The independent., 1903-10-15
BOOK 2.-Chapter XXI.

The purpose of the Venetian govern
ment in this proceeding was not to
supply the people with a circulating
medium" nor to furnish sound and
stable currency to. do business upon. :"
These silly phrases are of recent COIN
age. The government did not consider
these phrases. It simply employed the
power to "coin" it's money" as part
o. the mechanism for the exercise Of
the taxing power. The receipts issued
were siezed upon voluntarily by the
people as safe investment, and tho
force of demand acting upon them in
consequence of their power against
tax levieS and judgments was so ap-
praised or valued by the people that
they stood at premium over coins of
like denominations stamped upon gold
or silver, as lorg as the republic it
self stood.
1t must be perfectly apparent to
anyone not blind, that if this great
republic, with all its vast stores of in
calculable wealth, could be persuaded
to abandon the present worn. out sys-
TEN of taxation, which we inherited
from ignorant ancestors who were
sayages, a system of exercising the
taxing power could be established
here, based upon principles of justice,
and the realities of actual conditions
existing among us, that would solve
most of the perplexing problems of
the times, and make the vast burden of
taxation comparatively light.
So long as men persist in refusing
to recognize each other as brothers
indeed, and to care for each other as
such, and cling to the competitive sys-
tem, the huge and ultimately intoler-
able burden of government must be
endured.
This useless, all-eating monster is
the punishment we suffer for follow
ing the example of Cain, and denying
that each of us is his brothers
keeper.
So long as our hatred or indiffer-
ence for our brothers render the re-
straint of governments necessary, we
must endure the burdens of taxation.
Out of the employment of money"
| and the power to "cOin" that money
as the mechanism for exercising the
| taxing power, flow most of the pow
erty and misery of poor, ignorant and
| helpless mankind.
Higher above all other monsters
which are devouring the human race,
and the prolific breeder of many other
monsters after its devouring kind, is
perched the vast and mysterious In
cubus, sometimes spoken of as the
gold trust. Through it's malign in
fuence the government of the civil
lied world have by statutes declared a
small fragment of gold metal to be
the standard for expressing intensity
or the force of demand; have fixed a
price upon gold and have made it that
price, the sole means of satisfying tax
leyies and judgments, the two imperi-
GUS needs which governments among
men create.
These receipts against tax levies and
Judgments, alone able to rescue men
from ruin at the hands Of tax cOllec-
tors and sheriffs, can be obtained no.
where in the civilized world, from any
government, unless the applicant can
present piece of gold as a platter
upon which to carry it away.
But when he comes thus provided,
he receives them without limit as a
gift. Every person who possesses no
gold must buy or borrow at usury
| the receipt from the favcrite of his
government to whom it was given, at
the cost of whatever quantity Of SER
vice or wealth greed may require, be-
cause his government refuses to issue
| them to him.
The vast monopoly constituting the
gold trust, controlling thus the issue
of those sorely needed receipts, by
controlling the gold of the world,
drives all business enterprises into
trusts and combinations, in the vain
hope to prevent the beating down of
prices of their products and services,
in the competitive struggle for gold,
which the statutes compel them to get
to pay tax levies and judgments.
But the effort is vain.
All wealth and capacity for service
| is subject to taxation.