The Alaska socialist., 1913-09-29
CAN THE DEMOCRAT PARTY DO ANYTHING FOR THE
 ROCKINGHAM

The two blanks i'll the Platform of the Democrat party, which they have been dangling ill front of the noses of the people, as remedy for sorial ills, so that they could get into office, are Tariff Reform and banking legislat- ion.
 Tinkering with the tariff and curren- cy reform have always been favorite to- pics with Democrat politicians, and es- pecially with the great w, J. Bryan. Whether he is better off by receiving h. is wages ill gold coin,. paper money, or by being allowed to retain part of his product as ir Oklahoma, Texas and many other states of the South; or whether it is better to receive part of hsi product in time checks or not at all, which is the way many of the wor- kers i'll the Panama valley are paid all this will be told in succeed ing issues.
 We take from the Weekly People tie following:
 THE CONFLICT OVER THE CURRENCY
 After weeks, of wrangling, brangling, jangEng-a dangling, brangling and VT angling that more than once threatened rough house. the Democrats of t. he House Committee on banking a. nd Currency rejected all the ainendme- nts that the Democratic Insurgents on the Comnettee endeavored to impr- ove the bill with
 What was tIle nature Of those troubl- esome amendments that demanded the whole power of the Administration to squelch, and that earned for proposers the title they are proudly bearing of Radicals?
 One set of the amendments typifies the rest. The Set Is collectively known as the 'Ragsdale Henry amendments. Y These provided that the paper currency, which the proposed Federal Reserve B. anks are to be empowered to issue, sll- all be issued, not on metallic values only, but also OH cotton, corn and wh- eat held ill warehouses.
 Paper currency is the latest link of long monetary evolutionary chain chain i'll which economics and socio1o- gy are as closely interwoven as veins a. re in flesh.
 These are sAe links:--
 1st. Values (wealth) are the product of labor;
 2nd Profits (gains) arise from with held wages--the surplus value produced by Labor, but kept by the Employer;
 3rd.e Commerce produces no values; it only exchanges values. Seller and pu- rchaser swap value for value;
 4th The merchants (manufacturer' gains (profits) are in his pockets before he sells He got his gains during the process of production, which includes t. transportation and distributions;
 5th. Sale only liquidates the mercha- nt's wealth (which, of course, includes his gains) by transfiguring the wealth into one species of merchandise, to wit, the precious metals, gold pre-eninently;
 9th. The singling out of gold as the one merchandise into which to translate and transfigure wealth flows from the commercial necessity to translate aad l. ransfigure wealth into commodity, t. hat is article of merchandise, that con- pines the qualities, first, of intensified value; secondly, of being easily carried and, last, not least, of being indefini- tely divisible;
 7th. The commercial facilities, attain ed by the economic evolution of gold (the precious metals) into the medium of exchange, led So a farther step, pro- ductive of still greater commercial facil- ities --tl,e creation of "coin," or metal lie currency;
 8th. Coin, metallic currency, saves t. he dealers the trouble of weighing the metal at each transaction. The coined metal carries its weight, hence, it's va lue, stamped upon its face; finally,
 9th. The increased commercial facilit- ies, attained through the creation of metallic currency, led to still another step, i'll turn productive of still greater