The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1903-07-16
:. Money and the Taxing Power
BY W. II. ASHBY.


upon all other things, through cheap
or and more perfect methods of pro-
Guction and distribution. produces no
effect upon that coin.
The valuation" of all commodities
must be expressed in the money"
symbol, and when so expressed it is
price" and discloses constant re-
duction of that valuation" in all
commodities, except coin.
But the usurer's commodity is I'M
affected by this cheapening process,
toward the attainment of which all
useful human effort is directed. Every
reduction in the quantity of human
energy required to be expended in or
Ger to obtain possession of needful
things, should be distinct gain for
humanity. But the benefits which
should thus accrue to mankind at
large, are all gathered in by the gold
owning uSurer, the valuation" Of
whose commodity is fixed and un-
cEangeable, and submits to no cheap
ening.
This would not be true, we're it not
for the fact that tax levies and judg-
ments can only be met by the tender
OF coin, and thus The force of demand
Tor coin is perpetually renewed at its
fixed price"
The more men struggle to make hui
man life easy, by cheaper and more
abundant products. the greater be-
comes the relative power of the gold
owning usurer's coin as means Of
nrno1vrSnC nnccncciOn IF hI1ro nr0d-
ucts.
The more men succeed in reducing
the quantity of toll requisite to OBJ
tain possession of all needful things
except "coin"-the greater the quantity
CT those things man must sacrifice to
the usurer to get possession of his
cCin-the only means of deliverance
from tax levies and judgments.
Thus the greater the strides man
kind makes toward abundance and
security in the production and distri-
button of all commodities needful for
human comfort, the further he recedes
from the enjoyment of that comfort.
The valuation" of all commodities
endowed with utility, excepting coin,
is fixed by human appraisal and then
expressed in the money" symbol;
which expression is their price" The
valuation of coin alone is fixed by
that statute the usurer procured to
he enacted and is expressed in the
price" of the coin; and at that price
alone can it be used to cancel tax
levies and judgments, which are uni
versal
Human efforts tending toward the
|. decreased valuation of all commodities
cannot affect the price of coin; so that
every step which seems to lead to-
ward the betterment of human condi-
lions, leads only to the betterment of
the condition of the gold-owning US
Urers, while it makes ever more mis-
cradle the lot of the rest of mankind.
When his dollar. coined as a gift
to him, comes back to him after the
lapse of years with another dollar,
also coined as gift, sticking to it as
usury, each of these dollars is a tax
paying and judgment-paying dollar Of
the new time, to the bringing of
which, with its reduced cost of pro-
cuction and cheaper products, its
greedy owner contributes nothing; and
yet through it's ownership he COM
mands as a master, at ever decreas-
ing cost, all that the race-without
him, and in spite of him--has by toll
and self-sacrifice brought into being.
He is superiority in the world, yet
nevertheless he reaps almost the en-
tire reward of the laborious efforts of
mankind in dragging the race toward
better future.
Every cheapening of the cost and
every lessening of prices of things
endowed with power to perform ben
efcial service. thus accrues to his ex-
elusive profit, though he had no part
in bringing it about. He constitutes
no part of the human family and can
have no sympathy with it's labors or
It's sufferings.
Lending at usury is thus made
tempting occupation, and everyone
who engages in it becomes separated
from his fellow men and deprived of
all sympathy with humanity and it's
toll and sufferings.
Continued Next Weekly