The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1903-09-24
Money and the Taxing Power
BOOK 2-CHAPTER XVIII.
3 BY 7 " ". T. & lA.SSIHIEyy.
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But GeneTdl WALKER Was ICducf VI
the writings of the economists" and
the heavens might fall, but those writ
icgs, for him, contained the whole OF
the deliverances of science. No one
of these writer's had pointed out that
statutes compelling every citizen to OBJ
tain coin, as the only means by which
the citizen can escape ruin by tax lev
les and JUDGMENTS, create, under the
present order of things, a force of de-
mand fierce and ince3Sant for that coin,
because all men are struggling to pos
sess 1t; and he never dared look for
himself to discover the secret force
which causes the movement.
He assumed, as tie authorities" had
taught him, that human desire" alone
causes demand, and he likewise as
stunned that all the causes of demand
are the result of nat'.ral laws and can
not be produced by statutory laws.
Had he used his own eyes after he
had pointed out that coin is not CON
sumed, nor enjoyed nor used" in any
way except to be again rendered to
others it seems he must have OBJ
served that statutes in every country
compelling is use alone, to satisfy tax
leyies and judgments, necessarily create
force of demand for coin that is i'm
perious and universal.
He must have perceived that such
is its Office the functions of which it is
appointed by statute to perform. This
is the one beneficial service it performs
for man-and General Walker did not
see it.
The desperate need of all men to OBJ
tain coin as the sole means of deliver
ance from ruin at the hands Of tax col
lectors and sheriffs, sets human nature
in motion in the competitive battle
against each other to obtain it, and an
intense degree of the force of demand
is the necessary result.
The talismanic statutory power to
perform that important service, bene-
fetal to every citizen, has been con-
ferred by statutes in all civilized ma
tons upon coin alone.
The fierce struggle, resulting IN an
enormous quantity of the force of de-
lsand for coin, sends the whole popula-
ton in a wild chase to procure it. It
is the universal, imperious force of de-
mand, created by barbarous. statutes
throughout the world, acting inces-
sanity upon coin, which causes it to
pass freely from hand to hand"
Thus the definition, it is seen, defines
nothing but mere incidental effect,
and is worthless.
The two "great authorities" are Jew
ons and Walker. Jevons undertook to
give definition of how it is is that the
use of money" facilitates exchang-
es;" and Walker gives a definition of
money" When the current theories
of money go, as they must, to take
their place b. the side of the Ptole-
naic system of astronomy, then the
writings of these authorities upon the
subject will likewise go to the place
where they belong-to sleep with the
literature of that science the. preceded
Copernicus, Kepler and Newton.
Throughout the writings of these
authorities" upon economics is man.
ifest totally inadequate conception
/ of the subject 1t includes nothing
but "coin" and it's fraudulent substi-
tutes. It's dwarfs the sovereign pre-
negative ito coin money" from vast
1 and essential piece of mechanism for
exercising the taxing power down tc
the mere notarial act of certifying the
weight and fineness of a metal, ant
substitutes as the motive for the act
of coming the foolish notion of pur.
pose to supply the people with cir
culating medium" as means of ..sfacil
| itating exchanges" instead of thu
| true motive, which is to anticipate
the revenues of future years in mo
ments of national peril.
The "deyicve," which is properly
money" has no existence for thes'
authorities. And yet it is this device
which really facilitates exchanges"
But it was instituted, not because o
the necessities Ct exchange. but be
cause of the necessity of making equa
quantities of capacity for human ser
vice bear equal quantities of the bur
den OF taxation" BY providing a means
Of expressing quantity of value
through term chosen for that pur
pose
Governments always exceed thei
revenues, and the power to anticipat