The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1923-07-12

9. n. Beach such co ondttions
could never again
arise. But with such men ~ Henry
Ford and Thomas A. Edison talking
about commodity money there 10 nc
oretelling what may happen.
One of the plainest lessons taught BY
financial history II that whenever .
nation issues paper money with moth.
Ing back Of 1t. that nation 10 on tho
road to disaster. Look st Russia With
Is worthless rubles and Germany
with Its worthless marks. Think Of
what happened IL France during the
years Immediately following our Rsvo
utionary War.
The common people Of France rose
IN their might. tore down the Bastile.
and made reprisal for centuries Of
kingly crime and oppression. The
'rotigate court had piled up taxes un-
til they were unbearable. The en-.
ragged populace killed King Louis XVI.
and also his queen. Marie Antoinette.
But they only threw themselves out
H the frying pan into the IRE 20 far
Is finances were concerned.
Unsound Money Tyranny
At the very worst point Of their cur.
eency imitation they found themselves
under the absolute domination Of
Robespiere. In order to meet the
growing scarcity Of coin. paper money
called assignats were issued. First
40O.000.0o0 francs worth. then 500 .00o..
900 were added with the distinct un.
derstanding that the l.3o0.000.00o
would be the full extent Of the issue
This pledge was soon broken and fur
ther issues brought the total up to
$500, 100000 francs.
Frghtful depreciation was the In
evitable result: and legislation was
passed making It . crime, with six
years. Imprisonment As the penalty. II
any one should refuse to take the pa.
per assignats at their face value. Just
think Of It! A French peasant after
working the entire year to produce 4
crop was compelled by law to accept
payment for that crop In paper mon.
ey. which he knew to be worthless. or
go to prison.
It was simply legalized robbery.
When the penalty was increased to
twenty years imprisonment the inev1.
table climax came. The Reign of Ter.
ror was at its height Robespierre
was in supreme power. He suggested
that more assignats be issued and II
the people did not take them the gull.
lotine should be the penalty.
RobespIsrrs's End
This unheard Of outrage was moro
than the people could stand. An un.
known man arose on the floor of the
convention and denounced Robes
pierre. reciting the heinous crimes he
had committed, and 10 worked upon
the feelings Of the audience that
Robespierre. tho tyrant, became
Robespierre. the convicted criminal.
Two days later he was led to the gull.
lotine. France had learned her fnan.
cial lesson well-that money must
have value back Of 1t.
The fallacy Of unsound money Il
sure to confront US again. Never IL
there enough Of everything for all the
people. The struggle for existence is
a real struggle. and those who find
themselves in the lower strata Of hu-
man society are ready at any time to
grasp at fiat money or any OF the 9th
ct things which misguided politicians
hold out to them.
My whole purpose Is to drive home
the fact that danger lies ahead and to
urge every one to let no opportunity
go by to use voice and influence to.
ward keeping the wampum of these
United States. as 1t is today. the
soundest currency in the world