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XX
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VOlI. XIV.
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, SEPT. 18, 1902.
NO. 17,
A SHAMEFUL RECORD
The World-Herald Recounts a Few Chap
ters of What ha Been Done "Under
Authority of the Railroads
f Nebraska
"Under authority of the railroads of
1 Nebraska) is a phrase that has be-
come quife familiar to the people of
this state1. This phrase is used as a
headline to the articles presented
through the newspapers of the state
by the railroad literary bureau.
In one of its publications this bu
reau paid its respects to the World
Herald, charging this newspaper with
being guilty of deliberate falsehood,
and otherwise manifesting a disposi
tion to plain spokenness, even to the
extent of invective and epithet. Ac
cepting this as an invitation to call a
spade by its right name the World
Herald feels justified in indulging in a
bit of plain Angio-Saxon for the ben
efit of public interests and to the dis
advantage, let us hope, of the schemes
concocted at the conference of cor-t-
poration lawyers, at which conference
"we all agreed on Mickey as our man."
The statement that these publica
tions are issued "under authority of
the railroads of Nebraska" does not
necessarily provide assurance to the
observing Nebraskan that these things,
purporting to be statements of facts,
are true and correct. On the con
trary, in the light of the history of
some things that have been done in
this state "under authority of tho
railroads of Nebraska" it is not at all
surprising that in so many instances
the publications issued by this rail
road bureau are ingeniously concocted
falsehoods; nor is it at all surprising
that in one of the publications issued
by this same bureau a newspaper
should be charged with deliberate
falsehood with relation to a state
ment, which statement the managers
of this railroad bureau knew to be
absolutely true.
This is not the first time that ques
tionable acts have been committed
"under authority of the railroads of
Nebraska." Referring to corporations
Sir Edward Coke said: "They cannot
commit treason, nor be outlawed, nor
excommunicate, for they have no
souls." And yet it is true that "in
every deed of mischief" the corpora
tion has had "the heart to resolve,
the juead to contrive, and the head to
execute."
Although during the period when
the Bentons and the Eugene Moores
reigned through corporation favor the
people imagined they had reached the
limit, it is a matter of recorcTthat even
those old time corporation administra
tions did not have the temerity to go
one-half as far as the men who now
hold office and the men who now seek
office by the grace and "under author
ity of the railroads of Nebraska."
The republican officials of the old
time corporation reign thought that
in 1892 they were going very far in the
discharge of their obligations to the
corporations when they fixed the cor
poration assessment in this state at
$29,339,031. But looking at the record
of the present regime, we find that the
corporation administration of today
has fixed the corporation assessment
at $26,5S9,592. Every one understands
that during the past ten years great
progress has been made in this state,
and it will be difficult for an intelligent
man to understand with what reason
the corporation assessment of 1902
could be fixed at nearly $3,000,000 less
than the corporation assessment of
1892.
But the problem is solved and the
mystery is explained when it is under
stood that the men who made the as
sessment of 1902 are creatures of the
corporations. However much it may
seem that their action was an affront
to the intelligence of the people of
this state, it must be remembered that
it was done "under authority of the
railroads of Nebraska."
The republican state board of equali
7ation. being urged to require the cor
porations to bear their just proportion
of tne burden of taxation, closed their
ears to the appeal in behalf of the peo
ple, held their sessions behind closed
doors and did the corporation bidding
with a promptness that would have put
Tom Benton to blush even in Tom
Benton's palmiest days: and this was
all done "under authority of the rail
roads of Nebraska."
After the republican board of equali
zation had made its answer to the su
preme court proceedings and the cor
poration attorneys had discovered that
that answer did not suit the corpora
tions' purpose, a conference was held
between the corporation lawyers and
the members of the republican board
of equalization. The result was that
these republican officials subscribed to
an amended answer, which answer had
been prepared by the corporation law
yers, and filed that answer with the
supreme court. A republican paper,
the Omaha Bee. referred to this act on
.the part of these republican officials as
"the greatest act of perfidy to the peo
ple of which any state official could
be guilty," and this "greatest act of
perfidy" was done "under authority
of the railroads of Nebraska."
