One is the measure of
! the other
The act of 1900 declares that the unit
OF money shall be certain piece of gold
which it describes. This is physical
impossibility. The unit of money is
not and cannot be any one piece of
money, whether of gold, silver or pa
per; 1t is the whole sum of money null
tiplied by it's frequency of use and re-
use. AS this the crux of all none
tary questions, it needs some elab-
Grafton.
! The United States treasury depart
| ment reports that the sum of coins and
! paper notes which constitutes the cir
culation of this country amounts to
abut $2,000,000,00O. Though 1 believe
this to be an exaggeration, I will ac-
| cept 1t for the purposes of illustra-
ton. These coins and notes, as deter
mined by numerous observations, are
used and reused in payments, about so
times a year. Therefore, if considered
| by itself, the currency would, at pres
ent prices, represent exchanges
amounting to so times $4,000, ,0O0, 900,
in other words 100000, 100000. In ad-
dltion to coins and notes, there is used
for the purposes of exchange sum of
| credits represented by bank checks and
| other orders for, or promises of, money.
| Which amounts to 20 times as much as
the total currency. but which neverthe-
less circulates 20 times slower.
10 exhibit one part of this fact
and conceal the other is the stock de-
! vice OF bankers. ''The volume of
money is unimportant (they cry).
Behold the much superior function
discharged by credit. Nineteen
tWentleths of the exchanges are ef-
tected with bank checks and only
one-twentieth (say they), with mon
| cyl" On the surface this is quite
true; below the surface it is entirely
misleading. The bank check, or bill
of exchange, can make only one paw
ment, when it is destroyed. Whilst
coins and notes, after they have made
one payment, are ready to make innu-
merable others just as fast as hands
can count them out, or express trains
can carry them. In short, money does
~ times as much work in a given
time as checks, bills of exchange,
telegraphic transfers, promissory
notes, or book credits combined.
Without going further into detail the
general result is this: that in this
country coins and notes effect one
hundred thousand millions of ex-
changes, whilst credits effect another
one hundred thousand millions. max
ing altogether two hundred thousand
millions of exchanges per annum at
present prices.
This sum represents two things
1t represents the entire annual bal
ance of trade at present prices; it
also represents the entire volume of
money and credits multiplied by the
various ratios of activity of its COM
ponent parts. One is the compile
mentary and the necessary compile
mentary, of the other. If the money
| is Withdrawn from circulation or the
credits fail, one of two results must
follow: either the exchanges will di-
minish in number and trade will Ian
guish, or else prices will fall, until
the combined sum of transactions in
time exactly fits the combined sum
of money and credits when multiplied
by their respective ratios of activity.
The inevitable consequence of these
conditions is that whoever controls
the circulation, controls prices, con-
| trolls trade, controls production and
consumption controls the value of
securities, the value of real estate
(both farm lands and city lots), con-
trolls wages, controls the purchasing
power of salaries, of pensions. of in
comes from securities or property, in
short, he controls the entire indus
trial affairs of the country; and
through these he also largely con-
trolls it's administrative policy and it's
foreign relations. He becomes the su-
preme arbiter of it's destinies.
The act of 1900 takes what remains
of such control out of the hands of
the government to confer it upon the
banks; and as the banks are largely
owned in Wall street, which in turn
is largely controlled by the English
Lombard street, this bill virtually
bestows the management of our mon
etary system upon a body of foreign
ers, who will inevitably employ it to
alternately stimulate and destroy
the industry of this country, so as to
extract from it the last effort of en-
terprise and the last dollar from
bankruptcy. I repeat, that the bill
confers the virtual control of the cur
rency upon the banks and bankers.
This tremendous power has been
placed substantially in> the hands of a
few banks and largely in the hands of