Z.
CJjc Jarocw' 2Uliancf,
mbUsM BtT tetardar by
Thx Axluxcx IVBixsnnro Co.
Oor. llta and MBt-. Lincoln, Neb.
Camolldatrt with Iks 5 liirirr.
"la the beauty of tbe liliie
' Chrit wu bore across the sen,
. .. With a glory in bis bosom
That inosCgun you ul ics.
I Ashe strove to make men holy
, , Let u strive to make them free,
. Since God U marching on."
i U H " Julia TardEott.
Laurel erowsi cleave to deserts,
And power to him who power exert.'
"A ruddy drop of manly blood
Th surging tea outweighs."
Emerson.
"H) who cannot reason !a a fooT,
He who will not reason is a coward.
Be who dare not reason is a clave."
N. R P. A.
.TO CORRESPONDENTS.
AiSresi ail bn!B cMnmnnioatkms to
Alliance Pa blishlng Co.
Address matter for publication te Editor
Banter' Alliance,
Article written on both side of the paper
taanot be used. Very long communications,
aarat eaanot be used.
People' I Independent State Conventiona,
The people indeptndent electors of tbe
of Net
F Nebraska are reauested toeleotand
end defecates from their leveral oountloe to
meet in convention at tbe city of Lincoln,
Thursday June 80. im. at 10 o'clock a , m. , for
tbe purpose of selecting1 els-ht delegates at
lam to the People'! National convention, to
held in Omaha, Neb , JulyM- And also
V elect delps-au-s to tbe stata oonreotion to
beheld at Kearney, Neb Wednesday .Autust
SOL KM, at so'olook p. m., to nominate tbe
followlnf State officers, rli; Governor,
lieutenant governor, secretary of state, treas-nrar.attorner-feneral,
auditor .oomaiMsiooer
ofpabUe land! and buildinga and superin
tendent of nubile ImtiucUon. Tbe baala of
representation will be tbe inrne In both oou
Tentloni and the tame delegate may act for
both convention, or two sets of delegate
may be elected a count! may determine at
their county convention.
The bail of representation will be one
delegate for every one hundred vote or ma
jor fraction thereof cut In ltl for Hon. J.
W. sMgarton for Judge of the luprera court,
walCB give in iotiuwin rote ay oounueei
It
Jefferson
Antelope
Banner
Blaine
Boone
Boyd
Box Butte
Brown
Buffalo
Butler
Bart
10
16
IS
14
Johnson :
Kearney
Key Paha
Keith
Kimball
Knox
Lancaster
Lincoln
Logan
Loup
Madison
Merrick
McPbersoa
Nanoe
Nemaha
Nuckolls
Otoe
Pawnee
Perkins
Pierce
Pbelps
Platte
Polk
Red Willow
Richardson
Hock
Saline
Sarpy
Saunders
Bootts Bluff
Reward
Sheridan
Sherman
Bloux
Stanton
Thayer
Thorn a
Thursten
Valley
Washington
Warns
Webstar
Wheeler
York
1 1
i
Cedar
Chase
Cheyenne
Cherry
Clay
Oelfix
Coming .
Cutter
Dakota
Dawes
Dawson
Xeael '
Dixon
Dodge
Douglas
Dundy
Fillmore
Franklin
Frontier
Fumaa
Oar
Garfield
Gosper
Grant
Greeley .
Hall
Hamilton
Harlan
Hayea
Hltohoook
Hooker
Belt
Howard .
M
t
4
S
8
IS
11
7
11
a
14
6
s
13
,,10
h
s
10
1
s
7
1
4
10
14
8
Total.,
While the committee do not feel It beat to
lay down any definite test as to who should
be allowed to i ote at the primary elections to
elect delegates to the various conventions,
as any test would not work equally well In all
localities, yet we would urge upon county
and preelnot committeemen, and all having
the primaries In charge, to adopt such rule
and testa a will best secure a fair expression
Of the Independent voters of tbe state. ,
The question of selecting delegate to the
Rational convention to which the congres
sional districts are entitled Is left to the die
Mote themselves, either to oall congressional
conventions in their respeotlve districts or to
elect them by districts at Lincoln at the
sate are selected to represent the state at
large.
We would recommend that no proxies be
allowed at either convention, but that the
delegates present oast the full vote to which
me state or county is entitled.