Prior to the republican convention a
demand that the republican auditor
who had also served the corporations
much more faithfully than he had
even pretended to serve the people be
defeated for renorai nation; but the re
publican auditor was renominated by
the republican state convention "un
der authority of the railroads of Ne
braska." When the republican state conven
tion met at Lincoln, on June 18, a
number of the delegates to that con
vention favored the nomination for
governor of a man who would be free
from corporation domination. Every
one of the three combine railroad com
panies pretended to have a preferred
candidate, and the delegates to that
convention were treated to the farce of
i
L
a struggle between the three great
corporations of this state. But after
the farce had been carried far enough
to suit the managers, the real corpora
tion candidate was brought forward,
?nd a man by the name of Mickey was
chosen as the republican candidate
lor governor of this state. Ten days
prior to the republican state conven
tion the corporation lawyers had held
a conference and they all agreed on
Mickey as their man. The republican
state convention indorsed this agree
ment; and Mickey and Prout and Wes
ton and their colleagues on the repub
lican state ticket were formally pre
sented for the suffrages of the people
of this state "under authority of the
railroads of Nebraska."
At the legislative session of 1891 a
deed was committed "under author
ity of the railroads of Nebraska"
which deed was so impudent and so
fcold that the people of this state have
not yet learned to place a proper esti
mate upon It. That was when the
raiiToad lobbyists deemed it neces
sary to maintain a deadlock in the
state senate in order to prevent the
passage of the maximum freight rate
bill. In order to accomplish the re
sul' v member of that state senate was
abducted, with his consent to be sure,
but abducted nevertheless, and car
ried away to a distant portion of this
country. He has never yet returned.
He consented to go because he was
paid a liberal sum of money for his
consent. It is doubtful whether in all
the history of corporation, intrigue
theie was ever a bolder affront to the
dignity of a state than that perpe
trated by the railroad lobbyists at the
legislative session of 1891; and this
n-ihwy and this abduction and this
affront to the peace and dignity of the
people of this commonwealth was all
clone "under authority of the rail
roads of Nebraska."
It was during that legislative ses
sion that the railroad lobby went mad
in its efforts to please Its masters.
Wherever men could be purchased,
men were purchased; wherever men
could be bulldozed, men were bull
dozed; members of the legislature who
were weak were decoyed into com
promising positions and they were re
quired to aeliver the goods to the cor
poration lobby as the price of the lob
by's silence. It was- at that session
that a house of ill fame was chartered
by the railroad lobby in the effort to
retain the favor of the weak members
and accomplish the defeat of a meas
ure which that lobby claimed was
against the "business, interests" of the
state; and all of these things were
c'one "under authority of the rail
roads of Nebraska.-'' .-, .
And there is, too, in connection with
the legislative session of 1891, a bit
of unwritten history. It relates to
John M. Moan, one of the most faith
ful men that ever served the people.
John M. Moan was a business man liv
ing in Dakota county. He was a large
shipper and felt keenly the imposition
in the matter of freight rates. He was
nominated for the legislature by the
democrats and elected. He was, in
truth, the leader of the forces that bat
tled faithfully for the maximum freight
rate bill. He was thoroughly in
formed on the freight rate question.
With him there was no compromise
on that measure. He knew its im
portance to the shippers and to the
people of this state generally, and he
stood faithfully by his guns. As a
shipper he was offered all the conces
sions he could, in reason, ask if he
would but abandon his fight as a leg
islator. But Moan was not the man
to turn his back upon a worthy cause.
At a time when the fight on the rail
road bill was at its height, John M.
Moan was invited to join two ac
quaintances in a social glass. He had
no sooner reached his room after in
dulging In this bit of sociability than
he was taken violently ill. An emetic
was administered, and although seri
ously ill, Moan dragged himself to
the state house the next day and took
up the fight for the railroad freight
bill. From that moment John M.
Moan was an invalid and on the occa
sion of his last visit to Omaha, which
was perhaps one week before his
death, Mr. Moan stated to a resident
of this city, who had been his friend
and who will always be proud to re
vere his memory, that he had never
recovered from the drug which he be
lieved had been administered to him
"under authority of the railroads of
Nebraska."
