rap'nsv
The Commoner.
12
The World Struggles for Gold and
SHrer.
'A History of tho Precious Metals, from
the Earliest Times to the Present.
By Alexander Del Mar, M. E. Sec
ond edition revised. 488 pp. Cam
bridge Encyclopedia Company.
Mr. Alexander Del Mar is a man of
set ideas; ho is also an indofatigable
worker, a political economist of the
flrst order, a brilliant numismatist,
and a faithful student of history.
Knowing exactly what he wants to
provo and possessing to the tips of his
lingers the facts connected with his
subject, his narrative is clear, concise,
and to the point, not to say elegant
and attractive. The title of his work
furnishes also a palpable proof of the
Inborn modesty of the savant, of the
"erudite." This "History of Precious
Metals" was begun in 1858, published
in London in 1880, and attracted a
good deal of deserved attention. This
second edition gives to the public an
up-to-date history, full of documentary
evidence of indisputable value for the
solution of the money question, which
"will 'have to be debated upon much
higher grounds than any which have
hitherto been advanced in the conten
tion." ''That 1b to say, it will have
to bo argued not by appeals to ignor
ance and passion, but by appeals to re
ligion and patriotism, to fraternity
and equity."
Mr. Del Mar gives successively the
hl&tory of previous metal 3 from the
remotest times in all quarters of the
globe. This I'Jstory is one of blood,
slavery, and plunder, and the author
seems to be amply justified in assert
ing that the "desire for the precious
metals, rather than geographical re
searches or military conquest, is the
principal motive which has led to the
dominion of the earth by civilized
race3." The facts are substantially re
lated in the chapters on ."Plunder of
Europe by the Romans," "Plunder of
Africa," "Plunder of Asia," "Plunder
of India," and "Plunder of China,"
ending with the looting by the allied
armies commanded by Count von Wal
dersee. The revelations on the Trans
vaal are particularly interesting. From
a carefully guarded report of the
chamber of mines (a British organiza
tion) for 1896, is gathered evidence to
show that "the Transvaal mines (most-
COFFEE COMPLEXION
Many Ladies Huvo Poor Complexions
From Cofl'eo
"Coffee caused dark colored blotches
on my face and body. I had been
drinking it for a long while and these
blotches gradually appeared, until
finally they became permanent and
were about as dark as coffee itself.
I formerly had as fine a complexion
as one could ask for.
When I became convinced that cof
fee was the cause of my trouble, I
changed and took to using Postum
Cereal Food Coffee, and as I made it
well, according to directions, I liked
it very much, and have since that
time used it entirely in place of coffee.
1 am thankful to say I am not
nervous any more, as I was when I
was drinking coffee, and my complex
ion is now as fair and good as it was
years ago. It is very plain that the
coffee caused the trouble. Please omit
my name from public print." Mrs.
, 2081 Ogden Ave., Chicago, 111.
The name of this lady can be given
by the Postum Cereal Co,, Ltd., Battle
Creek, Mich.
Most bad complexions are caused by
some disturbance of the stomach and
coffee is the greatest disturber of di
gestion known. Almost any woman
can have a fair complexion if she will
leave off coffee and use Postum Food
Coffee and nutritious, healthy food in
proper quantity. The food coffee fur
nishes certain parts of the natural
grains from the field that nature uses
to rebuild the nervous system and
when that is in good condition, one
can depend upon a good complexion as
well as a goneral healthy condition of
the body,
ly owned by British capitalists) have
been worked from flrst to last by na
tives who were entrapped and forced
into them against their will; that they
were bought from contractors at so
much per man, bound, strapped, made
drunk with rotten liquor, and thrust
naked into pits which avarice has dug
and hypocrisy has covered over'
Throughout his book Mr. Del Mar
contends that the precious metals cost
more to produce than they are worth.
He shows in support of his contention
that in the Transvaal mines, for in
stance, the salary of the free miner
averages only $1.50 per diem, conclud
ing that "it is quite evident that with
out forced labor, without slavery, and
without working the mills on the Sab
bath, the industry could not have been
maJo to pay."