We would also reeetnmend that the Dri
marie for electing delegate to the County
OouveaUoni be fail Thursday, June 3, 1HW,
and that the County conventions be held
Baturday, June ft, 1802. J. V. Woi.ra,
C.H. Pihtls, Chairman.
Seore'MT.
The Alliance-Independent Till After
Election For Fifty Cents in
Clubs of Five or More.
Fifty Thousand New Readers Wanted.
Help Us Secnre Them And
Thus Insure Victory.
The campaign of 1893 will be one of
the most exciting and momentous in
the history of the nation.
The great battle of the people against
Plutocracy is to be fought. Victory
for the People depends on their zeal
and energy in spreading the light. The
Alliance-Independent will be a great
power in arousing and educating the
people. It should be In the hands of
every independent voter. It should be
in the hands of thousands of democrats
and republicans who are willing to read
both sides. Its columns will be an
arsenal from which the soldiers of re
form may arm themselves with facts,
figures and arguments. The Alliance
Independent will give full and
accurate reports of the great conven
tions of "92. It will give the news of
the movement from all parts of the
state and nation. It will give reports
of the work done by "the alliance
wedge" in congress. We want someone
in every community to solicit subscrip
tions, Address the
Alliancb Publishing Co.,
Lincoln, Neb.
0US NEXT ISSUE
Next week we will publish tho ro
mainder of McKeighan's speech; Kem's
Government Banking Bill; a list and de
scription of all the important reform
measures introduced into congress, and
many other valuable articles.
The Chicago Tribune gives two col
umns of opinions concerning tho work
ings of the Inter State Commerce law,
the consensus of opinion being that the
law is a tuiure. The railroads cannot
be forced to make public all their book
keeping, the actual capital invested,
their legitimate expenses, and therefore
the government cannot without posses
sion prevent injustice.
FDR THE GAMP OF '92
"USnXP WE STAND."
Last week lilt Fa (.mas' Alliance
and the Nil. Independent appeared
u separate paper for the last time. Thli
week as a result of their consolidation,
the AixiAwca-lKDattHPysT appears
for the first time. A brief rehearsal of
the reasons for' the change will sot be
out of order. Tbe proprietors of both
papers were moved to the step by a
sense of its fitness and a belief in its ad
vantages. We believe tbe interests of
the reform movement will be better
conserved, and that one pre eminently
strong and valuable paper can be built
up.
Neither paper has been merged into
the other, but tbe two have been united.
Our aim is to preserve every valuable
feature in each. There is a complete
onion of the forces whicn hare contrib
uted to the luocets of each; and we hope
and believe that the friends who have
worked for the upbuilding of both pa
pers will co-operate with each other and
with us to make the Alliance-Independent
what we design it to be,
namely, the greatest reform paper in
the west.
Already we are planning a number of
Improvements. We hope soon to add to
our plant a machine for folding, cut
ting and pasting the paper, thus making
it neater in appearance and far more
convenient to handle. But such ma
chinery is expensive, and our ability to
make such improvements will depend
very much on the increased support
which we receive from the friends of
the movement
We are very much gratified with the
universal hearty approval this con
solidation Is receiving from the Inde
pendents of the state.
Tbe Alliance-Independent will ev
er be found battling for the rights of
man.
It will be fair In its treatment of
all men and all auestlons.
It will be
,
tear less in its attacks on that which
is
co rrupt or unjust.
The organization of the company re
salting from the consolidation has not
yet been completed, but will be In a few
days. For the present suffice it to say
that the working force of both papers is
all engaged on tbe united paper.
LIBERTY'S BASIS AND 8LAVEBTS
DEFENSES.
The address, or preamble to the
platform, adopted by the St. Louis con
ference cpntalns this most remarkable
closing paragraph:
Wealth belongs to him who creates it.
Every dollar taken from Industry with
out
an equivalent is roDDerv. II any
man will not work neither shall he eat,
The interests of rural and urban labor
are the same; their enemies are ident
ical.
Brief as It appears this paragraph is
the broadest utteiance of truth and just
tice ever laid down with intent that it
should be made the basis of human
laws. Consider for a moment how
much is contained in its central expres
sion
If any man will not wort neither shall
he eat.
This is the Inspired New Testament
re-statement a re-enactment, we might
say of that first law given to man
In the tiriat of thy face shall thou eat
bread, till thou return unto the ground.