The history of corporation interfer
ence in the politics of Nebraska pro
vides some of the darkest chapters
that have ever been written. Pretend
ing to represent the intelligence, the
honor, and the integrity of the com
monwealth, the railroad lobby has
never hesitated to insult intelligence,
to defile honor, and to blacken integ
rity. In the history of state there
has been none that has been so sub
servient to corporation domination, or
that has so suffered through corpora
tion intrigue, as the great state of Ne
braska. When, some time in the fu
ture, a capable man shall undertake
to compile a record of the darkest
deeds that have ever been perpetrated
in official and political circles, if he
shall have done hi3 work well, ap
pended to this record of shameful acts,
will be the truthful statement that
they were done "under authority of
the railroads of Nebraska." Richard
L. Metcalfe, in Omaha World-Herald.
IHE PECULIAR FUNCTION
Something seems to be wrong with
the whole inside of Mother Earth.
Volcanones are in active eruption clear
around the world. Vesuvius in Italy
is extremely active, the volcanoes in
Martinique have been acting worse
than in the early part of the season
several long extinct volcanoes in Alas
ka are pouring out smoke, steam and
ashes, the mountains in the Philip
pines have been belching and not long
since there were reports to the same
effect from Japan. That pretty nearly
makes a circle of the whole earth.
Mr. Van Vorhls Calls Attention to the One
Peculiar Function of Money Its
Debt Paying Power
Editor Independent: There is but
one function of money that is peculiar
to it This function is created by law,
and is wholly exclusive. This func
tion is a compulsory standard, set up
by law for the settlement of tim-3
contracts. It cannot be performed by
anything else. Of course, legal tender
will, in addition, perform any other
possible money function. Outside of
this particular and peculiar function;
it is impossible to make a line of de
marcation between money, according
to its commonly accepted meaning,
and a variety of articles and devices
that perform more or less completely
some or all of the other functions of
money; or, at least, perform precisely
the same kind of offices in society.
Within the limit of this function, the
problem is still further complicated
by the limited and modified applica
tion of the function to the various
kinds of money authorized by law.
The subsidiary coins are limited in
the amount for which they can be ten
dered, and the creditor compelled to
accept. Ail other forms of money are
unlimited in amount, but all, except
gold coin, are limited as to the debts
for the payment of which they can be
tendered.
The standard silver dollar and treas
ury notes of 1890 are full legal tender
for all debts, including duties on im
ports and interest on the public debt,
but may be deprived of all legal ten
der quality in the settlement of time
contracts by the terms of the con
tract. United States notes are legal
tender for all debts except duties on
imports and interest on the public
debt.
The comptroller of the currency calls
gold and silver certificates and na
tional bank notes non-legal tender
money. This is a quibble unworthy
of any intelligent man, and wholly in
excusable in any financial official. No
difference what he may call them, the
law provides that the certificates
shall be receivable for customs, taxes
and all public debts," and that national
bank notes "shall be receivable at par,
in all parts of the United States, in
payment of taxes, excises, public lands
and all other dues to the United States
except duties on. imports; and also for
all salaries and other debts and de
mands owing by the United States to
individuals, corporations and associa
tions within the United States except
the interest on public debts and in re
demption of the national currency."
These are far too important legal
tender functions to be waived aside
by the comptroller.
Even gold as a "standard of pay
ment" has some limitations and quali
fications. By the act of 1792, re-en
acted in 1873, all gold coins of the
United States were made full legal
tender, but, if they lose by abrasion,
the one-eighth part of one grain on
the dollar, they are then only legal
tender by weight.
According to the currency act of
1900, it is provided in Sec. 1: "That
the dollar consisting of twenty-five
and eight-tenths grains of gold nine
tenths fine . . . shall be the standard
unit of value," etc., etc. Dollar is the
unit of account, but in this section
standard unit of value" means "stand
ard unit of payment" or it has no in
telligent meaning.
