Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1901-05-29

pubic. He will get that blood money
back with usury, no matter how many
men and boys he will ruin in doing it.
GREAT Possibilities
We have been taught that the estab-
lishment of the gold standard, which
destroyed the basic quality of one half
of the specie of the nation, was an un-
mixed blessing and that next to the
"wise craftsmanship of Mckinley
was the prime cause of the "unbound.
ed prosperity" that pervades the en-
tire country. But Unparalleled" as
the present "prosperity" is in the his
tory of the country if not of the world,
we are promised still greater things if
we can only uproot some of the ''solid
petrifactions of popular prejudice"
which stand in the way for the benef-
cent work OF monetary commission
OF bankers who are unselfshly devot-
ing their lives to rescue the finances
of the country from the terrible pitfalls
provided by the would-be statesmen,
viz: Jackson, the hayseed, and Lin
coin, the rail-splitter. The Pioneer
Press of the 2lst instant contained an
editorial leader under the caption,
"Currency Reform Not Half Accom-
plished," in which it outlines a pro-
gram which if carried out would no
doubt produce a ''prosperity" COM
pared with which the existing sun
bounded" variety would look tame
and wilted, indeed. The first great
reform which must come if we want
"contidence" screwed up another notch
is to destroy the greenbacks. The
danger of the greenback, which saved
the life of the nation once and has
been regarded as pretty good money
by the ignorant ever since the bankers
bought them at a discount and restored
their value, is best portrayed in the
Pioneers own words. It says:
eve shall never have sound cur
rency SO long as the principle of gov
eminent legal tender notes, issued and
capable of indefinite expansion by
congress, is recognized as the founda-
ton of an important part of our mon
etary structure. 1t is the poisonous
germ of the fat money abomination
Incorporated in our currency system,
and is always latent element of dan
GER"
What chumps to yell for "sound
money" and forget to kill the green
back! The government is never safe
as long as it can control the money
volume. That must be left with the
patriotic bankers to manage because
they understand the business. See
what a chance for intensifying the ex-
isting ''unbounded prosperity" that
the g. o. p. has missed so far.
But that is not all. Confidence can
be turned on to still higher pressure.
The Pioneer says:
''The basing of our bank currency
on the security of government bonds
is another radical defect of our sys-
tenn. It practically makes impossible
the automatic adjustment of the vol
ume of currency to the business needs
of the country. \ The CONNER
cial assets of the banks should be
gradually substituted for government
bonds as the basis of currency issues. u
The fellows who have described the
present national banking system as
the "best on earth" must have been
mere novices in the art of producing
prosperity. The people have not
properly understood the philosophy
of currency which will expand or
contract to the needs of patriotic
bankers. John Lind possessed the
hardihood at one time to insinuate
that the bankers ''wanted to hold both
ends of the string" of an elastic cur
rency for their own pecuniary advan-
tage. But then John Lind was raised
on a farm, and besides he isn't a re-
publican any longer, and no truly un-
selfish apostle of true finance could be
anything but a republican.
We hesitate to follow the Pioneer
farther because some timid reader
might become frightened for the slen-
der thread by which our "unbounded
prosperity" hangs. But we beg them
to muster courage. The Pioneer pro-
ceeds:
"But there is another evil of far
greater magnitude than either of these,
and which belongs rather to our finan-
cial than to our monetary system, but
which exercises most important in
fuence in artifcially restricting the
volume of our currency" 1T is prob
ably lapse of the editors memory to
imply that an artificial contraction of
the currency could be harmful. "This
is the sub-treasury system, which was
Instituted by President Andrew Jack
son-who probably knew less about
finance than any man who has ever
occupied the presidential chair-as q
result OF his war with the Bank of the
United States, or with it's president,
Nicholas Biddle. Under this system
all the cash revenues of the govern
ment, in gold, silver and greenbacks,
amounting to over. 81, 900, 900, 900, are
locked up in the vaults of the treasury
instead OF being deposited in the banks,
where they could be used as a basis of
business credits far exceeding the
amount Of cash in volume, and in cur
rent business transactions. But tax.
ing the surplus revenue alone, some.
thing like 5000, 000, 600 of unused cash
balances is thus continuously with
drawn from circulation and buried in
the treasury vaults, where it is Of no