It is the simple natural law oi Justice,
but never before recognized by a body
of men as the law on which liberty
must rest, the law requiring each to
labor for what he enjoys, and in
exchanges to give an equivalent product
of his own labor for all that he receives.
Slavery in all ages with its earth-wide
and heart-deep, immeasurable and un
imaginable sufferings, its hunger that
others might be surfeited, its double
burdens and deprivations of one class
that another class might have luxury
and ease, its insolent pride and en
forced degradation all the vast body of
varied evils springing out of its unnat
ural conditions which brutalize master
and slave in equal degree, is the fruit of
transgressing this one law, and has
sprung from the desire of men to live
in luxury and self-indulgence upon the
sweat of others. The history of the
race in all the ages past is little else
than a record of wars, which sprang
from a desire to command and retain
the unpaid services of the people, all
who could be subjugated and made to
labor for their conquerors as chattels or
by unjust taxation. In this nation, es
tablished by men who fought seven
long years to resist unjust taxation
(labor spoliation) and who declared
that all men are created equal and en
dowed by their Creator with the
inalienable rights of life and liberty,
even here, by those brave but inconsist
ent men the slavery of the African race
was permitted, and the selfish evil
grew till it snapped the bonds of patrio
ism, arrayed section against section,
and plunged us in the most cruel war
ever waged, the object being to dismem
ber the nation and establish another
in which thoy could perpetuate the
cursed system which enabled white, men
to live in luxury and laziness upon, the
labor of their dark-skinned neighbors.
It is supposed by many that the evils
of slavery have been forever put away
from our land by the 15th amendment
to the constitution. But let ns see. He
is a slave to the extent that his services
are sooured by others without pay or
without equivalent. I matters not
whether his body, or the means neces
sary for its subsistence, be owned by
others. In either case ho is a slave and
must accept the inequitable terms that
the independent with such advantages
invariably offer. It matters not
whether a whip upon his back drives
him to prodmse for others wore than be
most have if r food clothing and shelter,
or whother tv.s pressing needs of a de
pendent iauJly forae him to accept
inequitable wages or prices. In either
case he is a slave. We bad various de
grees of suffering and injustice nnder
what was termed chattel slavery. And
we have tbe same varying degrees of
law-supported slavery to-day.
The war did not change human na
ture, and the 15th amendment, with
other laws as they are, provides no de
fense against the effectual enslavement
of the people. When God called his
people out of Egypt and placed them in
Palestine be said, "The land shall not
be sold forever; for the lard is mine."
He knew if they were allowed absolute
ownersnip, titles in fee simple, of the
land, the strong would take advantage
of the misfortunes of the weak and
would in a short time 'add house to
house and jois field to field till there
would be no place;' and so the weaker
and less fortunate would be forever en
slaved or in the power of the strong.
So God gave tbe law that every fifty
ymtr the land should all h restored to
the poor who had been dispossessed of
their natural share, the means of sub
sistence , from which thoy and their
children could never be disinherited.
This bar against oppression and slavery
has never been put into the laws of
other nations. A century and more ago.
when our nation was established, a vast
unexplored continent of land, a seem
ingly limitless expanse with inexhaus
tible resources to support life, was free
to whoever would stake off a farm and
use it An axe, a few cheap tools, a gun
and fishing-rod. was all the capital
needed upon, this free land. It is no
wonder, therefore, that our forefathers
saw no danger in allowing the strong to
take titles in fee simple from the weak.
But permitting them to do
this aliens even have obtained
titles to vast tracts, and
speculators have got hold of all avail
able land which the poor need to make
them Independent. The cities into
which they must crowd for work are
barred against them except as they pay
enormous rents to idle landlords, and
ths Interest they must pay if they bor
row money to buy homes, with natural
increase In population and immigration
is making an Increasing number land
less and homeless. Only three per cent
of Chicago's population own their
homes. In New York City 1,250,000
people live in tenements, and one baby
in that city by the name 'of Astor
inherits an income from rents amount
ing annually to many millions of
dollars. There has come to be not only
a monopoly of land, but as a
natural result of capital also.