This was certainly intended to make
twenty-five and eight-tenths grains of
gold nine-tenths fine the standard by
which all other forms of money are to
be measured, and the "standard of
payment" of all obligations. But what
is it?
Heretofore, the "gold standard" has
been coin made out of gold. The
money so made was the standard and
not the metal. It is, by this law, at
tempted to make the standard, not the
gold coin of the United States, but
gold by weight. The treasury depart
ment was before treating gold coin
and gold bullion very much as if they
were one and the same, but, under
this act, the legal distinction ceases,
and gold bullion now forms part of the
gold reserve.
It may very well be questioned whe
ther we have not, almost without
knowing it, passed from a standard
under which gold is a legal tender by
coinage to a standard under which
gold is a legal tender by weight; whe
ther the scales of Shylock have not
become more important to our mone
tary standard than the authority of
the government represented by its
stamp.
With all the uncertainty about what
performs the money function; with all
this confusion of standards of pay
ment; with a "gold standard" that
may be claimed to be based upon
weight and not upon coinage; with a
"silver standard" based upon coinage
and not upon weight; nominally a le
gal tender fyr all debts, but that may
be deprived of its power as a "stand
ard of payment" by contract; with a
national bank currency the debt of
corporations circulating as money,
and by law a legal tender for all pay
ment to the United States except du
ties on imports, and for all debts and
demands from the United States ex
cept interest on the public debt, I find
it impossible to believe that the money
question involves now, whatever it
may have included in the past, noth
ing more than the "adequacy of the
money supply."
We have surrendered into the hands
of corporations the prerogative of the
government to issue money, and with
this has gone all possibility of govern
ment control over the volume of it
This surrender gives to the banking
corporations control 'over commercial
credits, and guarantees to them power
to expand and contract credits at will.
The enormous deposits and continuing
expansion of credits, as estimated in
the report of the comptroller of : the
currency,- necessarily and inevitably
draws into and ties up in the bank re
serves or would if the banks com
plied with the law a large . part of
the money, outside : of the treasury
vaults. If 4 every bank held such re
serve, as banking experience . has
shown to be the lowest than can be
held with safety, sixty per cent of all
the money i in existence would be tied
up in these reserves.
Many of these banks are not com
plying with the law, or banking ex
perience. For several (.years many na
tional banks have, with the knowl
edge and connivance of the secretary
of the treasury and the comptroller of
the currency, been holding reserves
that are below the requirements of the
law. Now comes a member of the
president's cabinet -and admits that
thirty-six out of the forty-two national
banks in New York city have, since
January 1, 1902, encroached upon their
reserves. These are "central reserve"
banks, "reserve agents," holding the
reserves of a vast number of "reserve
banks of other cities" and of the coun
try banks. :
The condition that confronts us is a
low average of bank reserves and a
large volume of deposits and of "loans
and discounts." The financial condi
tion is a strain in both directions.
Any attempt on the part of the
banks to relieve this strain by increase
of reserves, or decrease of credits,
must result in business disturbance.
There is no way to avoid this except
by an increase of the money in cir
culation, and such increase must be
made without disturbing the credits
or the reserves.
Prior to the act of March 14, 1900,
tnis could be done only by the treas
ury department. It was done by the
sale and purchase of bonds, by paying
interest on the public debt in ad
vance, etc. Such relief was always
followed by increase (in deposits and
credits, and consequent increase in re
serves, with a renewal of the strain
calling for ' more relief.
Such has been the reliance upon the
government, as an adjunet to banking
corporations in the business of manu
facturing credits, to supply the un
healthy demand created by folly, avar
ice and gambling.
There is danger in the great indus
trial and commercial combines that
are setting at naught the law of sup
ply and demand as. related to indus
trial products. There is danger in the
abandonment of . the immortal doc
trines of our great declaration of free
dom. . But these two questions r
trusts and1 imperialism are insepar
ably .connected with :iaud they- rest
upon'the money question, .It is idle to
talk about destroying trusts or stay
ing the tide towards Imperialism un
til we have controlled the power of
combined wealth.
