The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-12-18

the political benefits that nave follow
ed a larger circulating medium. That
party has attributed to it's tariff legis-
lation the blessings that have direct
~ and naturally followed ancrease in
the amount of money.
Bimetallism was not new scheme
invented as a panacea for the hard
times; it is an old and long establish
ed system. Gold and silver have been
in use as money for thousands of
years. There have been changes in
the relative production OF the precious
metal more sudden and more import
ant than that which we have recent
ly witnessed, and bimetallism has sur
vived them all. There is nothing in
human history to justify the fear that
all of the gold and all of the silver
now being produced or likely to be
produced would give a larger volume
of standard money than the world
needs The trouble is that the gov
ernmentS of the world are too largely
in the control of the creditor classes,
and the creditor classes are much
more anxious to prevent a fall in the
purchasing power of the dollar than
they are to prevent a rise in the pur-
chasing power of the dollar. This
solicitude is very natural because the
holders of fixed investments profit
when dollars rise and suffer whom dol
lars fall, just as the owner of land
profits when land rises and suffers
when land falls in market price. If
our government is i'm the control of
those whose sympathicS are with the
money changer. the money-owner, and
the holder of fixed investments, all of
our financial legislation will tend to
the conservation of the interests of
these classes. regardless of the effect
of such legislation upon the public.
t., ffA
make any progress toward other re-
forms as long as it takes the capital
istic side of the money question, be-
cause the men who are willing to al
low the financierS to run the Treasury
will, by the same process of reasoning,
permit the trusts to control business
enterprises and turn the employees
over to the control of the employers.
Legislation which increases the pur-
chasing power of the dollar transfers
to the pockets of the holders of fixed
investment money which belongs to
the wealth-producers and is merely
larceny under the form of the law.
Mr. Blaine pointed this out with great
clearness; Mr.. Carlisle. who after
wards became Secretary of the Treas
ury called attention to it; and Mr.. Nc
Kinley in 1891, after he had been IN
Congress and before he became Pres
ident, declared that legislation which
made money Scarcer and therefore
dearer' also made money the master
and all things else the servant
The principles of monetary science
have not changed. and no amount of
delusion can change them. The DEM
ocratic party cannot afford to alter its
policies to suit those who will not
think upon this subject, nor can it af-
ford to take the side of those whose
sympathies are against the masses.
1t is natural that those who take
the side of the financiers on the ques-
ton of metallic money should favor
National banks of issue notwithstand-
ing the gross favoritism that the gov
eminent now shows them. 1t is also
natural that those who accept the adj
vice of the financierS should advocate
an asset currency. for with the pay
ment OF the National debt the Ma
tional bank notes must be retired I'M
less some other basis Is found for
them. The consistency that we find
in the individual we find also in the
party. and those who favored the gold
standard when the dollar was rising
very consistently favor the turning
over of the Treasury Department to
the banks which are now making sew
eral millions a year out of the gener-|
osity of the officials who are in
charge of the government money.
Whenever the administration gives a
pecuniary advantage to the banks it
gives ii at an expense to the public,
and we have at least one recorded in
stance in which political service was
referred to by a bank official as a
reason for the beStowment of such
favors upon the bank. The admins
tration has no moral right to use the
government money or the government
authority for the pecuniary advantage
IL. Il.
without trespassing upon the rights of
the people at large.
\ Large Army and Navy Not Needed.
1t would cary this article beyond
the space assigned TO it to discuss all
of the questions which are before the
public. A large navy. aside from un-
necessarily increasing the burden of
taxation, menaces the peace of the ma
ton, il is more apt to involve the ma
ton in foreign complications The
same spirit which leads to the building
of a large navy leads to the government
who profit financially by the constr NC
fion of large navics and those who oc-
cupy life positions in taking care of
large navies, recognizing their bur
densomeness, will be tempted TO create
use for them in order TO justify their
existence. ! 1t is as reasonable TO cX-
pect to promote law and order by in
crcaSing the number of reviewers car
ried in a community as it is to expect
to promote international peace by Ri
vairy in the building of navies In q
little volume entitled Letters Written
by Chinese Official" the author takes
the Christian nations to task for pro-
Tossing a worship of the Prince of
Peace" and at the same time Outstrip-
ping the heather nations in Warlike
expenditures. How can we lead the
world toward peace While vying
with the fighting nations in our prep
arations for slaughter?
All the objections that can be made
to large navy can be made TO a large
army, while many of the arguments in
favor of a large navy are entirely
wanting from the deefnse of a large
military establishment. The fact that
the standing army has been more than
doubled in the last eight years must,
sooner or later, excite an effective pro-
test. An increase of more than fifty
millions d year in the expense of the
military establishment can be justi-
fled only by urgent necessity, and no
reasons have been advanced in sup
port Of the increase. If the increase
is due TO a fear of labor troubles, the
question at once arises, Why not deal
with labor troubles through the De-
p&rtment of Justice rather than
through the War Department? If our