The individual can no longer produce
independently. Large capital is needed
and the small capitalists are being
squeezed out and pressed. Into the de
pendent, work-seeking ranks where
they must with increasing competition
accept the terms of employers. Steam
and electricity, because of the costly
machinery and investments needed to
apply them, financially benefit the rich
only, and the monopoly of transporta
tion alene gives to a few railroad kings
power to tax all the people by unjust
charges, constantly increasing their
own wealth and the people's poverty.
So we have increasing in our nation
slavery as cruel and In its taxing power
now vastly greater and more universal
than labor has ever before endured in
this country. A slavery built chiefly
upon land monopoly title deeds, money
monopoly, and transportation monop
oly franchises.
Tbe self evident truths of the Declara
tion of Independence were worth fight
ing for. The second more terrible war
for human liberty and a government of
the people was worth its cost. But all
the victories over despotism in the past
will be of no value if a war of ballots is
not carried to success against all
monopolies. Eternal vigilance was
needed to preserve our liberties. We
have unwittingly allowed despots ris
ing in our midst to enslave us, and
those who are coining our sweat will do
their utmost to keep us producing
wealth for them. They will meet new
statesmanship with ridicule, and mass
politics and selfishness against it; they
will fight light with lies, the most skill
ful and plausibly misleading. We have
tho false teaching of the past and the
ignorance of the majority to delay our
progress toward independence; but we
have as Industrial organizations discov
ered how we are defrauded and en
slaved. We know that the interests of
rural and urban labor are the same and
that their enemies are the private con
trollers of credit, commerce and land
that others must use, those who by our
present laws have power to collect from
the workers, interest and unjust
freights and rents. We have discovered
that the bulwark of liberty is the law of
God, and we declare that no man. rich
or poor, shall, if able to labor, live by
the sweat of others. If any man will
not work he shall not eat up or make
use of what we have produced.
We have have not only discovered
the means and methods of our enslave
ment, but also what will emancipate us
and preserve our liberties. Money at
cost Issued direct to the peoplo will cut
off tho power of capital to oppress, will
stop the present enormous drain of in
terest, the eating power of mortgages.
The railroads owned and operated by
the government will give us transporta
tion at greatly reduced rates and drive
out the highwaymen kings who now
rob everybody. The land not in use
restored to the disinherited, the land
less, will give them a place to live in
Independence. The land titles in cities
which now yield enormous rent in
comes to idle and useless lords, by our
demanded graduated income tax will
in time cease to oppress. So at last
will the workers stand equal in inde
pendence, with no shirking dastard
despoU left in this first free glorious
land.
TEE PEOPLE AND THE PLUTOCRATS.
Tbe plutocrat have no politics. Tbey
cars nothing for either old party as a
party. Tbey value both as tools with
which to accomplish their selfish ends.
If both parties submit to their dictation,
they divide up their boodle, and let the
two parties fight it out over such sbam
issues as thoy see fit to get up. But if
either party lends a listening ear to tbe
voice of the people, then the plutocrats
exert all their mighty power to control
that party. They threaten it with defeat
and destruction. They have such power
that neither party sres to disregard
theie threats. Tbe threats of Wall street,
to defeat the democratic party in every
eastern state if the Bland bill should be
passed have been more powerful than
the demands of the mjllions of produc
ers in the west and south. Tbe demo
critic party has submitted to Wall street
The surrender will be fully consumma
ted when its national convention meets
in Chicago, June 21st. A Wall street
candidate will be nominated, and all
finance reform will be eliminated from
tbe platform.
The leaders of the two oM parties
reckon that they can hold the people in
the ranks and yet serve the plutocrats.
How far they can do this remains to be
seen. So long as the people were com
pelled to choose between the two old
parties, the scheme of the plutocrats
worked well enough. But a change has
come. A new party is in the field, a
party of tbe people. It is founded on
the great truths set forth by the fathers
of both old parties. Already millions of
true patriots are enlisted in its ranks.
Already it has an organization In almost
every state. It has the grandest orators
of the age to voico its demands and
preach its gospel. It has hundreds of
newspapers to teach its principles. Tho
people are weary of serving the old par
ties which have repeatedly betrayed
them. There is no genuine enthusiasm
for either old party.
The situation in the nation to-day is
very like the situation in Nebraska two
years ago. We know what that situa
tion was and we know the results. We
know how the people rose up en masse
and declared their independence. We
know that in a few months a party was
organized which swept the state.