Touch the combine of banking in
stitutions in New York city and you
tQuch the greatest representative of
concentrated wealth. Concentrated
wealth has in all ages tended to the
slavery of the producing classes and
to imperialism in government. Mam
mon is the mother of trusts and im
perialism. Mammon has in all ages
been the enemy of liberty. To permit
this combination of financial interests
to control and use the most important
prerogative of government is to en
danger the perpetuity of our institu
tions.
The money question is not the only
question, . but it cannot be laid aside
for any other. Money represents the
equities of social organization. In the
highest and best sense it represents
human development.
If our money is to be used by gam
blers as .chips to count their win
nings; if our financial system is to be
used as' a. method and instrument of
oppression, the time will come when
we will be compelled to chose between
property rights and human rights, and
property rights will go, down before
the spirit of liberty, even though it be
in a social cataclysm.
Such has been the experience of his
tory. Wrong cannot be made perpet
ual. Injustice cannot become a
vested right. Moral forces cannot be
defied. Ethical principles cannot be
set at naught Human development
cannot be permanently enjoined, nor
can the stream of progress be made
to water nothing but the fields of pri
vate interests.
FLAVIUS J. VAN VORHIS.
Indianapolis, Ind. .
COLORADO POPULISTS
When the Democrats Refused to Fuse
They Put a Full Populist State Ticket
In the Field
When the populist state convention
was informed that the democratic state
convention by a vote of 498 to 375 had
refused to fuse, it immediately pro
ceeded to place a full ticket in the field
and the following nominations wero
made by acclamation:
Governor, Judge Frank W. Owers,
Iake county.
lieutenant governor, Thomas An
near, San Juan county.
Secretary of state, David A. Mills,
Arapahoe county.
Congressman at large, R. H. North
cutt, Washington county.
State treasurer, James L. Hurt, Sa
gauehe county.
Attorney general, Charles C. Post,
Clear Creek county.
State's auditor, Matthew J. Layden,
El Paso county.
State superintendent of public
schools, Mrs. Helen M. Grenfels, of
Gilpin county.
GOLD AND FIAT
The Idea that the provincials down
along the Atlantic coast have of the
great west may be gathered from the
announcement made in the eastern
dailies tnat the body of Bartholin, the
Chicago murderer, was found 1 in Ma
rice field" in Iowa. i
Mr. Anthony Discusses Gold Money aad
Its Representatives, Fiat Money
Editor Independent: Any statement
that contradicts our experience is re
ceived both by the learned and un
learned with incredulity. From the
nature of things it seems impossible
to make any material a unit of meas
ure. We cannot put a material figure
one into a material yard-stick, a ma
terial pound weight, a material bushel
basket or a material gold dollar into
our heads where the counting is done.
No one ever saw material gold used
as a unit No one can imagine how it
can be so used. All the material which
expresses the unit can is to express
itself in the thing measured. The
yard stick can 'only express in the
cloth it measures the three feet itself
contains. Applied forty times it de
termines the forty yards in the bolt
A carpenter with his square exactly
prepared the sills of . a building for
tne studding because his square is
honest and always expresses and
measures the same inches and feet
If it varied every time he pushed it
up from four inches to forty inches he
could do no accurate work.
Last winter our gold dollar meas
ured here only four dozen eggs. It
now measures here nearly seven. In
New York it now measures about four
dozen. Is this a safe measure, an hon
est measure? The carpenter's square
measures alike one or fifty barn
frames, here and in Alaska and every
where. We are so habituated to things
that are not that we cannot see the
things that are. One of the greatest
advantages of learning is to unlearn
the things that are not, that we may
learn the things that are. Our habits
so fill us with things that are not,
that we have no room for the things
that are. Once in the world history a
Christ appeared with the capacity to
see and use the eternal verities which
press upon us for recognition, who
astonished the beholders with his di
vine power. His material became so
obedient to the life that it partook
of the immortality of the life. Cor
ruption found no aliment in his body
on which it could feed. Death baf
fled sank into tne grave prepared for
the. body, to relieve the life from the
domination of the body. The church
seems to have perverted this system
of natural ethics which the Nazarene
taught into the worship of a hierarchy
and theology created by it or the devil
for the emolument of a class.
