The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1904-10-13
Letter Of Thomas e. Watson

purse. and who under some OF our
statutes might have Jared as vaS-
rant
How Is 1t In America?
How is it in your own land? God nev-
er made grander home for his children
than that which the Cavalier in Vir-
ginia, the Dutchman in New York,
and the Puritan in Massachusetts
sought as a refuge from the systems
OF the Old World. In natural advan-
tages this earth holds no region super
ior to ours. Once it belonged to the
people With his gun, the common
man won it, mile by mile, from the
Indian, the Frenchman, the Saxon,
and the Spaniard. What the common
man did not win with his elllnas b.
Es.ssssgsfFssssiss his money. From sea
to sea. the land which is ours became
ours because the common man was
ready to pay for it with his tax money
or his blood.
What became of it? With bnWild-
ering rapidity, it has been taken from
the common people and given 10 the
corporations. 1t belonged to the gov
iernment. to all fhe people. 1t was
meant to supply homes to individual
citizens, and there was enough OF 1t
to last for many generations TO the
extent Of about two hundred million
acres. it has been given to Railroad
corporations; and now when a common
man wants home in all that vast
domain he must go to the Railroad
Corporations to get 1t.
Mo BIacker Chapter Can Be Found
A blacker chapter than that which
records how both the old political
parties united to despoil the common
people of their land. is not to be found
in the annals of class-legislation.
Once upon a time we had finan-
cial system OF our own. Placed in
the constitution as part OF our funda-
mental law. it seemed to be firmly
fixed. For hundred years this money
system was in operation among us.
Therefore, it seemed to be 'iTrevoc-
Iably fixed Very wise men created
this system of national finance, 1t
was the one subject upon which
tThomas Jefferson and Alexander
Hamilton agreed. Those two were, per-
|haps, the greatest statesmen This
/ lcnuptry- sE'gr produced. SO pre-
1eminent were they above ali others
that they divided the people into two
distinct schools of political thought.
But, upon the vital subject of finance,
these master-minds- reached the same
conclusion; and that conclusiOn be-
came a part of the constitution.
Whether the Wall street influences
which produced the establishment OF
the gold standard emanated from
wiser heads than those of Jefferson
and Hamilton, may be doubted. Both
of these great men served their coun-
try long time and died poor. III fix
1 ing bimetaliism as a system, and the
silver dollar as the unit OF value,
they had no selfish motive. Two
lofty-minded statesmen agreed upon
that system as the right system. 1t
remained in force. giving full Salts
faction, until the money power in its
march of conquest, found it to be a
barrier. The money power demands
a standard which it can control; and
1 one metal is easier to control than
two. For the same reason, it opposes
governmental issues of paper money,
and will never be content until the
greenbacks are called in and de-
stroyed.
To establish the single gold stand
ard, which sets the constitution
aside, the statute had to be violated.
The word "coin' had to be construed
to mean gold only and the paper
note issued on silver, had to be re-
deemed in manner different from
that prescribed by law.
Reasons Against "IrrevocabIllty"
/ There are at least FIVE reasons why
the gold standard can not be con-
sidered as fixed:
| az 1t is unconstitutional.
(2) It violates statute law.
t3) The supply Of the gold might
increase beyond all the calculations
of the money power. Thus, the
standard Of value would get beyond
it's control In that event, the money
power itself would change the stand
ard.
i (4) The supply of gold might
suddenly cease In that event. con-
traction would at once set in, because