Why may not tbe same thing occur in
the nation? The time is ripe for the peo
ple to array themselves againet the plu
tocrats. All other hope of relief is gone.
Will they hearken longertoempty party
watch-words? Will they not on the con
trary show their commou sense, their
patriotism, their manhood by cutting
loose from the tools of Wall street, and
doing their duty as citizens of the Re
public? Let no man who has enlisted in the
new party falter. Let us preach the
truth in season and out of season. Let no
patriot grow faint-hearted because of
the greatness of the task before us. The
day of victory may be nearer than any
of us dream. No man can say what a
year may bring forth. It may bring
forth the election of a people's presi
dent. THE VOLUME THEORY.
Congressman McKeighan says he be.
longs to a party that "favors a legal
constitution of money which cuts loose
from all pretense of metallic definition,
a constitution of it which puts the regu
lation of its volume under intelligent
scientific control." In these few words
Mr. McKeighan sounded the key note of
true finance reform. He has certainly
expressed the central idea of all our
best financial reformers.
The first principle of mony science is
that the value of the dollar depends
upon the number of dollars in circula
tion as compared with the amount of
business to be done. If the number of
dollars in circulation is increased with
out any change ,n the volume of busi
ness to be done, the value or purchasing
power of the dollar will be lowered. On
the other hand if the number of dollars
in circulation is decreased without any
change in the volume of business, the
purchasing power of the dollar will be
increased. When money becomes plenty
prices rise; when money becomes scarse
prices fall. High prices means cheap
dollars, and low prices means high
priced dollars; for you can only meas
ure the value of the dollar by what you
have to give to get one. It can easily
he seen also that if the volume of money
in circulation remains the same, and
the volume of business increases, the
purchasing power of the dollar will be
increased, and vice versa. These are
fundamental truths of money science.
On them all financial reasoning is based.
They are recognized not only by the
student, and theorist, but by the busi
ness man, the speculator, and particu
late by the money loaner. All people
who have given any thought to the mon
ey question are familiar with these prin
ciples, accept them and reason from
them. If this "volume theory" is .not
true, then why should any one object
to tho contraction of the currency, the
demonetization of silver, the destruction
of the greenbacks? If it is not true, why
on the other hand should the creditor
class object to an increase in the money
volume, the free coinage of silver, the
issue of paper money? The truth of
the "volume theory" is one point
on which all are agreed
To dwell on this point would be su
perfluous if it were not that the platform
makers of the new party seem a little
inclined to lose sight of it. A failure to
keep this cardinal principle in view and
make it the corner-stone on which our
proposed financial structure is to be
built, would be disastrous. What the
nation wants is a stable currency, a cur
reucy that fluctuates as little as possi
ble. Ordinarily both contraction and
expansion are evils and work injury.
What is needed is a volume of currency
which increases as business increases,
that will keep te general average of
prices at about thS same level, neither
rising nor falling This will give the
advantages resulting from discoveries
and inventions which cheapen produc
tion to the producers, and not to tbe
debt holders.
But if this be tbe right doctrine, why
are we demanding an increase is tbe
currency? We demand this limply to
right the great wrong of contraction, to
give the people relief from the terrible
effects of that contraction. We demand
it because of extraordinary circum
atannes. We demand it because it is
absolutely necessary to put the business
of the country into a normal condition,
and enable the people to free themselves
from debt. This is the only reason and
justification for our demand for an in
crease in the currency.
The danger comes in just here: in our
efforts to right the wrong of contraction
and give the people relief, we may lose
sight of the great central truth of the
volume theory, and the importance of a
stable currency. In order to get men to
join with us to secure an expansion of
the currency, we must make them feel
assured that we do not intend to lose
sight of the principal truth. So long as
our financial system rests on a metallic
basis, the volnme ot money is regulated
by tbe supply of the precious metals.
This a kind of a natural limit to the vol
ume is established. This basis as Ms
Keighan says is "subject to the acci
dents and uncertainties of gold and sil
ver discoveries as well as the malignant
and selfish manipulations of crafty
creditors." How much higher and bet
ter would be a system in which the
volume is regulated by "intelligent
scientific control." Such a volume of
money, made of some material that has
almost no value, is as far in advance of
the gold standard as tbe watch is ahead
of the sun dial, or the steam-ship ahead
of the sail boat Money so regulated,
and controlled is the highest product of
financial thought. It is the ideal money.
