The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1904-03-03
The Politics Of Money

Editor Independent: The Silver
Question was never matter of prin-
ciple but simply question Of policy.
The important issue was not the ma
terial of money, but the quantity OF
it: essentially it's Control. When sill
yer was demonetized many OF the sill
yer miners turned gold miners; ana
while this movement reduced the out
put of silver, it correspondingly in
creased that of gold. Now that two
general elections have definitively set
tied the preference of the people for
gold dollars in preference to silver
ones, is it not high time to abandon
an obsolete demand for silver dollars
and revert 20 the principle al bottom
of the Silver QUESTION:. That princi-
pie is monetary Control: the resump-
ton of the State Prerogative Of Mon
ey: a prerogatiye which in all ages
has been regarded as essential both
to the preservation of national au-
tonomy and the equitable division OF
Industrial profit.
When money is issued and injected
into the circulation, not by volition
of the Sovereign Power, but at the
pleasure of private parties, 1t ceases
to be National and becomes lndiyId-
ual money. In it's bearing upon this
principle. it makes no difference
whether suck money is made OF golf,
silver. copper, or paper. The value
of money is not derived from the ma
terial of which it is made, but the
quantity of it which is offered and ac-
cepted for commodities; in brief. mon
ey is public measure, mensura pub
lica, it's essence, like that OF all other
measures. is Limitation; and the gov
eminent which resigns the control OF
such limitation to private caprice, or
to the requirements OF what is
euphemistically termed commerce,
but which is really the Stock Ex-
change, Is playing into the hands or
usurers and surrendering to their
ayidity the entire profits of industry.
Such Is toia- the character Of the
monetary system Of all the principal
States Of Europe and America. THESE
States are filed with energetic ard
Industrious Inhabitants, who toll in
cessantly. but only to build up in the
end aristocracies of wealth, out OF
which republics can never emerge ex-
cept through the sanguinary gates CT
revolution. and into which the exist
ing republics must fall and become
absorbed. The basic cause of this de-
plorable tendency is the Law OF
Money: and until this is changed and
changed Understandings and perma-
nently. there can be no mitigation OF
the conditions which continually en-
richen the rich and impoverish The
poor. All other proposed REFORMS are
merest palliatives: a proof Of which
is that their recommendation meets
with no heated opposition; while. or
the contrary, the moment it is pro-
posed to remove the issuance of mon
ey from the hands OF Individuals and
restore 1t to the State, to wnom il
rightfully belongs and from whom il
was filched by subterfuge and intrigue
from that moment there always com
mences an acrimonious contest 1t Il
Capital and Industry at war; it is TIT
Past struggling with the Present: tht
cOIIlHcu Iedu lHtl uuliS tilChoci'cS III
to the homes of the living.
In England, down to The year 1866
the issuance of money was rresoga
tive of State. wide the decision II
the great Mkt Moneys case of 1904.
This prerogative was derived from
the Roman Empire. from which grea
commonwealth OF antiquity il may b.
traced backward to the remotes
times 1t was not only PrerogatIv,
OF state historically. IL was also
Prerogatlve Of State essentially ant
necessarily aud rs such IL was uphei,
by the Bench. not only In Grea
Britain. but In all other European
countries. tRudelius; DE Monetls Q
Re Numerial Yet In 1866 II wa
bariered away by Chafles H. for
pension 10 his mistress. Barbara Wi
Tiers. From that time TO the presen
l. has remained in the hands OF th
avid class who secured II and VIII,
clam to represent cite Commercial
interests" but who really repfcson
no interests essential To commerce
unly the interests OF usnry and th
machincrv--the Stock Exehargc--b
which such usury Ia AUGMENTED at tn