'RNa one can see the truth unless , the
truth is-in him. A truth foreign to us
must be put into language we know.
A foreigner can only tell me my house
is on fire through eyes I comprehend.
A farmer's wife takes forty dozen
eggs to the store for exchange and
Andy tells her he is paying today a
dollar for eight dozen. Oscar, the
clerk, counts them. He reports $5
worth of eggs. He uses no material
figure one in counting. Each egg ex
presses the unit, but neither one egg
nor the forty dozen are the unit. The
farmer's wife selects forty yards of
cotton cloth at 5c per yard, 10 lbs. of
coffee at 10c per pound, 20 lbs. of su
gar at 5c per pound, and 2 bu. of po
tatoes at 50c per bushel. Here the
exchange of the material eggs at $5
for Andy's material goods at $5 is com
pleted by the price unit, no gold being
used. The quantity of eggs is deter
mined by the unit of number. The
quantity of cloth by the unit of
length.
When I was a lad in my father's fac
tory the quantity of a bolt of cloth was
determined by two sharp steel spin
dles set exactly three feet apart in two
upright posts. Here the unit of meas
ure was three feet of empty space. The
quantity of coffee and sugar is meas
ured by the unit of weight No one
ever saw the 16 ounces of gravity or
the earth's attraction which the scale
marked off to indicate each pound or
unit contained in the coffee and sugar.
The quantity of potatoes is deter
mined by the bushel unit 32 quarts of
empty space.
In this exchange of the eggs for
Andy's goods we have used each of the
four exact units by which we ex
change products by their quantity. Ev
ery product of nature has these four
qualities, number, length, weight and
bulk and their sum makes the whole,
the product As each of these quali
ties do have an exact unit of measure
for exchange it follows mathematical
ly that their sum, the whole product
must equally have as exact a measure
for exchange. If this is not true the
science of mathematics is no longer an
exact science which never recedes, but
always advances. History in all the
ancient languages to which I have had
access shows what this exact scien
tific unit is, and shows the number of
grains of silver and gold used to rep
resent this unit at the most ancient
known ratio of 10 to 1. If Andy should
say to the farmer's wife, "we are not
taking eggs today; the grocer across
the way will pay you gold for them."
She exchanges her five dollar unite in
the eggs for the grocer's five dollar
units cbntained in his gold. She then
exchanges the five units of material
pold for Andy's five units in his ma
terial goods. She makes all the ex
changes of material for material by
the unit of price. In the direct ex
change she uses no gold. She ex
changes by the immaterial price unit
All exchanges of material things for
material things are made by the price
unit Gold, silver or any material un
der existing conditions it is impossible
to make exchanges in any other way.
And this price unit is fiat nothing
the imaginary fiat price of a few grains
o gold. By fiat of law the price of the
grains of gold which represented the
true unit have been declared the unit
' Ignorance, custom and habit have
reconciled the use of this false meas
ure equally, with the worship of gods
who never were. Our gold standard
can equally assert that nothing shall
be something. Since men are fooled
by names, the word dollar which ex
pressed the true unit was applied to
this nut price unit The form and
name were letained while the life was
murdered. If our wise solons should
enact by law that no little girl could
learn to do the simplest sum in her
bead or cipher it out on her slate un
less she led a russet colored or yel
low hog to school (a white hog would
be impious) such a law would be less
absurd than our law declaring that
5.8 grains 5-10 fine of gold shall re
main the standard unit of exchange,
while neither could any more be used
to cipher with than the gold hog can
be aDd to make exchanges, would eith
er express the unit of number. Our
gold beg represents and expresses
nothing. Expressing nothing, its pa
per pictures expressing nothing, are
lir.iiied ".ly by capacity of steam
presses and figures printed on them,
$100 000,000 being nearly as easily
printed as $1. Product is limited to
capacity of production. All those pa
per pictures draw interest which can
alone be paid by productive industry.
When interest outruns capacity of pro- ,j
duction ruin comes, production ceases
and chaos reigns. With the free use
of the true unit, like the free vise of
our other units, there would be no
more danger of too much money than
of too many yard-sticks.