But let us not forget that the basis of
this ideal money is "intelligent scientific
control." It is not hard to convince a
man that this is the true money doctrine
but most men raise the objection that if
we cut loose frem a natural basis we
will be at sea, and the intelligence of the
people will not be sufficient to properly
regulate the volume. This is in fact
the only real objection that can be off
ered, and it is based on a very low esti
mate of popular intelligence. In order
to win the confidence and support of
thinking men, the advocates of finan
cial reform ought to give to all the evi
dence that they understand this question
and that they propose to exercise their
intelligence, after the currency has been
expounded sufficiently, to maintain a
stable volume. In order to do this the
central truth of tbe volume theory ought
to be incorporated in our platform, and
posive assurance given that we do not
propose an unlimited expansion of the
currency. The limit of $50 per capita
has become popularized and is almost
universally accepted by finance reform
ers. The principal reason why this limit
has been fixed upon is that the volume
of currency in this country was about
$50 per capita before the present era of
contraction began.
The St. Louis platform demands au
expansion of the currency to "not less
than $50 per capita." Would it not have
been a wiser plan to reverse tbis limita
tion and say "not more than $50 per
capita?" Would not such a lfmitation
do much to inspire confidence and win
support? There are many persons who
will honestly hesitate to abandon the
metallic basis, bad as it is, unless it is
proposed to supplant it with a basis that
is under "intelligent scientific control."
This is a matter that is well worthy of
thoughtful consideration at this time.
The great platform on which our first
great campaign is to be fought is yet to
be issued. It will be adopted at Omaha
July 4 th. It will doubtless be substan
tially the same as the St. Louis platform
but if it is possible to improve on that
platiorm in auy respect, it should sure
ly be done. T.
STATE LEGAL TENDER LAWS.
The advocates of the reform move
ment are, among other things, students
of the constitution. They have brought
to public attention a constitutional right
ot states which teems to have been pre
viously overlooked, namely, the right of
a state to make gold silver coins legal
tender for all debts within its borders.
The constitution forbids states "to make
anything but gold and silver coins a
legal tender." It also says that all rights
not granted to the nation or forbidden
to the states are reserved to the states
or to tho people. This leaves the people
of a state in full possession of the right
to make gold and silver coins full legal
tender for all debts. And this puts it in
tho power of a state to prevent the en
forcement of gold contracts by the pas
sage of a state legal tender law.
In tho last session of the Kansas legis
lature, speaker Elder introduced such
a bill into the house and it was passed,
but it failed to pass the republican Ben
ate. In the Iowa Legislature which has
just adjourned Uncle Dan Campbell,
that old greenback war horse, intro
duced a similar bill and secured its pas
sage through the house, making a great
speech in its favor. But it passed a little
too late to be acted on by the senate be
fore adjournment- The bill provided
that all standard silver dollars "Shall
be a full legal tender within this state at
their nominal value for all debts due,
public or private, contracted after the
passage of this act, anything in the con
tract or contracts to the contrary not
withstanding; and in all such contracts
it shall be optional with the debtor to
pay and discharge such contracts in any
or either of the said coins."
The Nebraska legislature at its next
session should pass such a law. The
question of its passage should be made
an issue in the coming campaign. Such
alaw can not be made to affect contracts
previously entered into, but it will make
an end of the gold contract business af
ter it passage.
Subscribe for The Alliance.
A SELF-RX0 ULATEJQ VOLUME
The natural normal currency volume,
tbe volume of greatest value, is a
volume reached by issuing money to
the people on the safe St. Louis plan till
the demand for it at actual cost of loan
ing it ceases or is balanced by the
stream of deposits entering tbe postal
savings banks. Until this natural,'
needed volume is reached by loaning to
all who need money, upon landT or
warehouse security, money can be cor
nered and used to oppress. It is not
possible to say or figure out how much
money is needed by the people, and it
ii interfering with natural economic
law to fix an arbitrary per capita limit,
a limit which, in case it was too low,
would work injustice. The natural
volume icill adjust itself if allowed to dp
so. As soon as tbe people can borrow
money of tbe government at cost (3 per
cent or less) money cannot be loaned on
good security by private money owners
for more than that cost rate. Of course
many could afford to borrow at two
per cent, or less, who cannot pay six,
eight, ten or more, and so there would
be a very considerable increase in the
volume of the currency needed and
called for, each loan additional bringing
buyers to tbe market, to the holders of
goods, and making additional work and
wealth for the people. Not being able
to draw from capital lent more than
the cost of loaning and collecting,
would gradually force all who are living
now upon interest money to work also,
and f f r these at work additional capital
would be needed. But when as much
capital through loans at cost is in use
as is needed-to keep all at work, there
will be no farther demand until popula
tion increases, except such as can be
met by the deposits from the people in
the postal saving? banks. Into these
perfectly safe banks all money will
naturally flow when it cannot be advan
tageously used as capital. The natural,
normal currency volume, the volume of
greatest value to the people, can only
be discovered and secured by this just,
uninterfered-with, government-loaning
and postal-favings-bank-depositing,cur
rency system.