Referring to the coinage of precious
metals as money, Mr. Del Mar believes
that there is an evolution of money far
more important than that of its sub
stance, the growth from a statical to
dynamical mechanism, and the con
comitant growth in the methods of
exchange. In other words, a dollar
now performs, in the same interval of
time, several times the amount of
work in facilitating exchanges that it
was previously capable of perform
ing; so that Time, whose influence
upon Price was until recently imper
ceptible, now clearly and unmistak
ably enters into its composition. In
the opinion of the author, "the gov
ernment instead of Individuals should
retain control of the monetary meas
ure; otherwise there can be no real
religion, no real liberty, no real na
tional life. The basis of national life
is political equality. There can be no
equality so long as an unjust measure
continues to rob the many for the
benefit of the few." The work is re
plete with statistics carefully revised.
Literary Digest.
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Some Rhythmical Gymnastics.
There is a familiar jingle written by
Thackeray which runs:
If I were a cassowary
On the plains of Timbuctoo,
I would eat a missionary,
Hat and gown and hymn book too.
Other famous writers beside Thack
eray have busied themselves discov
ering rimes for unusual and out-of-the-way
words. A correspondent of
the New York Commercial Advertiser
(October 2) illustrates their efforts by
some amusing examples. He reminds
us that Butler, in "Hudibras," was
guilty of the following:
And pulpit, drum ecclesiastic,,
Was beat with first instead of a stick.
Also,
And the philosopher
Read Alexander Ross over.
He tells, too, how Byron sings of
"continent" and "one tenant," of "big
amy" and "twig am I," and he re
members that Browning linked "can
know" with "piano." He proceeds to
cite other illustrations as follows:
"Henry J. Childe of 'Our Boys' fame
was incorrigible. Tho yachtsman's
woes contained the following:
The crow began to quarrel and their
language was immoral,
And they said of mo, we don't want
that there cove aboard.
We wore having tea and coffee, sir,
when Bosh, the second officer,
Grabbed me by my pantaloons and
pitched mo overboard.
"Zj. another skit he speaks of 'a
clever anaconda who's been reading D.
Deronda and a frisky hippopotamus
(great Jamrach kindly got him us).'
He reveled in rare rimes,
"Mr. Anstey is good at it, also. In
his 'Burglar Bill' he has a i)oem in
which a child empties an automatic
machine by means of a penny tied to
a string.
The fraud was perceived, but tho child
was relieved,
Any reader of THE COMMONKR who will send one new annual subscription to
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Lincoln, Nebraska.
Having never intended to cadge his
treat,
But B-32 Baid 'I'd recommend you
To reserve your remarks for the
magistreat.'
"Gilbert comes in with:
I'm not a common mountebank,
I've money in the county bank.
"A workingman sees a vision which
promises to reform him; he remarks:
To work in 'heavy boots I comes.
Will shoes henceforward decorate
My little toddle-tootsicums?
"In 'The Pirates of Penzance' we find
the following:
In short, when I've a smattering of
elemental strategy,
You'll say a better major-general has
never sat a gee.
Literary Digest.
Points About People
F. W. Cunningham of Richmond,
Va., estimates that ho has sung at
10,000 funerals.
Anton Dvorak, the famous musician,
has been made a member of tho Aus
trian house of lords.
Cassius M. Clay of Kentucky is pre
paring his autobiography. He is up
wards of ninety years of age.
Pierre Loti, whoso real name is
Viaud, is seriously ill at Chifu. He is
a captain in the French navy.
The Princess Louise has opened a
hospital for invalid soldiers. It is
located on her husband's estate.
The czar of Russia is a confirmed
cigarette smoker. He rolls his own
cigarettes and uses tobacco especially
imported from Syria.
Dr. Howard, entomologist of the de
partment of agriculture, estimates that
the annual damage done to crops by
insects is $300,000,000.
President John H. McCracken of
Westminster college, Fulton, Mo., is
said to be the youngest college presi
dent in the world. He is 25 years old.
The Rothscilds have just purchased
the largest copper mine in Mexico, pay
ing $2,000,000 for it. The mine fur
nishes employment to a large number
of men. All told the Rothschilds now
employ 27,000 men in their various
copper mines.
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