It seems useless, Mr. Editor, to con
struct theories to reconcile false con
ditions with nature's law and order.
The truths of material law and order
known and applied remove the false
conditions. Solomon wisely says there
is nothing new under the sun. The
thought of the Supreme intelligence
(called God or Nature) materialized
contained all things from the begin
ning within itself. The truth is only
new to the ignorant. The assertion of
ignorance, contradicting science and
history, that there can be unit exact
for the measure of product on ex
change, reminds me of an honest, ig
norant, credulous English drawman
by the name of John Huddon, who
lived in Jackson, Mich. The boys took
advantage of John's credulity by im
posing all sorts of yarns upon him.
John always listened to the story pa
tiently, but if it exceeded the bounds
of his credulity he had one unvarying
answer, "That's a lie on the face of
it and John Huddon knows it."
All true units are determined parts
of real qualities. Their material rep
resentative contains and express these
determined parts. Applied to the prod
uct measured. they determine the num
ber of units .contained in the material
measured.' The yard-stick applied
twenty times determines the twenty
yard units in the bolt measured,
The unit of the gold men is fiat
nothing. Nothing applied, measures
nothing. Falsehood is a parasite that
cannot lift its head unless that it has
a real thing , to climb. Gold coined
into money to tender the law to com
plete exchanges, expressing nothing
but the flat of law, is necessarily fiat
money. All its representative pictures
are equally flat. The gold men have
expended millions to tie their fiat unit
to one commodity only gold. Why?
These boarders of gold, making this
commodity the only material that can
tender the law to compete exchange,
by withholding or circulating their
paper pictures of gold through the law
of supply and demand, can manipulate
the price of all other things from zero
when they wish to buy to infinity
when they wish , to sell. Yet these
gold men call gold money the only
honest money and this one commodity
the sole measure of all other com
modities. Are they also the only hon
est men who through their manipula
tion of this one commodity forever
convert the products of industry into
interest-bearing debt from the pro
ducers to them the non-producers.
COMMODITY. .
"That same purpose changer, that sly
devil, ,
That broker, that still breaks the pate
of faith
That daily break vow: he that wins
of all,
Of kings, of beggars, old men, young
men, maids;
Who having no external thing to lose
But the word maid cheats the poor
maid of that;
That smooth-faced gentleman, tickling
commodity
Commodity the bias of the world;
The world, who of itself is paired well,
Made to run even, upon even ground;
Till this advantage, this vile draw
ing bias,
This sway of motion, this commodity,
Makes it take head from all indiffer-
encv.
From all direction purpose, course, in
tent, And this same bias, this commodity
This band, this broker, this all chang
ing word
Clapped on the outward eye
From a resolved and honorable course
Doth draw all to base and vile con
clusion."
King John, Act II. Scene II.
Let us. Mr. Editor, blaze the path
through this wilderness of our ignor
ance covered with tickets the growth
of the hoary ages, knowing the rail
road will follow the trail and farm3
ith fields of waving grain and blos
soming orchards and towns and vil-
aees and cities of industry and men
and women and children, Jew and Gen
tile alike, living in freedom in the rec
ognized presence of the living God.
F. W. ANTliUN i.
Mattawan, Mich.
MONEY AS A MECHANISM
The United States patent office is
invaded by men applying for patents
on devices for burning oil, gas and
several - -nds of vapors produced by
chemical action. The high price of coal
has set the inventors to work. The in
ventor is the one enemy whom the
trusts can't get-rid of, - -
Mr. De Hart Continues Ills Review or Del
Mar's Book A Different Idra or the
Peculiar Function of Money
Editor Independent: For some time
I have been wanting to talk or write
about money as a mechanism. I have
been thinking that I could in this way
throw more light upon the subject
than by talking or writing about It as
a "measure of value," or a "medium of
exchange." In fact, I believe, that, if
we will look at money as a mechanism,
we will soon begin to see not only
that it is a measure of value, but
exactly how it acts or works as such.