But some of our good friends have
not discovered the truth of the above,
and holding a somewhat narrow view
of the money volume theory of values,
they have accepted as true contradic
tory and confusing propositions. They
hold, with the gold and silver men, that
the value of the currency cannot be in'
creased by increasing its volume, a
statement true when there is enough
money but not true when there is any
lack of needed eapital. They declare
the value of the dollar depends solely
upon the number of dollars in circula
tion. But believing this to be true they
are driven logically to the conclusion
that value cannot be added to the cur
rency by the government full legal ten
der stamp upon new needed dollars.
And therefore they think we are in dan
ger from depreciation of the currency
if we do not arbitrarily limit its
volume.
We do not know whether fifty dollars
per capita would meet the needs of the
people when all money by the new pro
posed system should be made to move
freely, or not. But we do know
that until the dollars are issued in
sufficient number to crowd each other,
and no more can be put into use as
capital, we have not enough. More
than enotgh would be deposited with
the government and would iot depre
ciate the value of the currency in use.
The financial planks of the St. Louis
conference will give us a currency of
flexible, self-adjusting volume and the
dollar unit will come to have a fixed
unfluctuating aondepreciating and
non-appreciating value. G.
THE CONDITION OF TRiDE.
It was but natural to suppose, says
the last financial circular, that the phe
nomenally large croi s of 1891 would
bring back the gold we had shipped, and
that increased circulation would stimu
late the stock market to greater activi
ty. -This expectation has not been ful
filled, and now the newspaper report
ers, obliged to chronicle prices falling,
business depressed and gold going and
gone, are trying to account for it all.
The silver debate has givtn them some
thing new to Kse to scare the people.
So thoy head the list of evils with it
after this fashion:
"The anxiety about possible free
silver coinage, end the unfavorable
financial conditions in Europe have
caused foreign holders to sell our se
curities." (There is no evidence that
American securities have been sold, and
no way of finding out that such is the
case.) "In the south over-production
of cotton and stagnation in iron have
paralyzed business for the moment.
Add to this the irritation of a presiden
tial election, involving important eco
nomic questions, and a growing feeling
that several important railroad proper
ties are in need of a reorganization, and
you have enough to explain the situa
tion." Let us see ebout this. We are to be
lieve, are we, that our present financial
and commercial system is so fragile, so
sensitive, so weak, or so completely in
the hands of the gold money kings, that
the mention of the silver dollar of our
fathers, the possibility of its being coin
ed freely with gold, blasts and shivers
and shrinks our exchanges, frightens
capital and destroys our prosperity?
We are to believe further, are we, that
unfavorable financial conditions in Eu
rope must keep us poor when we have
bountiful crops and manufactures?
Capital in cotton not at present needed,
is worse than nothing for the man who
raises it. we are taught, but in the hands
of tho speculator who warehouses it,
fast growing wealth.
The anthracite coal trade is reported
"in splendid shre, owing to the recent
combine. The producing and carrying
companies are greatly profiting by it,
the people, however, are not benefited.
The wheat market in New York, March
3 Irt, was unsettled, lower and dull. Corn
clored easy. Oats lower and options
weaker. Barley dull. Bye dull. Cat
tle steady to strong. Hogs lower. We
give below Bradstreet's report of April
1st:
Special telegrams to Bradstreet's
again make clear the fact that the
period oi practical stagnation in the in
dustrial and commercial circles is being
indefinitely postponed evidently far be
yond what had been anticipated. With
inis go tne long prevalent leatures. de
clining prices for leading staples, due to
excessive output as well as low rates
for money on best security. There ap
pears to be a growing impression that
the first half of 1892 is not to meet early
expectations.
