Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1902-03-12
GOLD STANDARD LESSON.

A practical lesson on gold CON- the
''honest money" idiot echoes can cas-
lily understand, is very we'll given by
the Chicago Inter-Ocean Of recent
date. No one can doubt it's 10y atty to
the money trust or any other corrupt
combine, commercial and financial. 1t
long ago severed it's connection with
civil government as the fathers mod
eled it., and as Washington and Lin
coin administered it. The Inter- Ocean
lesson is as follows:
whats the matter with it:' asked pas
senger at IN elevated loop station in surprise
one night last week, when the ticket seller
refused to accept a fve-dollar gold piece
rendered in payment of the fare.
Nothing that know Off, replied the ticket
seller, Except that the company won't take
it from me unless it's full weight, and I've no
means of knowing whether it is or not.
But it's legal tender, and there's Federal
law making it an ofense to refuse to receive
legal tender currency of any kind" replied
the passenger, who, by this time, was getting
rather ARM" despite the cold weather.
happens to be few cents under weight the
company will dock me for the difference, and
I can't afford to take any chances. My salary
stand any deductions.''
BY this time the crowd had become inter-
ested, and backed the passenger up in his de-
termination to ride free If the agent refused
to change the gold piece. The depot police
man didn't know just what course to pursue
He wanted to eject the obstinate passenger,
but the crowd wasn't in a mood to be trif1ed
with, and the matter was finally compromised
by the agent accepting the coin under protest.
There's something to- be said on both
Sides" was the comment of the agent after
the man had taken his train THE company
deposits its receipts in a bank, and the bank
weighs all the gold taken in. If there's a
shortage, which there generally is, as gold
| wears of rapidly in handling, it is charged up
against the depositor consequently the CON-
pany hold the agents responsible for short.
| weight coins just as it does for counterfeit
| bills. II we take any it's at our own risk 1t
| seems pretty tough, but its fair enough when
you consider the conditions. The man who
| o iers gold here is as much of nuisance as
the one who tenders pennies
Fow read the lesson again. Study
it carefully. The banker and his pot
house political striker demand the gold
standard. "Give us honest money, -
they yell. None is honest but gold
coin, they say; but the bankers refuse
to take their ''honest money! It has
lost it's integrity by little rubbing in
some farmers pocket. According to
the Inter- Oceans lesson the greenbacks
are the only ''honest money" in circu.
lation. No one questions their hon
esty or shaves them in a deal or when
depos tied in a bank, and yet bankers
insist that they be retired or converted
into interest-bearing bonds. Why?
Because they are unable. to control
them or their alue, as stated in a,pri-
vate circular issued by the American
Bankers Association just after the
civil war. Soon after the cremation
Of the greenbacks, the best money
the world has ever seen, as President
Grant declared, was begun and bonds
took their place. It was dishonest
bankers and polite ans destroying the
only honest money the nation hasever
Issued, and this bee use they could not