1 am beginning to think that money
is not so much a medium of exchange
as a measure of value. We see it cir
culating in payment of taxes, rent, in
terest and other debts, also in ex
change for commodities and payment
of services; and then we conclude
that its primary function or work is
to serve as a medium of exchange. Wc
cannot eat it, or drink it, or wear it;
and then we conclude that it Is only a
medium of exchange. , Such is the
view taken of it by the political econ
omists generally; and such is the
view we find in the text books writ
ten by the economists and used in our
colleges, universities and other insti
tutions of learnig. These writers also
say, that one of the functions of mon
ey is. to serve as a measure of value,
and they try to point out how it acts
or works as such; but, as a rule, they
do not succeed very well, partly, be
cause they have no very definite mean
ing for the word value, and partly be
cause they have no very definite mean
ing for the word money.
If these men should ever succeed in
getting a definite meaning for the
word value, which they can get from
some of the later writers on money, if
not from some of the later writers on
economics, they will then have to get
a definite meaning for the word mon
ey, which they can only get by study
ing the statutes or laws on the subjects
of coinage, banking, etc. This will re
quire a long study on the part of those
who are not in the habit of dissecting
statutes. It is peculiarly the work
of lawyers, and they can do it more
easily than those who are not ac
customed to such work. And, I must
say, that it is a dreary task even for
a lawyer, who is accustomed to such
work. It is a work requiring so much
patience, that few lawyers have ever
done it: and I do not know of a single
political economist, whose writings in
dicate that he has done it Mr. Del
Mar, however, who does not claim to
be a lawyer or an economist, has been
at work many years on this branch of
the case, and his writings show that
he knows more about the subject than
all the lawyers and economists put to
gether. I would, therefore, recom
mend him to those who would like to
know something about the true na
ture of money as well as something
about the true nature of value.
Coming back to the question, How
does money act as a measure of value?
there is no difficulty in seeing how it
acts as a medium of wcchange or a
. 1 1 j n . j i . . i . . .
ineuium lor uie payment, ut ubuls, uui
it has always been more difficult to
see how it acts or wors as a measure
of value. As soon as we have com
menced to discuss this, we have al
ways got into a fog; and, yet, the
function of money, as a measure of
value, is far more important than its
function as a medium of exchange or
payment of debts. I am not sure but
that money has no other function than
that of a measure of value; the other
function being only incidental to that
of a measure. If I am correct, or only
half way correct, then it becomes all
important that we should understand
money as a measure, whether we know
anything about it as a medium or not.
It is with this view, that I have un
dertaken to write about money as a
mechanism.
Looking at money, from this stand
point, Mr. Del Mar says:
"Money is a mechanism of societarj
life designed to measure and deter
mine value."
You see tnat it is not a machine
merely, designed to do a certain kind
of work on the farm or In the factory,
as a money-machine, hay-rake drawn
by a horse or a plow drawn by horses
or a steam engine, but a piece of
mechanism, which may be a great
many machines united to do a great
many kinds of work. It is not only a
mechanism, but a socletary mechan
ism, which means that It Is such a
mechanism that society is obliged to
adopt or construct for a certain pur
pose; or it may be for many purposes,
but all the purposes must be for the
benefit of society generally, and not
for one man or set of men.
As soon as we can grasp the idea
that the mechanism is for the benefit
of all alike in the society or nation,
then we begin to see not only what
money is, in any particular nation,
but what it ought to be. It is one
thing to point out what money actual
ly is in our nation, but quite another to
say what it ought to be. As soon as
we begin to look into the mechanism
of our money, we find that it is all
bottomed on gold, with several kinds
of paper money all redeemable with
gold and to be so redeemed or else
good for nothing lost forever and
on top of the gold and paper money,
we find a vast, system of credits or
debts all redeemable with the gold or
paper money; the total amount of all
our money and credits constituting
what might be called our currency.
As soon as we begin to examine this
vast system carefully, we find that it is
all for the benefit of those who may
happen to own all the gold and not for
the benefit of society generally. This
must lead to the conclusion that our
money system is a bad piece of mech
anism. Haying come to this conclu
sion, we naturally ask ourselves, What
kind' of a system ought we to have?