The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923, April 24, 1908, Page 15, Image 15

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APRIL 24, 190S
The Commoner.
"vested interests." Confldentally,
Bryan will beat Taft if the latter
be nominated. Two million men who
voted for Roosevelt will either vote
against Taft or stay away from the
polls.
Fairbanks, Foraker and the others
mentioned are known to be corpora
tion advocates to the core. Speaker
Cannon is the incarnation of mon
eyed republicanism. In a word, it is
Roosevelt or a reactionary conserva
tive save for the remote chance
that Governor Hughes may win as a
dark horse.
It is justly charged that Roose
velt stole Bryan's democratic thun
der. At this writing it seems not
unlikely that Bryanwill replevin i,
and that he will secure for interest
a considerable portion of that repub
lican strength which has been edu
cated by Roosevelt to know that the
limit of capitalistic aggression und
domination has been .reached.. It
will not again be possible to array
the small investors and the middle
class conservatives against Bryan.
Roosevelt has been more radical in
his acts than Bryan has been in his
speeches. Bryan will be nominated
by acclamation. Roosevelt could put
Taft,. Fairbanks Foraker, Cannon,
Hughes and all the others out of the
running by a nod of his head. He
may throw the nomination to a re
actionary, but his followers will vote
as they please. For the first time in
years the republicans are on the
anxious seat, and ,tbe Strenuous One
has inserted tacks in its cushion.
Houston (Texas) Post.
TEL0 QUESTION OP MONEY
Hal W. Greer of Beaumont, Tex.,
writes to the Houston Post the fol
lowing interesting fetter:
To the Editor: We Bryan ites of
1896 can now enjoy a hearty laugh
at our own expense. We thought
the gold .standard was going to ruin
everything because gold would be so
scarce nobody could get any to pay
his debts; that the farmer would be
come an automatic slave because
scarce money would mean profitless
prides for the necessaries of life
wheat, corn, sugar, oats, rice, po
tatoes, cotton, wool, beef, mutton
,and pork; that under the scarcity of
-- money he would take anything he
'; could get for these edibles, but be-
ingno money nobody could buy. All
of us knew that scarce money makes
cheap commodities, low wages, small
commercial enterprises and trifling
earnings for everybody. Our chief
fear, however, was that all of us who
were in debt and required to give
gold notes and mortgages would be
forced to pay twice the intrinsic
amount of the debt because gold be
ing so scarce and the only standard
of value, would have twice the pur
chasing power, without silver as a
competitor.
The writer did not care so much
about the standard as he did the
abundance of money, because abund
ant money meant good prices for all
commodities, and these good prices
meant general circulation and its
corollary general prosperity.
Looking back the fears of the Bry
anites do not appear so unreasonable;
but looking forward we certainly do
appear ridiculous, because gold act
ually appears to be more abundant
than silver, and we are seriously
threatened with an abnormal flood of
the yellow metal. If we had fore
seen this, of course, there would
have been no "sixteen to one"
theory. It was impossible, however,
to foresee man's ingenuity and na
ture's prodigality in this respect, be
cause the annual production of gold
had been so very, very small in the
world's history.
To make this plain I borrow the
following facts- from an article con
tributed to the August "Success" by
Jrederick TJpham Adams entitled
The Flood of Gold."
When Columbus discovered Amer-
15
ica all the gold of Europe amounted
to a little less than $250,000,000.
That was approximately 415 years
ago.
Since then the annual output or
production has been by centuries as
follows:
1500 ..,. $ 4,000,000
1600 t. 6,000,000
1700 , 7,000,000
1800 12,000,000
1900 (first six years) . . 262,000,000
By new mining processes and the
discovery of new mines it is now
known that the year 1907 will pro
duce over $400,000,000; that 1908
can be safely estimated at 500, 000,
000, and that by 1910 we will be
producing approximately one billion
dollars annually! So that in a little
more than the first decade of this
century we will have produced more
than the entire century of 1800, near
ly twice as much as 1700, over
twice as mudh as 1600 and nearly
three times more than 1500.
Of these amounts the locus of the
new future production is estimated
as follows:
Klondike, annually..? 40,000,000
United States, west of
Rocky mountains... 200000,000
United States east of
Rocky mountains. . . 125,000,000
Africa 300,000,000
All other countries. . 335,000,000
Making total annual
production $1,000,000,000
The Sacramento and San Joaquin
valleys of California are full of gold,
but until recently the cost of mining
exceeded the output, and it did not
"pay." Under the new .process, how
ever, the first output has paid 100
per cent on the cost of the outlay
and production, and this year more
than $25,000,000 will be taken from
the Sacramento valley alone. Gold
is scattered through the 20,000
square miles of this valley.