At the south Galveston epitomizes
the advices from half a dozen cities with,
"cotton continues to decline and trade
generally is dull." New Orleans at the
close of the month finds business slower
than usual with rice stagnant, owing to
the doring of all the mills by the com
bination, an unprecidented state of af
fairs. On the Pacific coast trade continues
quiet and dull, notably at San Francisco.
NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
All who have paid in advance on both
papers will be credited forward to the
full time of their subscriptions: that is if
any one has paid a year in advance on
each paper, his time will be extended for
ward two years. We would like however
to make the following suggestion: that
every subscriber who has paid in advauce
on both papers couldn't do a better thing
for the cause than to order an additional
paper and send it where it will do the
most good. This is missionary work of
the very best kind, and we believe many
patriotic workers will prefer to do this
rather than to extend their own time for
ward. Peabodt, Massachusetts, has voted
$40,000 for a municipal electric light
plant.
The Sugar Trust has overcome the
last competitor, Claus Spreckles, and
all who use refined sugar now pay trib
ute to a little group of large capitalists.
The milk supply of Chicago is to be
controlled by a single corporation
called the farmers dairy company.
Millions of dollars are reported back
of it.
Many valuable communications and
letters sent in within the past month
will be unavoidably crowded out. This
results from the limitations of space,
and an "over-production" of matter con
sequent on the consolidation.
The yellow pine lumbermen of
Georgia are to consolidate into one
corporation. The mills entering the
combine practically control this kind of
lumber in Georgia and prices are ex
pected to advance.
Week before last, the Fairbury Sun
suspended and its list was transferred
to the Independent. It is now incor
porated in the consolidated list and all
subscribers to the Sun will receive The
Alliance Independent.
The electric companies of Cincinnati,
with one exception, have decided to
discharge all employes who have joined
the Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
Many who had already joined have
been notified to leave the organization
or quit work.
About 2,000 local branches of the
Georgia Farmers' Alliance have declar
ed for the people's party. Does the
state Journal, Omaha Bee find the rest of
the old party prevaricating press bear
that? Whoop! Three cheers, and an
anti-Tammany tiger! On to victory!
The Standard Oil Company is using
its enormous accumulations of capital
in outside lines. Its last investment
I being the timber rights of 30,000 acres
of land in West Virginia. Michigan
lumbermen to the number of 250 have
been taken there and two immense saw
mills and a planing mill have been
erected.
According to the last census 33 per
cent of the farmers of Kansas and 33
per cent of Ohio farmers, are tenants.
The per cent of tenant farmers is
steadily increasing. They have the en
forced help of tho sheriff to pay off their
mortgages, and then the old party press
advertises their loss of all land inheri
tance and its free use, their degradation
to serfdom or its equivalent, as
evidence of increasing prosperity. Of
course it is the weakest who first go to
the wall. But the weak whom others
prey upon should have an inalienable
right to land as well as life, for so only
can liberty be retained.
The principal article in the April
number of the Review of Reviews is an
elaborate discussion by Dr. Albert
Shaw, editor of the magazine, of the
most current phases of municipal prob
lems in New York and London, illus
trated with a large number of very fine
portraits of distinguished men in the
two great capitals of the English speak
ing world. The article is divided into
six parts, as follows: 1. London's New
Government, its Framework and Re
sults. 2. New, York's Present Govern
ment, and How to Reform It. 3. The
Proposed "Greater New York." 4.
London's Municipal Statesmen and
their Programmes. 5. The Tammany
Statesmen, and How they "Run" New
York. 6. On Land Taxation and Mun
icipal Monopolies. For the purposes of
his article, Mr. Shaw interviewed Ex
Mayor Grace, Ex Mayor Hewitt, Mr.
Erastus Wiman, Hon. Andrew H.
Green, Mr. Horace Doming, Mr. Henry
George. Mr. Robert Graham and Mr.
John H. Finley, each of whom has been
able to bear expert testimony as to
some phase of municipal matters in
New York.
Pbof. Ely's successor in John Hop
kins University is Dr. Sidney Sherwood
of the University of Pennsylvania.
Attention has been called especially to
him by his lectures on "How to supprots
thought in connection with finance."