. In the, Witwatersrand district of
the Transvaal of South Africa there
is a gold bearing reef forty miles in
length, twenty miles in width, in
which borings to the depth of 3,500
feet show gold in undiminished quan
tities. Up to this time the difficulty
of mining it has Interfered with its
reaching the marts of the world. But
can it be doubted the ingenuity of
man. will overcome this obstacle as
it has done all others?
These facts demonstrate that the
discovery and production of gold in
such vast quantities, and a yet more
lavish and exhaustless supply, when
ingenuity shall brush away the diffi
culties of mining and marketing, will
radically revolutionize the financial
affairs of the world, and possibly
change the situs of values from cities
to farms.
All countries, except China, have
adopted the single gold standard, and
that "Celestial" realm, in order to
borrow the indemnity required by
the "Boxer" incident, was forced to
make its obligations payable in gold.
Lucky China! By the time the
principle of her debt comes due gold
will be as cheap as Iron!
What has "been the result? Bar
ring the overcrowded populous cen
ters with their concommitants of
filth, crime, ignorance and pollution,
everybody has money, though every
body has to spend it to keep alive.
Wheat a dollar a bushel; other
cereals proportionally high; a beef
steak you could formerly get for 8
cents now worth 30; cotton around
the 15 cents a pound mark, and all
other necessaries proportionately
high. Farmers out of debt, mort
gages paid off and money going beg
ging for somebody to borrow!
Of course "protective" tariff advo
cates will claim they did it they
always claim everything for that
trust-breeding system of pillage but
the fact remains it is gold, gold, gold,
coming' from everywhere and these
United States are producing over half
of it every year!
Now look out for the squeal from
Now York, London, Berlin, Paris and
the other finance-juggling centers for
a change of standard.
Mr. Adams' article furnishes the
SJS Sam,cal rvo heard' but It's com
ing. The centers are losing their
grip on mado-to-ordor artificial
prosperity," and the people them
selves are furnishing natural, logical,
real and permanent prosperity on ac
count of the superabundance of gold
First thing you know the "flat'
money crowd will drop in, to help
the centers out of their perplexity
Yes, the Bryanites of 1896 havo
the right to laugh, not altogether ot
themselves, but inclusive also of the
gold standard schemers, for they
overleaped themselves. It behooves
us to be on the qui vive for a pro
posed change of the standard.
HAL. W. GREER.
DEMOCRATIC CLUBS
Writing of the "Chicago Bryan
Guards," C. E. Miller, secretary,
says: "We have already sixty-one
members, active young men, law
yers, doctors, business men, students
from the Chicago Univorslty and tho
West Side Medical colleges, and hopo
to increase our membership, so that
wo can put men in each precinct to
assist the rogular party organization,
on days of registration and election,
in registering aud getting out tho
voters."
At the Pierce county, Nebraska,
democratic convention a club of
"Bryan Volunteers" was organized
with a charter membership of forty
four. A. H. Backhaus, editor of tho
Pierce County Leader, writes: "Be-
fore the closo of the campaign wot'
think this organization will have at
least 1,000 members."
At Troy, Ala., a Bryan club was
organized with K. B. Prico tempor
ary chairman, and Thomas II. Brown
temporary secretary.
Mr. Bryan recently received from,.
St. Joseph, Mo., the following tclc
gram: "The democracy of Buchanan:
county have on this, your birthday-,'
organized a Bryan club one thousand
strong; congratulations and best
wishes. St. Joseph Democrats."
feM
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Twin Falls North Side Canal System j
Snake River Valley
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no.ooo acres choice: i,ajvd still open for
ENTRY.
1Q0.000 ACRES filed on since tho opening of tho
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THE LAST LAND under tho gravity system of the
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Ideal Climate Richest Soil Finest Watertight
The Doming
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ELECTRIC POWER A magnificent power plant
costing over $100,000 is now In operation at
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HOMES If you want a home, a business, an irri
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FREE TEAMS are furnished by the company from
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For Descriptive Literature and full Information write to the Secretary
Twin Falls North Side Investment Co., Ltd.,.
Jerome, Idaho.
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